Waste Not, Want Not — but First Define Waste and Want

• By Stan Collender
• Roll Call Contributing Writer
• Sept. 29, 2009, Midnight

Gallup released a poll two weeks ago that unwittingly but perfectly explains the ever-intractable politics of the federal budget. The poll, which was released Sept. 15, found that the average American believes that 50 cents of every tax dollar collected by the federal government is wasted.