August 20, 2010 4:39PM 

# 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:

- The angst over phantom [food stamps](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/food-stamps-cut) cuts indicates that those of us who believe the needy aren’t best served by Uncle Sam have our work cut out.
- A response to Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry on [federal versus private pay](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/more-federal-vs-private-pay).
- Alaska’s love/​hate relationship with the federal government underscores why weaning the states off their [addiction to federal dollars](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/alaskas-dependency-dc) would be difficult.
- The debt-burdened Greek government is planning to sell a large share of the state-owned Hellenic Post. The debt-burdened U.S. government is doing nothing with its struggling [U.S. Postal Service](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/greek-postal-privatization).
- Symbolic of this unprecedented [federal intervention into the housing market](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/fha-insures-luxury-condos) is news that the FHA is insuring mortgages on luxury condos in Manhattan.

##### Related Tags 

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

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