The World's Biggest Political Clown?

I'm working on a serious blog post about European fiscal developments, but my research on that issue has alerted me to a couple of stories about President Jose Manuel Barroso that cry out for immediate mockery and abuse. Mr. Barroso, for those that don't follow the exciting world of international bureaucracy, is the President of the European Commission. This is not an elected position (perish the thought of letting voters have a say in such matters!). Instead, he's the chief bureaucrat of the sprawling Brussels-based euro-bureaucracy. The first story is from the EU Observer, which reports that the European Parliament actually wanted to fine members that didn't suffer through Barroso's Castro-esque three-hour speech on the state of the European Union. Amazingly, the MEPs didn't file a human rights protest against this proposed form of torture, but they did stage an internal revolt and the authorities backed down.

European parliament authorities have bid a hasty retreat from a tentative proposal to fine for non-attendance of today's State of the Union speech after the idea was met with derision and anger by MEPs. A meeting yesterday (6 September) evening of parliament president Jerzy Buzek and the 14 vice presidents of the EU assembly abandoned an idea to check up on just who was listening to European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso's speech and the ensuing debate. ...The original proposal agreed by the assembly's political groups late last week envisioned three electronic checks over the three hour slot and a small fine for MEPs whose absence was registered twice. A short debate on the issue before the presidential meeting already showed the way the wind was blowing. UK Liberal MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford called the idea a "massive own goal" adding: "You have damaged the reputation of the European Union and indeed President Barroso."

Mr. Barroso obviously is not happy about the fact that nobody knows who he is or cares what he has to say, because the next story is from the Telegraph, which reports that Barroso's staff is being dramatically expanded in an effort to "boost his media and political profile." But this is not just an example of how international bureaucrats waste taxpayer money. There's also a very offensive and reprehensible plan to corrupt journalists by paying the expenses of reporters traveling with Europe's deservedly-invisible chief bureaucrat.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the former Portuguese prime minister, will also have a photographer and television producer available 24 hours a day, as well as the services of a team of four speechwriters to call on at all times, under the new strategy to boost his media and political profile. The new measures to "personalise" his image were revealed in a leaked letter written by Viviane Reding, the Justice Commissioner, who is in charge of EU communications. ....The EU has already come under fire for spending more than €8 million euros on entertaining, "training" and "informing" individual journalists last year, and devoted particular attention to those from Ireland in the run up to that country's referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. ...The package of measures include a team of eight staff to update his website, monitoring and rebuttal of blogs criticising the EU, rapid verbatim transcripts of all the Commission president's public remarks - and, from next month, a plan to pay the costs of reporters travelling with Mr Barroso or other commissioners to "important meetings abroad".

Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless

The gilded nobility otherwise known as politicians get lavish compensation packages, particularly when fringe benefits are part of the equation. But that doesn't include their first class travel to exotic overseas locations. And even that doesn't count the walking-around money they get - sometimes as much as $300 per day. But they're supposed to actually spend their "per diem" money, not keep it, and this has gotten some of them in trouble. Here's an excerpt from a Wall Street Journal report on the issue.

Congressional investigators are questioning a half-dozen lawmakers for possibly misspending government funds meant to pay for overseas travel, according to people familiar with the matter. ...Congressional rules say the daily travel funds, called a per diem, must be spent on meals, cabs and other travel expenses. But when lawmakers travel, many of their meals and expenses are picked up by other people, such as foreign government officials or U.S. ambassadors. That can leave lawmakers with leftover money. Lawmakers routinely keep the extra funds or spend it on gifts, shopping or to cover their spouses' travel expenses, according to dozens of current and former lawmakers. The cash payments vary according to the cost of living and range from about $25 a day in Kabul to more than $250 a day in one part of Japan. Lawmakers also usually request and receive an additional $50 a day. Leftover funds can add up to more than $1,000 a trip for longer visits to expensive regions. ...The travel inquiry is the latest in a string of ethics investigations in the House that could hurt Democrats at the polls in November by undermining the party's message that it has "drained the swamp" of ethics abuses in Washington. The House ethics committee is also pursuing high-profile cases against Democratic Reps. Charles Rangel of New York and Maxine Waters of California. Both lawmakers could face public proceedings in coming weeks that would be the congressional equivalent of a trial.

