Swag Industry Does Not Care For Obama's War on Government Swag

Barack Obama's latest hard-charging attack on federal waste is a presidential directive complete with triumphant press release officially ordering government agencies to cut back on the purchase of promotional products, aka "swag," that will somehow save taxpayers millions of dollars they probably did not realize they were spending on Supreme Court-themed Magic 8-balls or ATF assault-rifle pendants or whatever for the couple of low-level federal employees who got to keep their jobs to hand out in the Visitors Centers. Hooray for less useless novelty items going straight to clog up America's bloated landfills, right? NO, according to Big Swag trade industry people, who strongly object to this War on Crap, because it might give Americans the erroneous impression they are supposed to quit buying Crap all day long.

The Hill reports on this outrage:

“For the president to say that buying promotional products is a waste is extremely troubling and shows how little he knows about the industry,” Matt Bertram, president of Fields Manufacturing, said in a statement. “This is again another example of our administration making quick decisions that will hurt small business.”

To be fair, Obama could have probably spared the ugly trinket industry this pain just by shutting down the $139-million-per-year gulag it runs in Cuba to make sure 171 filthy terrorist prisoners don't so much as touch American soil, but, eh, priorities. [ The Hill ]