Before announcing his presidential candidacy, Senator John McCain asked Yahoo! users “What would you do to stop wasteful government spending in Washington?” on Yahoo! Answers, the leading Q&A site on the Web.
John McCain’s question has currently solicited over 15,200 answers with responses ranging from placing a limit on politicians’ compensation and tenure, to changing rules for lobbyist endorsements and taking a closer look at immigration policy.
Again, Yahoo Answers helps prove that social media is a resourceful and effective outlet of gathering the public’s feedback and ideas on issues which touch the people of our nation and world.
Senator McCain is the second 2008 presidential hopeful to post on Yahoo! Answers, following Hillary Clinton, who posted her question just over a month ago.
I can see it now… John McCain sitting down in front of his 486 computer and typing out with his 2 index fingers this question looking to start some Social buzz before his announcing of a presidential candidate run.
I’d stumble, digg and del.icio.us that if I knew he did it himself!
What about the government’s transfer payments? Consider the government’s welfare programs. Government spending on food stamps, for example, does not represent government purchases of goods and services. Government simply engineers a transfer of private goods and services from one group in the economy, the taxpayers, to another, the welfare recipients–whose purchases of private goods and services subsititute for the taxpayers’ purchase of private goods and services. In other words, the character of government’s intervention in the allocation of GDP depends on the government spending.