The problem is people believe them when they say that is what it is for. Think USAID at the state level. A small percentage will go to any effective measures.
“The problem is people believe them when they say that is what it is for.”
True that. But government malfeasance and incompetence is a different matter.
Just look at the $33 BILLION pissed away in California supposedly to build a train from Visalia to Bakersfield (two end-points with zero need for a train linking those two small and medium sized cities)