Count on Bloomberg to give Congress a financial literacy quiz. Of course, also count on Bloomberg to slant so severely in the direction of fiscal conservatism so as to dull its credibility to near-zero figures. Still, occasionally we get a half-way amusing passage out of the piece.
8. The purpose of the tax code is:a) To empower astute government bureaucrats to pick economic winners and losers. (For a history of recent picks, see ethanol subsidies, which contributed to food shortages, hundreds of millions of dollars in food aid for developing countries and an increase in greenhouse gases.)
b) To ensure full employment for lobbyists;
c) To encourage ``good'' behavior, such as homeownership, and discourage ``bad'' behavior, including smoking and drinking.
d) To create enough lucre to pay for the 11,610 pork-barrel projects in fiscal 2008, the second highest ever and a 337 percent increase from 2007, according to Citizens Against Government Waste, a private, non-profit group dedicated to eliminating waste in the federal government. This is after ``Congress adopted earmark reforms last year,'' the CAGW says.
A Financial Literacy Quiz for Congress [Bloomberg]
Posted by guest, Apr 22, 2008 11:21AM
Commentary by Caroline Baum