Taxpayer-Funded Sex Trips to Amsterdam?!?

I think Viagra subsidies for sex offenders are an absurd example of government stupidity in America. I'm also amazed that European taxpayers are forced to pay for penile implants for bureaucrats at the European Commission. But I'm almost speechless to learn that British taxpayers are financing hanky-panky with prostitutes in Amsterdam for some disabled citizens. According to the Daily Mail, taxpayers across the pond also are paying for lap dances, though it's unclear why some beneficiaries are allowed to travel to foreign countries while others stay home. I have great sympathy for people who are disabled, and I certainly have no problem with them purchasing sexual services, but I agree with the guy from the Disability Alliance that this is not an appropriate role for government.

A 'man of 21 with learning disabilities has been granted taxpayers' money to fly to Amsterdam and have sex with a prostitute. His social worker says sex is a 'human right' for the unnamed individual - described as a frustrated virgin. His trip to a brothel in the Dutch capital's red light district next month is being funded through a £520million scheme introduced by the last government to empower those with disabilities. They are given a personal budget and can choose what services this is spent on. The man's social worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said his client was an 'angry, frustrated and anxious young man' who had a need for sex. ...The trip emerged in data from Freedom of Information requests which revealed that many councils are using the money from the government's Putting People First scheme to pay for prostitutes, visits to lap dancing clubs and exotic holidays. ...Critics yesterday said the use of taxpayers' money to fund sex trips abroad as 'deeply worrying'. In Greater Manchester and Norfolk, social care clients have used their payments for internet dating subscriptions. ...Neil Coyle, director of policy at Disability Alliance, said most people with disabilities did not want or expect the state to pay for sexual services. 'Public bodies don't exist to find people sexual partners,' he said.

The Private Sector Always Does a Better Job than Government

Using road management as an example, John Stossel explains that government does a bad job than the private sector, even at things that theoretically are a government responsibility. Part of this is because of the profit motive, to be sure, but a big reason is probably because government bureaucracies inevitably are filled with overpaid bureaucrats who understand that job security is best assured by maintaining problems rather than solving them. Stossel makes an excellent point by noting that "contracting out" is not the same thing as genuine free enterprise. But at least it means whatever government is doing (either good things or bad things) will be done for less cost and with more competence.

Free enterprise does everything better. Why? Because if private companies don't do things efficiently, they lose money and die. Unlike government, they cannot compel payment through the power to tax. Even when a private company operates a public facility under contract to government, it must perform. If it doesn't, it will be "fired" -- its contract won't be renewed. Government is never fired. Contracting out to private enterprise isn't the same thing as letting fully competitive free markets operate, but it still works better than government. Roads are one example. Politicians call road management a "public good" that "government must control." Nonsense. In 1995, a private road company added two lanes in the middle of California Highway 91, right where the median strip used to be. It then used "congestion pricing" to let some drivers pay to speed past rush-hour traffic. Using the principles of supply and demand, road operators charge higher tolls at times of day when demand is high. That encourages those who are most in a hurry to pay for what they need. ...for years there was a gap in the ring road surrounding Paris that created huge traffic problems. Then private developers made an unsolicited proposal to build a $2 billion toll tunnel in exchange for a 70-year lease to run it. They built a double-decker tunnel that fits six lanes of traffic in the space usually required for just two. The tunnel's profit-seeking owners have an incentive to keep traffic moving. They collect tolls based on congestion pricing, and tolls are collected electronically, so cars don't have to stop. The tunnel operators clear accidents quickly. Most are detected within 10 seconds -- thanks to 350 cameras inside the tunnel. The private road has cut a 45-minute trip to 10 minutes.

