Pros and cons of federalist set- up

3. Aid allocation doesn’t match any consistent idea of need.

A 1981 report by the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations concluded that “federal grant- in- aid programs have never interpretation of national needs.” With highway aid, for example, some states with greater needs due to growing populations— such as Texas— consistently get the short end of the stick on funding. It was found that even if funds were allocated to the states based on need, state- level decisions can nullify federal efforts.

4. Grants reduce state policy diversity.

Federal grants reduce state diversity and innovation because they come

5. Grant regulations breed bureaucracy.

Federal taxpayers pay the direct costs of the grants, but taxpayers at all levels of government are burdened by the costly bureaucracy needed to support the system. As many of the 16 million people employed by state and local governments must deal with complex federal regulations related to hundreds of aid programs. That tangle of programs not only creates a lot of paperwork, it may also lead to more fragmented planning of disaster response.

6. Grants cause policymaking overload.

One consequence of the large aid system is that the time spent by federal politicians on state and local issues takes away from their focus on truly national issues.

7. Grants make government responsibilities unclear.

All three levels of government play big roles in such areas as transportation and education, thus making goes, when every government is responsible for an activity, no government is responsible.

8. Common problems are not necessarily national priorities.

Policymakers often argue that various state, local, and private activities require federal intervention because they are “national priorities.” But as President Reagan noted in a 1987 executive order: “It is important to recognize the distinction between problems of national scope ( which may justify federal action) and problems that are merely common to the states ( which will not justify federal action because individual states, acting individually or together, can effectively deal with

The federal aid system is a roundabout way to fund state and local activities that serves no important economic or practical purpose. The system has many widely- recognized failings, but a web of special interest groups block reforms. Those groups include the hundreds of trade associations that represent the recipients of federal aid and the millions of state and local employees that depend on federal aid to pay their salaries.

The aid system thrives not because it creates good governance, but because The system allows politicians at each level of government to take credit for spending, while blaming other levels of government for program failures.

Pros and cons of decentralization