A department-by-department guide to cutting the government's budget.
The Department of Labor oversees unemployment insurance, provides training programs, and imposes an array of union and workplace regulations.
The department will spend about $127 billion in fiscal 2012, or $1,100 for every U.S. household. It employs more than 17,000 workers.
The Department of Education provides loans and grants to college students and subsidizes elementary and secondary schools.
The department will spend $98 billion in 2012, or about $830 for every U.S. household. It employs 4,300 workers and operates 153 subsidy programs.
The Department of Transportation subsidizes and regulates highways, airports, air traffic control, urban transit, and passenger rail.
The department will spend $84 billion in 2012, or about $710 for every U.S. household. It employs 58,000 workers and operates 83 different subsidy programs.
Testifying Against Corporate Welfare
My colleague Chris Edwards testified before the House Budget Committee this morning on “Removing the Barriers to Free Enterprise and Economic Growth.” The first half of Chris’s testimony focused on the problems with corporate welfare spending, which costs taxpayers almost $100 billion annually and is the topic of my forthcoming study. Read more
My 'Fiscal Cliff' Prediction
Policymakers have been kicking the fiscal policy can down the road for years. That can is going to reappear shortly after the November elections when policymakers will be forced to confront scheduled tax increases, mandated spending cuts, and – once again – the debt ceiling. (I’m assuming, quite confidently, that nothing gets resolved before the elections.) The combination of events is being called the “fiscal cliff” as the failure to resolve these issues would cause the economy to go back into recession in 2013 according to conventional economic forecasters. Read more
Disadvantaged Minority: Non-Beneficiaries of Government
The Hill reports that “The Commerce Department is considering naming Arab Americans a socially and economically disadvantaged minority group that is eligible for special business assistance” through its Minority Business Development Agency. I would argue that the federal government should not favor people of one particular ethnic backgrounds over others. However, I think the bigger issue here is that a Commerce determination in the affirmative would be yet another step in the direction of greater government dependency. Read more