A Spending Quiz from the "Rebel Economist"

My former Heritage Foundation colleague has returned to youtube.com with a video asking taxpayers whether examples of government waste are true or false.

Taxpayer-Funded Penile Implants?!?

I never thought "penile implant" was a term I would use on this blog, but that's because I never thought I would read a story about taxpayer funding of the procedure. The only good news is that this is a story about fringe benefits for the politicians and bureaucrats in Brussels, so European taxpayers are being raped (no pun intended) rather than American taxpayers. But phallic implants are just the tip (no pun intended) of the iceberg. European taxpayers also provide unlimited viagra, heroin replacement drugs such as methadone, and mud baths to the euro-crat elite. Even American politicians haven't figured out how to bilk taxpayes like this (or, if they have, they are clever enough to keep the information hidden).

EURO MEPs can claim for viagra on their health insurance - and the taxpayer picks up the bill. All Brussels officials and politicians can get the sex aid drug for free if needed. They can even claim for heroin replacement methadone under the European Commission scheme. Other free options include willy implants, the UK Independence Party discovered. Marta Andreasen, an MEP for the party, said: "It is utterly bonkers what British taxpayers are funding for Eurocrats. "Surely if they want these things, they should be able to pay themselves. It is a total waste of taxpayers' cash." ...Last year it was revealed MEPs receive public funding for massages and feng shui. Other perks which qualify include mud baths, hydromassage and mild electric shock treatment. The TaxPayers' Alliance last night blasted the wasteful perks in Brussels. Spokesman Matthew Sinclair said: "Taxpayers expect to see their money spent on providing essential services, not Viagra. The Government should insist on a better deal from Brussels."

P.S. I'm very proud of myself for resisting the impulse to make jokes about "stimulus."

Should Interpretive Dances about Sexual Abuse of Altar Boys Receive Taxpayer Subsidies?

I may have to rethink my pessimistic assessment of David Cameron. As I've noted before, he strikes me as a George-Bush-style big-government faux conservative. But according to this Washington Post article, the coalition government in the UK may impose some real budget cuts (as opposed to phony Washington-type cuts that are just reductions in planned increases) on arts funding. The right level of subisdies for art is zero, of course, so I'm sure I'll still be disappointed, but if Cameron can do the same thing across the budget and actually shrink the burden of government spending to less than 45 percent of GDP, I may be in a position of having to (cheerfully) admit that I was wrong. Here's an excerpt from the story.

The art scene exploded in Britain over the past decade.... The fuel for that boom: a surge in generosity from Britain's single biggest patron of the arts -- the government. But now cash-strapped and desperate to slash the largest budget deficit in Europe, the new ruling coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats is moving to close the curtain on an era of what they describe as excessive government patronage. The coalition is preparing to cut arts funding so dramatically that it could sharply reduce or sever the financial lifelines for hundreds of cultural institutions from the National Theatre to the British Museum. The cuts would be more than a temporary fix. Officials are calling for a permanent shift toward the U.S. model of private philanthropy as the main benefactor of the arts... The move underscores the profound changes in the role of government that are taking place from Greece to Spain to Britain. It happens as European nations scramble to rein in runaway spending, in part by slashing public funds to sectors that came to survive -- even thrive -- because of them. In Britain, public aid to theaters, museums and other institutions jumped from $654 million in 2000 to $876 million this year... the budget cuts to the arts are a small part of a broader push by the coalition government to slash spending and right Britain's finances over the next four years. ...critics say the cuts to arts funding -- cultural leaders say they have been warned that reductions could reach 40 percent over four years -- appear set to be among the deepest... Large arts institutions in Britain often garner more than 50 percent of their budgets from public funds, compared with roughly 10 percent for major institutions in the United States. That is precisely what the British government says must change. Although the cuts have not yet been detailed, some organizations, including the UK Film Council, are already in the process of being shut down. The government has also demanded major institutions come up with contingency plans for 25 to 30 percent reductions in public funding. Officials from the ruling coalition are openly calling for a shift to U.S.-style fundraising to fill the gap. But critics insist it could take a generation or more to open the wallets of the British elite. Compared with the United States, there is a relatively small culture of philanthropy in Britain, with little special social status bestowed on corporations or wealthy individuals who support the arts. ...cultural leaders are largely resisting the notion of dramatically increased dependence on private funding, pointing to the severe shortfalls U.S. arts institutions faced as donors cut back in the aftermath of the recent financial crisis. They are also opposed on artistic grounds, insisting it would put more pressure on institutions to censor their works. Spalding, for instance, said it was exactly the independence afforded by government funding that has helped London become a beacon for controversial pieces, such as one staged last year at Sadler's Wells in which the pope sexually abuses an altar boy through interpretive dance.

