The federal government has a solution to each and every problem facing man, woman, and child living in the United States of America today. It's simple really. Just add money.

However, while we agree that in the case of a natural disaster (such as Hurricanes Rita or Katrina), or in terrorist attacks (like 9-11), the government should do everything capable to ensure its citizens receive the help they deserve, government spending must be moderated and controlled. One needs only to look at the recent plight of Katrina victims along the Gulf, as suppliers lined up outside of the affected area to deliver ice, food, water and other necessities to people who had lost everything. Yet dozens of truckers, like Paul Mullinaux, who testified before Congress this week, were held off from delivering their cargo, because the federal government had no plan in place to deal with the destruction Katrina wrought. Mullinaux said he was paid $15,000 to deliver 40,000 pounds of ice to victims of Katrina. He waited 12 days at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery before returning to a storage facility in Massachusetts.

And while $15,000 may just seem like a drop in the pot compared to the billions it will take to clean up the aftermath of Katrina, Rita and possibly Wilma, it is this kind of &#8220insidious” waste of taxpayers money - as stated by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) - that irks the general public about the federal government.

As Americans, we are generous by nature. Yet, even we question when our generosity is taken advantage of. Especially by our own government.