Ben Carson’s Dining Room Set Is the Tip of the Iceberg

The HUD Secretary’s outrageous spending on tableware is causing an uproar because of how relatable it is — not its cost.

Whatever else it might accomplish, President Donald Trump’s administration has surely earned its place in history for laying to rest the myth of Republican fiscal prudence. Be they the tax dollars of today’s citizens or tomorrow’s, high ranking officials within Mr. Trump’s White House seem to have no qualms about spending them.

The latest in a long series of questionable expenses is, of course, none other than Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson’s now infamous $31,000 dining set, first reported on by the New York Times. Since the Times broke the story, Mr. Carson has attempted to cancel the order, having come under public scrutiny for what many understandably deem to be an overly lavish expenditure on the public dime.

At first blush, Secretary Mr. Carson’s act is egregious. As the head of HUD, he has a proposed $41 billion of taxpayer money at his disposal. Such frivolous and seemingly self-aggrandizing spending undermines public trust in his ability to use taxpayer funds wisely and invites accusations of corruption. It certainly doesn’t help the narrative that, as liberals have noted with derision, this scandal coincides with the proposal of significant cuts to the department’s budget. But the more I think about it, the more I’m puzzled as to why people are so worked up about this.

“And yet, in the realm of government waste, that amount is practically nothing.”

Let me be clear: this certainly isn’t a good look for the Secretary of an anti-poverty department with a shrinking budget and it’s justifiable that people are irritated. At a little more than half the median annual wage, most of us would consider $31,000 an absurd sum to spend on dining room furniture. The money that pays for it does indeed come from private citizens who would probably have chosen not to buy Mr. Carson a new dining room with it.