I'm particularly amused by the final excerpt about taxpayer subsidies for an interpretive dance about the Pope molesting altar boys. Is Britain so messed up that a moocher like Spalding thinks it is compelling to cite that bit of "art" as an argument for government funding? I imagine that Spalding thinks of himself as bold and brave for being associated with such a production. Does anybody think that this leech would put on a similar production focusing on Mohammed rather than the Pope?

Great Moments in Government Waste

I'm sure if you read the Constitution with enough imagination, you'll find (perhaps in invisible ink) the section stating that the federal government is supposed to provide subsidies to help specific companies market soap made out of goat milk. But my imagination isn't that strong, so my reaction to this story is that the federal government already has too much money and that the crooks in Washington should not be allowed to raise taxes by even one penny.

A small business in Santa Fe has received a federal grant to help market its natural soaps and lotions. U.S. Senator Tom Udall, D-NM, and Terry Brunner, state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, held a celebration ceremony for Milk and Honey Soap LLC to highlight the USDA’s Value Added Producer Grant program. The company received $12,500 to market its products. ...Daven Lee, owner of Milk and Honey Soap, sells soaps and lotions made from goat milk and beeswax online and at the Santa Fe Farmers Market. She will use the funds to expand her marketing efforts, with the idea of growing it into a wholesale venture.

The Defense Department Is also Filled with Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

Advocates of limited government generally focus on domestic spending, pork-barrel projects, and entitlement programs. This is target-rich territory, to be sure, and especially inviting because most of the relevant programs and department shouldn't exist. But just because national defense is a legitimate function of the federal government, that doesn't mean that national security outlays are somehow immune from waste, fraud, and abuse. Here's an all-too-typical story from Federal News Radio about the Defense Department being unable to account for a staggering 95 percent-plus of the funds channeled through the Development Fund for Iraq.

The Defense Department is unable to account for $8.7 billion of the $9.1 billion in Development Fund for Iraq monies in received for reconstruction in Iraq. This according to a study published today by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. ...The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) finds that only one Defense organization actually set up the accounts required by the Treasury. "The breakdown in controls left the funds vulnerable to inappropriate uses and undetected loss," SIGIR says. The study recommends that the Secretary of Defense create new accounting and reporting procedures to avoid such mistakes in the future. It also recommends designating an executive agent to oversee progress, establishing measurable milestones, and determining whether any DoD organizations are still holding DFI funds.

Great Moments in Government Waste

Isn't it nice to know that the federal government has about 100 separate programs to fund community activities that supposedly help fight crime? And isn't it even nicer to know that there is no evidence that the money (which gets spent on things like pool parties and donut-eating contests) actually does any good? Senator Coburn has released a report about this wasteful spending and CBS News has a story about how the Department of Justice is squandering your tax dollars.

