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

• If we are ever to get our budgetary house in order by limiting the size and scope of government, central planning bureaucracies like the Economic Development Administration have to (finally) go.
• Firefighting is a purely local concern and should be funded by those who benefit from a local fire department’s services — not federal taxpayers.
• House Republicans say that they will not support a debt increase unless the Democrats agree to equal-sized spending cuts. The crucial question is: Will the proposed budget savings be real cuts or smoke-and-mirrors “cuts”?
• The U.S. Postal Service’s problems: the response thus far from Congress couldn’t be more typical: a combination of apathy, ignorance, and a desire to avoid making difficult decisions by kicking the can down the road.
• The Department of Labor has been added to the website.

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