October 15, 2010 1:09PM 

# 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:

- Could the results of the November elections be a nail in the Obama administration’s [high-speed rail](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/november-nail-rail-coffin) coffin? Let’s hope.
- The [U.S. Postal Service](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/usps-cant-afford-unions) can’t afford its unions.
- A new study finds that federal and state governments have wasted billions of dollars on [subsidies for students](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/higher-education-subsidies-wasted) who didn’t make it past their first year in college.
- The Obama administration’s plan to fix [Head Start](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/holding-head-start-accountable) with some bureaucratic tinkering is **not** “almost enough to restore a person’s faith in the federal government.”
- Now is a good time to get rid of [farm subsidies](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/good-time-end-farm-subsidies).

Note: Chris Edwards will be discussing Downsizing Government on Fox News’ *Special Report With Bret Baier* on Monday @ 6:00 PM EST.

##### Related Tags 

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

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