I was just surfing the news before bed and I ran across a story that demonstrates in a few hundred words exactly what is wrong with the policies of our current elected leaders.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/19/feds-try-stimulate-healthy-eating-produce-incentive-cash/
The gist of it is that the U.S. Agriculture Department is spending 20 million of tax payer dollars on a 7,500 person pilot program to provide a 30% subsidy to poor people who buy fruits and vegetables.

Let that sink in.

Our country is so far in debt that our kids will probably have to work 3 days of the week just to pay their taxes on the income that they get to keep for working the other 2 days. Irregardless, the all-knowing, all-meddling federal government thinks it wise to spend money we don’t have on fruit subsidies for food stamp recipients.

The proponents argue that bad food is cheap and good food is expensive, so the reason so many poor people are fat is because the healthy food is too expensive for them to afford.

Uh huh. You can get a chicken breast and a fruit cup at Jack-in-the-Box for the same price as a burger and fries. Yesterday my step dad bought whole cantaloupes at the store for $0.49 each.
It is more challenging to eat healthy on a budget. I know that to be true. It is also irrelevant. Lots of things are more challenging when you are poor then when you are well-off. That’s a big part of the incentive to earn more money.

Next week perhaps we will read an article that the government wants us to subsidize gym memberships for those who can’t afford them. It’s the same logic.

What about the kids? The Super Nanny government wants to know. How about this crazy idea? Let’s pretend that the parents are responsible for their kids. It’s a wacky idea, I know, this personal responsibility thing. Especially since we read recently that food stamp cards (they’re like ATM cards) were being used at casino ATMs. There are a lot of slot machines with fruit on them…

Let me save the government 20 million of our money: this pilot is not going to work. I guess that money is spent already though.