Most members of Congress know that the government’s $39 trillion debt may trigger a financial crisis as it continues soaring. But lawmakers keep hiking spending, with increases currently in the pipeline for defense, farm subsidies, and transportation.
Why does Congress spend so much? Members are lobbied to spend, of course, but they are also naively optimistic about government. They seem to think they can solve every problem in society by enacting programs and then flooding the zone with cash.
The reality is that program benefits are nearly always lower than planned, and the taxpayer costs are higher. In a recent study, Ryan Bourne and I describe the government as a leaky bucket — many of the dollars it scoops up for the federal budget spill out as waste and policy mistakes.
My new op-ed at Daily Wire describes 10 leaks in the federal spending bucket.
