Doing more with less my hindparts

Who is the idiot that first coined this phrase? It is the most asinine piece of nonsense I have ever heard.

How do you do MORE with LESS?  I'd really like someone to tell me.  Here's what I propose: instead of talking nonsense about doing more with less, why don't we try to figure out how to fill as many competing needs as we can, to some satisfactory degree with whatever the 'less' is.  We can't do more with less, so we really need to stop saying it as though it makes sense.  It doesn't.

My suggestion is that we try to balance the competing interests by holding on to the critical things and sacrificing others.  As a musician this pains me because I know that when it comes to schools, 'sacrifice' usually means kicking music to the curb, but volunteers can do as great a job teaching music as paid teachers can.

'Doing more with less' should mean looking for creative ways of filling old needs, ways that don't require large outlays of cash.  That's more with less.  Sometimes doing more means asking more of participants and less means less free stuff, more self pay or co-pay.  In cases of financial hardship which currently abound, it will mean finding ways to help each other along without making anyone ashamed of their difficult circumstances.

Look I don't have answers here.  All I know is that we really need to run as fast as we can from the notion that we can possibly do more with less.  It's such a stupid saying, I can't believe it has so caught on.  Can you feed a family of 5 with the food supplies needed to feed a single person?  Certainly you can, but no one is satisfied nor is anyone appropriately nourished.  Perhaps we should try to focus on ensuring that there's satisfaction and nourishment, even if it means it's a no-frills meal.  It's a meal.  Needs are met and that's the whole point.

There's a way to make do in tough times that doesn't sacrifice quality, but saying, "Let's get out there and do more with less" isn't it.  This stupid one liner doesn't acknowledge the efforts of administrators large and small, who struggle to keep their programs running on fumes and faith.  What this sentence is, in a nutshell, is an insult to the intelligence of the listener and the effort of the administrator and frankly, it's an excuse to bully and harass staff into working like Hebrew slaves, but don't let me get started on that.