This Week in Government Failure

Over at Downsizing Government, we focused on the following issues this week:

• The Washington Post argues that both tax hikes and spending cuts will be needed to fix the government’s budget problem, but the Post’s conclusion is based on faulty one‐​sided accounting, only considering the recipients of government largesse.
• Federal hiring of the best and brightest imposes an “opportunity cost” on the economy by drawing talented people away from higher‐​valued activities in the private sector.
• Republicans were elected, in part, to help put the private sector back in the economic driver’s seat. To do so, Republicans need to be much more ambitious than trimming just $100 billion off of the president’s three‐​year $853 billion spending increase.
• The confused U.S. Department of Agriculture spends taxpayer money subsidizing fatty foods while at the same time setting nutritional guidelines with the purported aim of getting Americans to eat healthier.
• Downsizing the Department of Defense is up.
• The good and the bad in the draft report released by the co‐​chairs of President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.