Fox Business: Government Is Burning Our Money

Americans are peeved about the economy.  Or, 85 percent of us are, according to an ABC News articleSo, we need government to burn our money away, right? Fox Business this week is helpfully featuring a Burning Our Money special.  It’s encouraging to see a major news network take up this question on every show, for an entire week.  Alas, there are oh-so-many examples.

  • My colleague Hans Bader named a few names: dead people and trial lawyers.  And the notorious Cash-for-Clunkers.
  • Wayne Crews‘s annual report on the “Ten Thousand Commandments” of government regulations exposes the crushing burden imposed on American businesses and consumers in the form of red tape.  $1.24 trillion, in case you were wondering.
  • Fran Smith talks about this country’s wasteful, anti-competitive sugar subsidies (“one of the most egregious examples of central planning that raises prices for consumers and costs jobs”) in the pork-laden Farm Bill, which is due for reauthorization in 2012.
  • And, thank goodness for Citizens Against Government Waste, who keep us all updated on the most outrageous pork-and-boondoggle projects we’re forced to pay for.

Do you have some good examples of government waste?  Post ’em here!