Do you like the idea of your federal tax dollars paying for a $1.2 million study in Georgia to evaluate the nutritional benefits of pecans -- and to promote the sale of pecans worldwide?
Does that sound like something Washington should be paying for -- or something the pecan industry itself should fund?
We have nothing against pecans. They make marvelous snacks and pies.
But it's hard to see anything in the Constitution that provides for the federal government to get into the pecan-promotion business.
What makes that spending even more ridiculous is that prices for pecans around the world are already at record highs -- mainly because of growing demand for the nuts in Communist China and other foreign nations.
In fact, a pound of unshelled pecans today goes for $3, compared with $2.35 a pound just one year ago, The Associated Press reported.
It doesn't sound as if the pecan industry needs any help from Washington.
But it's getting that help anyway -- and you are footing the bill through your tax dollars and through higher U.S. debt.
Considering that sort of absurd and unconstitutional spending, it is little wonder that so many Americans are skeptical that the federal government is seriously interested in reducing our catastrophically high budget deficits.