Over at Downsizing Government, we focused on the following issues this week:

• The variation in welfare enrollment among the states points to the desirability of handing off all responsibility for anti-poverty programs to the states.
• A recent stack of audits is a reminder of the bureaucratic bungling that comes with government programs, particularly at HUD.
• Instead of spreading transportation subsidies across every form of transportation, the federal government should cease with the seemingly endless interventions and allow free individuals to figure out what makes the most sense.
• We celebrate the beginning of hockey season with a look at fiscal policy north of the border. First, the Canadian economy boomed during the 1990s and 2000s as government spending was dramatically reduced. Second, the Canadian experience illustrates that a lot of progress can be made if even modest cuts are implemented and then spending is constrained so that it grows at a slower rate than the overall economy.