Cost of Promises in Last Night’s State of the Union Speech
According to this press release today from the National Taxpayers Union, the ‘price tag’ of President Bush’s SOTU speech sank to a “Record-Low $91 Million.” The NTU says that’s the “smallest amount” since they first started tracking the Presidential addresses in 1999. They identified 18 possible items with a potential budget impact with 11 increasing spending and 2 reducing spending. They identified the American Competitiveness Initiative with a $10 billion annual cost as the largest spending item. According to the White House, it would “encourage American innovation and strengthen our nation’s ability to compete in the global economy.” We are tempted to agree with Mark Steyn who asked, at National Review Online, “Isn’t there something a little ridiculous about the government, which has no competition, running a competitiveness initiative?” If Growls readers haven’t bookmarked the NTU website, yet, we encourage them to do so, and visit their website frequently to learn the latest government scams to fleece taxpayers!