The enormous waste engendered by many subsidy programs of this kind, of course, results in a generally lower standard of living. Even some of the ends that are considered worthy of subsidies may suffer from the general squandering of resources. These losses are compounded by two additional factors:

The bureaucracy that administers the subsidy typically imposes high administrative costs. Unlike the costs of a private charitable organization, these costs are not subject to any kind of market control.
The funds for the subsidy must be obtained by taxation. As we have previously shown, that taxation process reduces productivity (pp. 4.11:91-100), thereby diminishing the wealth that could otherwise be supplied to all of the subsidized ends.