Government Advertising

Why should a government be allowed to advertise services to the people?  After all, it takes taxpayer money to fund the advertising and costs more money when people use the services.   Sure, people need to be informed of services available to them in times of need.  But, most of the services advertised would only be missed by people living under rocks.

First, there is the advertising of Healthcare.gov. Really, do we need advertising to promote this? Do you know anyone that does not know about the ACA, aka Obamacare?

What about the cost?  It is no secret that many government plans cost taxpayers excessive amounts.  Just how much is being spent to advertise the handouts?  It is hard to say, since the numbers are so deeply buried in line items that it
is truly hard to know.  Simply stating that millions are being spent is probably an understatement.  But, even $1 Million is too much!  

It is not just Obamacare that gets advertised either.  Numerous other government programs bombard the airwaves.  The Congressional Research Service reported:

Federal agencies spent at least $945 million on contracts for advertising services in fiscal year 2010, and that sum doesn't include all public communications expenditures in the agencies reviewed or even all of the executive branch.

 Furthermore, the CRS went on to report, "It is unclear how much the executive branch, let alone the federal government as a whole, spends on communications each year."   It is scary that even our internal "watchdogs" cannot figure this out.  How is government going to be transparent if it cannot even self report accurately?

Fox News, who also looked at this report, found the following information:

The report found that the agencies are also engaging in using new and social media to communicate -- the government hosts 1,504 federal government domains that carry thousands of websites on them. 

In addition, a Government Accountability Office report of June 2011 found that 23 of 24 federal agencies surveyed had a presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and all 15 of the president's Cabinet agencies have at least one Twitter account.

If there are thousands of websites, Facebook, Twitter and You Tube galore, how many are employed by this monstrosity?  How much money is needlessly spent spreading the good will of man to all our countrymen?

When looking at spending cuts, this would be a great place to look.  The media acts as advertising for the government.  People turn to all sorts of media and word travels fast.  If the government did a survey to find out where people are learning of these programs, one could bet that advertising is WAY down on the list.