Free lunch for everybody! Well, borrowed tax money but...

Think the federal government has cut out wasteful spending? Think again:

The Department of Education is starting a pilot program--budget $4.5 billion--to provide free lunches to ALL public-school students in Detroit.

That's "all"--regardless of income.

Detroit is one of three pilot programs starting this month, but the plan is to expand the program to similar districts nationwide.

The rationale for the program is...are you sitting down? The administration says it wants to pay for rich kids' lunches to keep less-fortunate kids from feeling bad.

“We’ve worked very hard to reduce the stigma,” Aaron Lavallee, a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman, told the Detroit News. “We’re seeing a lot of working-class families who’ve had to turn to free school meals to feed their children.”

If that's true, wouldn't free lunches the next popular social fad? In which case wouldn't it be regarded as a coup instead of a stigma?

“Now all students will walk through the lunch line and not have to pay,” says Mark Schrupp, Detroit Public Schools COO. “Low-income students will not be easily identifiable and will be less likely to skip meals.”

With logic like this, you expect the next program will be to give new cars to all 16-year olds, so poor kids driving old beaters don't get their feelings hurt.

And if you protest, you’re a terrorist.