I went to one of the UCs. I've been receiving emails from them asking me to make phone calls in support of their budgets. Support their budgets from what? Raids by other departments as the funds draw down, perhaps?
Yesterday, as my son watched the morning news over a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats, we saw the KUSI news anchor rail against state employees' huge pensions. In the LA Times there was a recent article about a renewable energy zealot who had fleeced their community colleges out of millions.
Not all of these stories are motivated by a desire to make sure the others get cut first, but you can be sure that some are. If I was an activist for the Head Start program and I worked at a newspaper or a TV studio, you can be sure that my ideological allies would be feeding me story leads to make their rivals at the public trough look bad. That's how it works in a society where income is dependent on politics. In addition to hiring lobbyists to influence legislators, you whisper in the news media's ear to get the voters to call their representatives.
When there's not enough food being harvested from outside sources, your nourishment has to come from somewhere.