With a $13 trillion debt, why is the Department of Justice spending money on parties and rollercoaster rides rather than investigating crime, drug cartels, prosecuting terrorists? Untold millions of your tax dollars are paying for recreation in the name of crime prevention: pool parties, rollercoaster rides, and police donut-eating contests. The idea is that fun activities keep kids out of trouble, build self-esteem and prevent crime. ...Now, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)has found nobody is measuring just how much is spent on the recreation - or whether it even works. Sen.Tom Coburn, R-Okla., estimates well over $100 million tax dollars over five years has been spent on recreation to fight crime. Coburn says poor tracking leads to questionable spending. At least $200,000 was spent for officials to attend conferences at golf resorts in Florida and Palm Springs, or a film festival featuring "Santa, The Fascist Years." ...Just last month, an Oklahoma City program was found to have misspent hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal crime prevention funds on things like a giant flat screen TV, 40 pairs of binoculars and $200 Japanese-style swords. Police said most of the binoculars were never used and there was "no legitimate purpose" for the swords. Twelve other federal agencies and 99 programs fund similar community programs.

Great Moments in Government Waste, the European Version

It's aggravating and maddening to send tax dollars to Washington and watch them get wasted on pork-barrel projects and inefficient programs. Imagine how much worse it would be, though, to send tax dollars to an international bureaucracy and be utterly helpless to stop the worst kinds of boondoggle spending. That's how taxpayers from European nations must feel when they discover, as the Daily Mail reveals, that the European Commission bureaucrats squandered close to $20 million to conclude that fruit is a healthy food and to create a "Mr. Fruitness" superhero character.

EU bureaucrats have squandered millions of pounds on a study which reached the unsurprising conclusion that fruit is good for you. An astonishing 13.8million euros - some £11.7million - has been spent on research involving 200 scientists which found that 'two apples a day keep cholesterol at bay'. Much of the money went on developing and promoting a green-skinned EU superhero called Mr Fruitness designed to persuade children to eat more fruit. ...The multi-million pound project called IsaFruit lasted four years. ...The website set up to publicise Mr Fruitness...describes him as 'a superhero with special powers that come from the nutritional substances in fruit - vitamins and others; key components of an intelligent and conscious diet'.

Great Moments in Government Waste and Taxpayer Ripoffs

Senator Coburn's office circulates a "Pork Report" every day, which I probably shouldn't read since my blood pressure spikes. Today's collection of stories included this outrageous example of federal bureaucrats living the good life with our tax dollars.

Federal investigators said Benjamin Clayton, a former U.S. Department of Energy employee is a crook who racked up $10,000 in unauthorized purchases by using his government issued gas card over and over again.' Clayton served 25 days in a lockup. In Ohio, a top Commerce Department official, David Mullins, was investigated and fired for misusing his gas card and his government vehicle for unauthorized fill-ups and unauthorized drives through Ohio and forged receipts. Our investigation of government records, handwritten memos and audits found hundreds of pages of reports. Federal workers have been misusing their debit cards in recent months for everything from steak dinners to video game systems, college tuition, drinks, flights, hotels and travel. So how many government workers are walking the street with government-issued credit cards? It is a shocking 1.7 million workers. ...government debit card purchases will top $30 billion nationwide this year. That is $4 billion more than just a year ago.

Great Moments in Government Waste

Politicians often talk about the supposed value of federally-funded research and development, which sometimes sounds like a good idea to people unfamiliar with the incompetence, inefficiency, red tape, and bureaucracy of even well-intentioned programs. But it turns out the government-financed R&D also is boondoggle for academics looking to get on the federal gravy train. Here's a blurb from a report in Science Daily indicating that our tax dollars were used to fund a study on whether soccer referees are more likely to call fouls based on the direction of a play. This may genuinely be an important issue for the sport, but then the leagues, teams, and/or fans should pay for the research. I'm particularly puzzled why this study was funded, in part, by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, but I really shouldn't be surprised at the creativity of bureaucrats when they're wasting our money.

Soccer referees may have an unconscious bias towards calling fouls based on a play's direction of motion, according to a new study from the of University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Researchers found that soccer experts made more foul calls when action moved right-to-left, or leftward, compared to left-to-right or rightward action, suggesting that two referees watching the same play from different vantage points may be inclined to make a different call. ...This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health [RO1 DC004817, RO1 DC008779] and the National Science Foundation [subcontract under SBE0541957].

