Only $5 billion

I’m all for huge federal bureaucracies using my tax money to create jobs for unskilled workers. FDR’s WPA program helped to complete a lot of good projects all over the country. But when these programs cause more harm than good, and in particular, when they directly impact me, as in getting a free groping at the airport while trying to haul my sorry butt to a meeting 500 miles away, that’s another matter. As part of the emotional reaction of 9/11, in our infinite wisdom, we decided to federalize airport security, because getting the government involved always streamlines the process, saves money, and improves efficiency and performance. So we created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the federal bureaucracy that now performs screening at airports. A recent GAO report found that there’s no evidence to suggest the TSA is effective in securing air travel and watchdog groups have revealed that not a single internal cost control measure was set up for the agency