Page 669 - Economics

CONFIRMING PAGES

Last
Word
PART EIGHT
578 Microeconomics of Government
“Government Failure” in the News

The Media Continually Report Government Actions program than provides golf instruction to children and
That Illustrate Pork-Barrel Politics, Limited and teens around the country, $50 million to build an indoor
rainforest in Iowa, and $225 million to repair a 61-year-old
Bundled Choices, or Bureaucratic Inefficiency.
municipal swimming pool in Nevada. (Knight Ridder
Newspapers and the Associated Press)
Examples:
• A 2004 spending bill set aside $1 million for the Norwe-
• As part of a radiation cleanup project in Pennsylvania in
gian American Foundation; $443,000 to develop salmon-
the late 1990s, the EPA spent an average of $651,700 to
fortified baby food; $350,000 for music education
custom-build 10 new houses for homeowners. This was in
programs at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland;
addition to the cleanup costs. The old houses were worth
an average of $147,000 and $250,000 for side-
each. (Gannett News walks, street furniture, and
Services) façade improvements in
Boca Raton, Florida. (As-
• In 2001, Congress appro-
sociated Press)
priated $350,000 for the
Chicago Wilderness Pro- • The corporate tax relief
gram, $273,000 for the bill of 2004 contained 633
Blue Springs (Missouri) pages, with 276 special
Youth Outreach Unit for provisions. Included were
educational training in provisions that benefited
combating the Goth cul- “restaurant owners and
ture, and $400,000 for the Hollywood producers;
Montana Sheep Institute. makers of bows, arrows,
(Citizens Against Waste, tackle boxes and sonar fish
as reported in the Lincoln finders; NASCAR track
Journal Star ) owners; native Alaska whalers; and even importers of
Chinese fans.” ( www.Washington Post.com )
• The 2001 Senate “economic stimulus” bill contained
a $220 million subsidy for bison meat producers and • A 2005 spending bill provided $500,000 for Seattle’s sculp-
eggplant, cauliflower, and pumpkin growers that experi- ture garden and $223,000 for a bridge from Ketchikan,
enced low prices during the 2000 and 2001 crop years. (Los Alaska, to an island populated by 50 people and having an
Angeles Times) airport. ( Seattle Post-Intelligencer )
• The disaster emergency relief section of the 2003 appro- • Government investigations determined that millions of
priations bill contained a provision to qualify catfish farm- dollars of disaster relief for victims of hurricane Katrina
ers for livestock compensation payments. Senator John were squandered. For example, investigators discovered
McCain asked, “When did a catfish become analogous to a that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
cow?” (Senator John McCain’s Congressional “Pork” Web made payouts on as many as 900,000 claims for disaster re-
site, www.mccain.senate.gov ) lief that contained invalid Social Security numbers or false
names and addresses. ( Seattle Times )
• A 2003 spending bill contained 9300 special projects.
Included were $3 million for a Florida-based nonprofit

transfer payments does considerably reduce income in- The combined tax-transfer system redistributes income by
equality. Transfer payments to the poorest fifth of U.S. much more than does the tax system alone.
households almost quadruple their collective incomes.

578

9/10/06 9:41:05 PM
mcc26632_ch29_564-580.indd 578 9/10/06 9:41:05 PM
mcc26632_ch29_564-580.indd 578