Here's a ridiculous example of waste that relates to something I do every day. The National Science Foundation is squandering more than $1 million to study the "tags" people use when posting things on the Internet. Amazingly, though, I actually managed to use tags for this blog post like "Boondoggle," "Taxpayer Ripoff," and "Government Waste" without being subsidized by other people's money. Maybe I should submit a grant request, just like the moochers from McAlester College.

Dr. Shilad Sen, assistant professor in the Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science Department at Macalester College, has been awarded a four-year, $1.2M grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study tags, or words that people use to describe videos, photographs and web pages online. The grant will lay the groundwork for research collaboration between Macalester College and the University of Minnesota. Macalester’s portion of the grant is about $250,000. ...It studies tagging, the assignment of descriptive labels to objects such as videos on YouTube. Sen and his students will develop ways to measure the health of a tagging system, create tools that help users improve the tags in a system, and explore new web applications that use tags to navigate a collection of items (videos, photos, etc.). Improving the effectiveness of tagging will help millions of users find the information, products, and services they seek.

Canadian Boondoggles and Russia Is More Capitalist than the U.S. (Again)

The G-20 gab-fest is in Canada this weekend, but Canadian taxpayers are definitely not winners. In a display of waste that might even embarrass a French politician, the Canadian government somehow is going to squander $1 billion hosting the event. I can't even conceive of why such an event should even cost $10 million. Maybe hookers are very expensive up north. One interesting policy issue at the meeting is that the United States is siding with Euro-socialist nations in pushing a bank tax. Fortunately for taxpayers and financial consumers, the former communists in charge of Russia are helping to block this money-grab. This adds to the irony of Russia recently proposing to eliminate capital gains taxation while Obama (and the U.K.'s Cameron) are increasing the tax rate on entrepreneurship and investment. The world is upside down. The EU Observer reports:

With international eyes focusing on the potential 'stimulus versus austerity' scrap between different member states, Canadian citizens meanwhile have reacted in uproar at news that the weekend's bill is set to total over $1 billion. Although 90 percent of that cost comes under the 'security' heading, it is a artificial lake intended to impress journalists in the press area that has come in for the heaviest criticism. The controversy may not be helped by the forecast lack of tangible results set to emanate from the two sets of meetings... The need for a global bank levy provides one the more concrete topics for discussion, but there is no guarantee that participants around the table will come to an agreement. "In the G20, the idea of a bank levy is not supported by at least half of the members," Russian ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov told a group of journalists on Friday morning in Brussels. "Neither is it acceptable to Russia," he continued, arguing that banks would merely pass on the extra costs to their clients.

Great Moments in Government Waste and Stupidity

Here's a depressing story from the Columbus Dispatch that shows the government's ability to be incompetent and wasteful at the same time. A labor dispute that never should have existed (but did, thanks to the incestuous relationship of unions and government) eventually led to nine employees getting paid for an entire week to take naps and have a coloring contest:

A group of Postal Service employees in Columbus spent five days in late May and early June being paid to do no work. A supervisor told them to stay in an area of the processing and distribution center near Port Columbus. The nine men played cards and took naps. One of them brought in coloring books, and they had a contest to see who could make the prettiest picture. They all earned their regular wages, $20.58 to $26.34 per hour. This was the latest move in a labor tangle that began with the Postal Service trying to save money. ...Months of negotiations and legal filings followed. In May, a Postal Service attorney argued to a board administrative judge that the appeals were now moot. The truck drivers had been given their driving jobs back, the attorney wrote. Except that was true only on paper, say Kidwell and the eight other drivers. They weren’t driving trucks. They were playing cards and having a coloring contest. They spent a few days training to be letter carriers, a job they wanted even less than mail handler. But they never drove trucks. Letters from the Postal Service to the drivers also make it clear that they would be “drivers” for one, two-week pay period only. Then, “you will be placed into the Letter Carrier Craft,” said the letters, signed by Marvin B. Coleman, the manager of labor relations for the Columbus Postal District.

