Betsey Stevenson, Columnist

Where Trump Should Look to Cut Costs

The most wasteful spending is in the tax code.

April 20, 2017 at 10:30 AM UTC

Betsey Stevenson is a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan. She was on the president’s Council of Economic Advisers and was chief economist at the US Department of Labor.

Should the government subsidize this?
Photographer: Gabriel Bouys/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Have you ever tried the Kondo approach to decluttering? The main idea is that you decide what to keep, rather than what to get rid of. If something is bringing you joy or actually needed, it stays. If not, it goes.

This is the approach that the president’s administration and Congress should be taking to federal spending every year. Unfortunately, that's not happening -- including under Donald Trump’s much-touted reorganization of the government.