This final note. If you’re going to cut the fat in government, what better place to start than extravagant spending on food.

The Justice Department’s inspector general just finished an audit on what that department has been paying for food at conferences. Too much, it seems. The report out today found the Justice Department spent more than $73 million on conferences in 2009, compared to around $48 million just a year earlier. And it blames things like Cracker Jacks and candy bars served at one break, at a cost of $32 per person. At another gathering, the cost of muffins figured out to $16 — per muffin.

I guess they were made with enriched flour.