The federal government is headed toward a financial crisis as a result of chronic overspending, large deficits, and huge future cost increases in Social Security and Medicare. Social Security and Medicare would be big fiscal challenges even if the rest of the government were lean and efficient,...

The federal government has a large and growing presence in state and local policy activities. This rising intervention has been facilitated by “grants-in-aid,” which are programs that combine federal subsidies with topdown regulations to micromanage state and local affairs. A new analysis...

The federal budget includes a vast array of programs in hundreds of agencies. But when boiled down, the budget consists of just five basic spending activities: compensating federal workers, purchasing goods and services, giving aid to state and local governments, transferring wealth through...