Government IS excess

[Zundfolge]

Interesting article (http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/576440/201106241829/Ag-Department-Needs-To-Be-Plowed-Under.htm) about the US Agriculture Department (no really).

What knocked me on my backside was the opening paragraph...


The Department of Agriculture no longer serves as a lifeline to millions of struggling homestead farmers. Instead it is a vast, self-perpetuating, postmodern bureaucracy with an amorphous budget of some $130 billion — a sum far greater than the nation's net farm income this year.


[Eek3]
In-freakin'-sane.

THIS is why we are good and truly fucked. The system is so far out of whack I simply cannot imagine how it can be fixed.

[earplug]

Thanks for the post and link.

[Jumpstart]

Wow. Just wow.

[blacklabel]

This is another one of those examples of how throwing more government at a problem doesn't fix it and only makes it worse.

[Lex_Luthor]

Jeez!

[Ronin13]

This is another one of those examples of how throwing more government at a problem doesn't fix it and only makes it worse.

I can just see a funny cartoon about this:
"Sir, a giant monster is approaching the city!"
"Quickly, tell the generals to throw lots of government at it!"
10min later...
"Sir, the monster consumed the government we threw at it and it nearly doubled in size!"
"Hmm... arm the populous, we can't seem to do anything right."

[newracer]

Not that I think there is not waste but the Forest Service in under the Department of Agriculture, that is not taken into acount.

[brianakell]

Not that I think there is not waste but the Forest Service in under the Department of Agriculture, that is not taken into acount.

I used to think 180 degrees from this. FS is a complete waste. My personal perspective, is its been overrun by those wishing to "preserve" the land, in stead of "manage" it. For instance, there is tiny patches of snow behind locked gates currently. But call in to inquire as to why. " there is still a lot of snow back there." Really, would you mind telling me where, becuase Ive been all over and I can't find any blocking any roads, and the roads are DRY. "oh, I dont know, I dont go back to check". The "managing" has become "keep everyone off OUR FS land, the people dont need to be back here. Amazingly the hunters have enough influence that the gates are open, with 6' of snow having fallen, 3' on roads, etc, but the last day of 4th rifle season, those gates are shut. So yeah, complete waste, and excessive restriction to land which the FS does not own, you and I do. Im still trying to find a newspaper who will spend a bit of time, and be willing to blow this wide open. I can provide legally obtained pictures even.

[Irving]

Brian, there is a whole deal about closing off "Wild" areas under the guise that these areas have not been changed by man. Many of these areas have railroads and road on them that have existed for over 100 years. Think the people who closed them care about that?

[Milt]

Just another of the many completely unconstitutional and therefor illegal government agencies...

But, it really doesn't matter; the debt limit is about to go up another couple of TRILLION dollars, which makes the Dept of Agriculture's entire budget a mere rounding error. When interest rates rise again (as they must), the interest payments on the current debt will consume the entire federal budget. Oh, and let's not forget about the unfunded liabilities (unconstitutional entitlement programs like socialist insecurity and medi-crap). Those 'obligations' dwarf the official debt figures.

The next few years are going to be really interesting...

[nynco]

Interesting article (http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/576440/201106241829/Ag-Department-Needs-To-Be-Plowed-Under.htm) about the US Agriculture Department (no really).

What knocked me on my backside was the opening paragraph...



[Eek3]
In-freakin'-sane.

THIS is why we are good and truly fucked. The system is so far out of whack I simply cannot imagine how it can be fixed.


I agree.... we need to end farm subsidies to mega corporations. Only small mom and pop farms should get any form of help. Either that or break up the large corps because of their economy of scale manipulating the free markets.

[Milt]

"I agree.... we need to end farm subsidies to mega corporations. Only small mom and pop farms should get any form of help. Either that or break up the large corps because of their economy of scale manipulating the free markets."

Let's end ALL subsidies...

Actually, corporations are NOT a free-market phenomenon; they are literally creatures of the state, possessing special legal advantages over actual people. Anyone who supports truly free markets should be advocating the abolition of these artificial entities - let everyone compete in the same arena, following the same rules.

We need to also eliminate the regulatory mess and allow the market to decide how much risk is acceptable. Large companies could still exist, but only where real economies of scale favored large organizations - otherwise, their tendency to bureaucratic management practices would pose too big a disadvantage in a robustly competitive marketplace.

Would this produce a perfect world? Obviously not. But it would be a much better one AND it would be more in keeping with our country's founding principles.