August 13, 2010 3:46PM 

# This Week in Government Failure 

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

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

- Central planners at the [U.S. Department of Agriculture](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/government-sugar-planners-confounded) are “confounded” by tight sugar supplies. Hayek would be shocked.
- [Department of Housing and Urban Development](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/political-activities-hud) officials continue the agency’s legacy of engaging in politics.
- [President Obama](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/obamas-mountain-debt) says he wants to “invest in our people without leaving them a mountain of debt.” Maybe he meant to say that he wants to “spend other people’s money and leave them with a mountain of debt”?
- Meet the privileged class: [federal civilian employees](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/federal-employees-continue-prosper).
- The [federal government](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/federal-government-a-lucrative-industry) is a lucrative “industry.”

##### Related Tags 

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

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