Fiscal Centralization Will Accelerate Europe's Debt Crisis

David Ignatius continues his odd habit of drawing wrong conclusions from Europe's fiscal crisis. In a previous post, we made fun of one of his columns because he said America needed a value-added tax to avoid a Greek-style crisis. Yet since Greece has a VAT, he was, for all intents and purposes, arguing that we should copy Greece's policies to avoid Greece's problems. Now he has a column saying that Europe needs fiscal centralization to make the euro work. This is a rather interesting assertion since Ignatius comes from a nation that shows that it is possible to have a common currency with 50 different states with 50 different fiscal policies. Perhaps this is why he wrote an entire column on the topic without ever offering any analysis or evidence for his position. Here's an excerpt:

...there's a radical mismatch between the ideal of economic integration and the reality that the eurozone has 16 different fiscal regimes -- a disconnect that helped produce this crisis. ...With this crisis, [Italian President Giorgio Napolitano] argued, Europeans must finally accept that union "implies a partial transfer of national sovereignty." The current halfway integration simply isn't strong enough to support a common currency, he suggested. ...Investors keep pounding Europe in part because they don't yet see the mechanisms that will enforce discipline. The European Union just established a trillion-dollar bailout fund, but what happens when it runs out? There's a pledge to impose strict conditions on Greece, Portugal and the rest in exchange for loans, but it still isn't clear how Brussels will make this austerity regime work. ...What worries me is that the dictates of economics and politics are now in conflict in Europe. To sustain its common currency, Europe needs integrated fiscal policies that are enforceable on all members.

Given his reliance on empty assertions, let's step into the vacuum and make two observations. First, letting Greece officially default would have been the best way to enforce fiscal discipline. A default would have radically curtailed Greece's ability (and the ability of other European nations) to overspend by borrowing cheap money and leaving the bill for future generations. The bailout, by contrast, rewarded profligacy and sent a signal to other European nations that it is possible to over-tax and over-spend and send the bill to taxpayers in other nations.

Second, a centralized fiscal policy would exacerbate Europe's fiscal problems by creating a tragedy of the commons. The existence of a pot of money in Brussels would encourage every nation to maximize its share of the loot, in the same way that a bloated federal government in Washington subsidizes bad fiscal behavior by state politicians. It wouldn't matter whether the centralized fiscal policy replaced a portion of national budgets or (more likely) represented an additional source of government largesse. Europe's problems exist because too many people have learned to try to live off the labor of too few people. Another layer of government makes that problem worse, not better - especially since it would open up the possibility of having people from other nations bear the burden.

American and German Taxpayers Should Be Rioting, not Blood-Sucking Greek Bureaucrats

My blood pressure spiked after reading this story from the UK-based Times. The Greeks are rioting in the streets because they want our money (i.e., an IMF bailout) and they want to keep all the inefficient and wasteful government policies that caused the crisis. In other words, these bums and leeches want my fiscal burden to increase so they can get bonuses for things such as (this is not a joke) using a computer or (gasp!) getting to work on time. They want me to pay more so that children can "inherit" parents' pensions and some bureaucrats can get 18 months of pay for 12 months on the job. Unbelievable.

