This article categorizes all federal programs into two groups: spending programs (giveth) and mandates such as regulation and taxes (taketh). The author surmises that it is possible to control the “taketh” programs but it is virtually impossible to control the “giveth” programs such as federal spending.
The aforementioned conclusion is in part based upon a conjecture as to what the application of differential game theory to the problem would yield. The end result is that analysts who work on controlling “taketh” programs will probably have greater success than those working on “giveth” programs. The aforementioned solution might be regarded as a “second-best” solution but it is not all that bad since it is estimated that annual federally mandated regulatory expenditures are, at a minimum, approximately fifty percent of annual federal appropriated expenditures.
