July 29, 2011 2:51PM # 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 past week: - If it is true that a failure to increase the debt limit on August 2nd has the potential to bring about economic Armageddon, shouldn’t we be asking ourselves [if it’s a good idea to allow the political class in Washington](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/debt-debate-what-government-is) to continue to collectively play God with our lives? - The ratchet effect: [agriculture edition](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/debt-debate-what-government-is). - Chris Edwards testifies to the Senate Finance Committee on [federal spending and debt](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/senate-hearing-debt). - These are the times that try budget analysts’ souls—especially budget analysts who’d like to see [Washington dramatically cut spending](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/thoughts-boehner-plan). - House Speaker John Boehner’s first [budget plan](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/boehner-plan-doesnt-cut-spending) wouldn’t have cut spending. His new plan [won’t cut spending either](http://http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/boehners-new-plan-doesnt-cut-spending). - Chris Edwards wants his [post office](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/close-my-post-office) closed. 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). We have a new poll up on the Boehner budget plan. ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [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/).