A Stitch in Haste

Well, he’s got another 152 million reasons to cry:

The federal government spent $152 million over a 30-month period to cajole Americans into paying their taxes, taking their medicine and staying in school. Agencies involved in public service announcements insist it is money well spent.
…
The Treasury Department, source of the electronic filing ads and a $24 million campaign on the new color of money, spent the most, followed by the Defense Department, at $37 million, and Health and Human Services at $33 million.
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Those agencies commenting on their campaigns invariably said they were successful, although there has been criticism that such campaigns are too expensive or tend to be ineffective.

I suppose informational campaigns for new programs such as those touting e-filing have some justification as legitimate government expenditures. But PSAs that remind us to wash behind our ears or that “friends don’t let friends drive drunk” or “this is your brain on drugs” really aren’t justifiable uses of our tax dollars. That some hack bureaucrat believes that it’s a “good use of my money” should not supersede my belief to the contrary — especially to the tune of $152 million.

POST SCRIPT: For those of you too young to remember the Crying Indian PSA. I remember him, but not “Suzy Spotless.”

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