I measure government efficiency by looking at the value it receives for the money it spends compared to a private company. You are focused on government's role with respect to the monetary system.

They are inseparable. The money the government creates (all spending) to provision itself is the only net source of money the private sector has that isn't balanced out with a debt obligation that must be repaid with interest. It not for this unique position the currency-issuing government has in the economy we would have never advanced beyond barter.

The one thing different about a government agency that I have not seen in the private sector is the decision to stop spending when the budget has been expended even when claims against the government exist. Those claims get put off until the next fiscal year or funded through supplementary budget approvals. Private enterprises operate a bit differently as not paying one's bills on a timely basis carries major consequences.

This is only because our representatives and government agents either believe a fairy tale or want to promote that fairy tale to the general public. If there is available slack in the production of needed resources and labor to accomplish a goal or implement a program that serves the common welfare or makes us more productive, the spending is immaterial and is not inflationary.

This absurd number juggling is caused by federal representatives trying to balance a budget instead of balancing the economy. It is how we get nonsense like the debt ceiling and deficit spending that is vilified as an actual debt to taxpayers. This is not to say that the federal government should be a patsy to the private business sector, but only that there should be far less attention paid to the numbers and more paid to making our economy more productive and competitive.

To the extent each cost center gets more services at lower cost, the entity is efficient, or it isn't. I think you are trying to argue the value of fiscal and monetary stimulus rather than simply government efficiency.

That is a different issue.

To any entity that "isn't" the monopoly issuer of the nation's currency, such value comparisons are valid because they represent someone who must pay for the service rendered and someone who, hopefully, profits from rendering that service. They are effectively zero-sum in economic impact and efficiency is desirable to contain costs.

To most observers, the concept of efficiency in the federal government is centered around its ability to manage its costs within what the private sector can afford to, or desires to, pay for its services in taxation. This completely denies its function as the sole source of the currency the private sector must use to conduct commerce.

Every recession and depression we have experienced in the previous century was preceded by a period where the federal government became "efficient" and cut its deficits. Be careful what you wish for.