February 26, 2010 1:05PM 

# This Week in Government Failure 

By [Tad DeHaven](https://www.cato.org/people/tad-dehaven) 

---

<a class="js-popover-trigger cursor-pointer popover-trigger" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-trigger="click" id="popover-trigger"> 

SHARE 

</a> 

Over at [Downsizing Government](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/), we focused on the following issues this week:

- The [two most recent *first quarter* deficits](https://www.cato.org/2010/02/22/a-fiscal-train-wreck/) have been about $100 billion higher than the average *annual* deficits run from 2002 to 2008.
- Utah legislators call for [fiscal federalism](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/utah-legislators-call-fiscal-federalism).
- Small businesses are citing [government as the problem](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/businesses-cite-government-biggest-problem), but the media ignores the story.
- [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/put-housing-gses-budget-and-privatize) should be put in the budget, and then privatized.
- The Economic Development Administration, National Association of Development Organizations, and the Appropriations Committees [aren’t exactly taxpayer-friendly](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/eda-nado-appropriations-hearings-charade).

##### Related Tags 

[Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).