The violence came as negotiations were concluding between the socialist government of George Papandreou, the IMF and the EU over a multi-billion-euro rescue package for Greece. ...Economists regard the bloated civil service with its jobs for life and generous pensions as a cancer consuming the country’s resources. The older generation, the experts grimly concur, turned the state into a giant cash machine to be plundered at will. ...Bureaucrats will raise their fists at the barricades in a general strike and protests on Wednesday to protect their considerable perks from the IMF. They and other public sector workers are virtually unsackable, can retire as early as 45 and get bonuses for using a computer, speaking a foreign language and arriving at work on time. Some of them get as many as four extra months’ salary a year, compared with the 14 months that are paid to other Greek workers. One of the most generous bonuses is paid to unmarried daughters of dead employees in state-controlled banks: they can inherit their parents’ pensions. ...It costs more to transport a sack of potatoes from northern Greece to Athens than from Athens to Dusseldorf, because haulage, like many other sectors of the Greek economy, is an impenetrable cartel. When Michalos started a commodities trading business in London in the 1980s, the paperwork took him 48 hours, he said. In Greece’s “Soviet-style” economy he had to go through 117 bureaucratic procedures to get the right government permits. A wealthy friend of his had taken 10 years to win permission to put up a hotel.

Paying for Pro-Bureaucrat Propoganda

The government is wasting so much money in so many ways that it takes something really odd to shock me, but this story from the Federal Times certainly meets that test. The Office of Personnel Management is actually squandering money on a marketing campaign to improve the image of bureaucrats. Call me old fashioned, but I think the image of bureaucrats will increase if they spend some time figuring out ways to save money rather than coming up with innovative ways to waste it:

The Office of Personnel Management is working on a new marketing campaign intended to boost the public's opinion of federal employees. OPM Director John Berry said his agency is surveying liberal and conservative citizens about their impressions of federal workers and issues most important to them. Once that survey is done, OPM will contract with a marketing firm to "come up with the right vocabulary, the right messaging and the right energy that we believe will re-polish the public servant's image," Berry said at the Excellence in Government conference in Washington this morning. Berry said that the government's outreach efforts should focus on employees' specific jobs to counter the perception of civil servants as bureaucrats. ...Berry's comments came a day after the Pew Research Center released a survey showing that the public's trust in the federal government has reached historic lows. Just 22 percent of Americans say they can trust the government almost always or most of the time, the survey found. That's down from 31 percent in January 2007, and down from 40 percent in February 2000. Surveys conducted by other organizations in late 2009 and early 2010 yielded similar numbers. The last time national polls consistently showed this level of mistrust was in the mid-1990s. Public discontent could hurt government agencies' ability to recruit and retain employees, said Tim McManus, vice president for education and outreach at the Partnership for Public Service.

Defending the Honor of Drunken Sailors

Very funny, though it is also tragic if you really think about it. I recall Reagan using a line like this in his speeches, though perhaps that is just my aging memory playing tricks on me.

Great Moments in International Bureaucracy

Much of Europe is dealing with a fiscal crisis caused by too much spending and economic stagnation caused by excessive taxation. But for the bureaucratic elite in Brussels, the important business of wasting other people's money never goes on holiday. So it is quite appropriate that the latest hare-brained scheme from the continent is subsidized vacations. This is not a joke. Or, if it is, many newspapers have fallen for the story. The UK-based Times reports on this vital new addition to the list of human rights financed by other people's money:

An overseas holiday used to be thought of as a reward for a year’s hard work. Now Brussels has declared that tourism is a human right and pensioners, youths and those too poor to afford it should have their travel subsidised by the taxpayer. Under the scheme, British pensioners could be given cut-price trips to Spain, while Greek teenagers could be taken around disused mills in Manchester to experience the cultural diversity of Europe. The idea for the subsidised tours is the brainchild of Antonio Tajani, the European Union commissioner for enterprise and industry, who was appointed by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister. The scheme, which could cost hundreds of millions of pounds a year, is intended to promote a sense of pride in European culture, bridge the north-south divide in the continent and prop up resorts in their off-season. ...The European Union has experience of subsidised holidays. In February the European parliament paid contributions of up to 52% towards an eight-day skiing trip in the Italian Alps for 80 children of Eurocrats. Tajani’s programme will be piloted until 2013 and then put into full operation. It will be open to pensioners and anyone over 65, young people between 18 and 25, families facing “difficult social, financial or personal” circumstances and disabled people.