September 10, 2010 11:44AM # This Week in Government Failure By [Tad DeHaven](https://www.cato.org/people/tad-dehaven) --- SHARE Over at [Downsizing Government](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/), we focused on the following issues this week: - The [U.S. Postal Service](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/postal-union-wants-more) is bleeding red ink, but a postal union says it wants “more” wages and benefits. Having watched the unionized workforces at GM and Chrysler receive preferential treatment from the federal government, there’s little incentive for them *not* to ask for more. - President Obama announced his intention to take the country $50 billion deeper into debt in order to finance more public infrastructure projects. Why not give [privately funded and operated infrastructure](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/why-not-private-infrastructure) a chance? - A new study finds that [federal subsidies to the states](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/federal-subsidies-higher-state-taxes) result in higher future state taxes. This has important implications for state fiscal policy considering the recent rise in federal subsidies to state and local government. - By producing a vague “plan” to cut a relatively small amount of spending while avoiding the more politically volatile issues of entitlements and defense, [Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/boehner%E2%80%99s-weak-call-cuts) is signaling that he’s apparently content to ride to victory in the fall on the back of an unpopular president. ##### 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/).