June 10, 2011 1:31PM # This Week in Government Failure By [Tad DeHaven](https://www.cato.org/people/tad-dehaven) --- SHARE Over at [Downsizing the Federal Government](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/), we focused on the following issues this week: - If we are ever to get our budgetary house in order by limiting the size and scope of government, central planning bureaucracies like the [Economic Development Administration](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/eda-reauthorization) have to (finally) go. - [Firefighting is a purely local concern](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/extinguish-federal-grants-firefighters) and should be funded by those who benefit from a local fire department’s services — not federal taxpayers. - House Republicans say that they will not support a debt increase unless the Democrats agree to equal-sized spending cuts. The crucial question is: Will the proposed budget savings be[ real cuts or smoke-and-mirrors “cuts”](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/real-cuts-debt-vote)? - The [U.S. Postal Service’s problems](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/stamp-out-postal-service): the response thus far from Congress couldn’t be more typical: a combination of apathy, ignorance, and a desire to avoid making difficult decisions by kicking the can down the road. - The [Department of Labor](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/labor) has been added to the website. Follow Downsizing the Federal Government on Twitter ([@DownsizeTheFeds](http://twitter.com/DownsizeTheFeds)) and connect with us [on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/pages/Downsizing-the-Federal-Government/26635669039). ##### 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/).