November 9, 2011 1:53PM 

# The End of Civilization? 

By [Sallie James](https://www.cato.org/people/sallie-james) 

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> Forced to cut its budget, the Agriculture Department has decided to eliminate dozens of reports, including the annual goat census (current population: three million), and the number of catfish on the nation’s fish farms (177 million, not counting the small fry).
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> \[[*New York Times*, Business Day section](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/business/government-counting-sheep-now-only-in-dreams.html?_r=2&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y)\]

##### Related Tags 

[Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [Trade Policy](https://www.cato.org/trade-policy), [Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies](https://www.cato.org/herbert-stiefel-center-trade-policy-studies) 

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