Here is a shocker: The federal government encourages wasteful spending.

We know you know this, but the number of ways in which it does so is never-ending.

Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc along coastal areas, but states will use federal disaster funds to rebuild in the same areas, and the taxpayer will again subsidize homeowners through cheap federal flood insurance that encourages them to rebuild in the same flood-prone areas.

None of this makes sense, especially with our current federal debt. Besides the flood insurance program, which Congress is finally looking at, the federal government pays 75 percent of the cost of storm-damaged infrastructure to states and localities.

And the states and localities keep right on rebuilding infrastructure in questionable areas.

New Hampshire shouldn't just tsk, tsk, however. The Granite State bellies up to the federal bar and requests disaster relief for everything from high winds to snowstorms.

This has got to stop. It will, of course, when we are all bankrupt.