"Starve the Beast" Theory in One Sentence

Krugman’s leeches analogy today spurs me to comment:

If the police department in your town is doing a bad job and the crime rate is high, the obvious solution is to cut funding for the police department!

Sounds a lot like bloodletting theory, dontcha think? We’ll just drain off the bad blood! It’s so simple and obvious!

Cross-posted at Asymptosis.