$775m in paid leave! What you subsidise?... get more of! OK. So, let me understand this Corn prices took a hammering a few years ago after corn had been subsidised to produce ethanol. It rained and produced bucket loads of corn from land that would have been producing something else, and the farmers took a bath. And the prices for other stuff was artificially high because the land was diverted to producing corn. What you subsidise?, you get more of! Housing prices took a hammering in 07-09 because Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac had been forced or subsidised to offer loans to people that wouldnt have ordinarily qualified. Resulting in a swollen market. House prices artificially rise. Once reality sets in house prices are slashed to re-balance. This resulted in the discovery of poorly qualified borrowers. What you subsidise?, you get more of! The drop in Poverty in the USA hiccupd in 1969 and then completely bottomed in 1973. Johnson introduced the War on poverty in 1969. Subsidising low income earners. Subsides poverty? Get more of it! What you subside?, you get more of! There are 57,000 Government Employees on administrative or otherwise justified leave. This costs $775m, of a $billion! If theyre on admin leave for disciplinary reasons? Why are they getting paid? Or more importantly, what you subsidise you get more of. Subsidise sub-standards. Subsidise immorality. Subsidise insubordination. Subsidise poor performance. Youll get more of it! From the Washington post Auditors found that supervisors used wide discretion in putting employees on leave, including for alleged violations of government rules and laws, whistleblowing, doubts about trustworthiness, and disputes with colleagues or bosses. Some employees remain on paid leave while they challenge demotions and other punishments. By the way? I wreckon thats all thatl be needed to squash Ebola! No? 