Friday, September 26, 2008

Government Waste

While Congress is considering a $700 billion bail out to refuel the nation's economy, I cannot help but be reminded of some government spending that really irks me:

The United States Postal Service - Why do they advertise? Not only does the Federal government spend money on media air time and print advertising, but there is also money spent on creating the content for this advertising. I work in marketing and I KNOW that this stuff is not cheap. Think about it. Why does the post office need to advertise? Americans with any type of physical address or P.O. box get mail every day. When I've finished composing a letter I don't stop and wonder how I'm going to send it. I put it in an envelope and walk 20 yards to my mailbox to send it. I don't need to call anyone to pick it up or do anything special (other than stick a stamp on the envelope--and these days I don't even have to lick them anymore).

The Lottery - I realize that this is a state government issue, but it's another example of government spending gone wrong--and it also has to do with advertising. Again, I ask the question, why does this arm of government advertise? If people stop playing the lottery, then let it dissolve. It seems ironic to me that the government would spend money to entice people to gamble. I'm not so much against the idea of gambling a dollar or two on the lottery (although I've only played it a few times in my life), but why do we have to spend money reminding people about it?

Ok, that's my rant. I promise to get back to more meaningful topics like cardboard boxes and McRib sandwiches.

7 comments:

Uvulapie said...

I've thought the same thing about the Postal service advertising. We all know about it because it's been there our entire lives. But what about people who didn't have such a luxury? What about the illegal aliens? THEY MUST BE TOLD ABOUT THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE! But it would be too obvious that they are using the tax dollars of legal Americans to pay for advertising to illegals if they put these ads in Spanish so instead they embed subliminal messages, which of course cost even more marketing dollars to produce. Those subliminal messages ain't cheap, folks!

Frank Gillespie said...

My state just approved the lottery a few years ago with the promise of it being a fix-all for the funding of education. The result; we’re still 47th or 48th in the nation.
Like you I’ve no problem with the lottery per se, but the promised interest just isn’t there and now the state is advertising in overdrive mode.

jan said...

Perfect post. Give the man a soap box!

Hunny Bee said...

Amen.

And I have to add one more, though it's just a local issue in my town. Our parks dept. spent a gazzilion dollars to build a new work-out center for public use. It has an indoor water park, tennis courts, child care and state of the art equipment. Guess how much it costs to join???

$1,000.00 per family!!!! (I know some might consider this a deal, but we already paid a boatload for it out of our taxes, so what the heck???)

A thousand freeeeeking dollars for a family of three (you gots to pay more after that if your family is bigger) for something we already paid for out of our property taxes, which went up by 23% this last year. Yes, I said 23% in one year--by referendum (I'm surrounded by idiots). And they were already high to begin with. And yes there is smoke coming out of my ears right this very second just thinking about it.

Also, they built a new park in our neighborhood with nice indoor plumbing bathrooms and of the dozens of times I've been there since it opened the bathrooms have been unlocked twice. ??????????

Makes me so mad I could spit.

Unknown said...

Saturday's big NASCAR race at the new race track in Kansas built on property seized by emminent domain by our government was the Kansas Lottery 300. As if we don't know there is a state lottery each time we pass the flashing neon signs in the windows of every grocery store or gas station in the state. Sheesh.

Mr. E said...

This government of ours does tend to get on our nerves from time-to-time. That's why I wasted 4 blogs about my thoughts about what is going on in Washington, D.C. and Wall-Street.

As long as I can afford a Chick-Fil-A Chicken Buiscuit in the mornings my own personal economny is not so bad.

Rebekah said...

Post Office? Whats a Post Office?