With the triad of scandals rocking Washington this week, you would be forgiven if you were unaware of the fact that we are heading into consideration of a five-year $940 billion Farm Bill, starting Monday. CCAGW, along with ten other taxpayer watchdog and consumer groups, distributed a nice primer on the “Terrible Twelve” items currently contained in the behemoth that should be of serious concern: “Washington’s Farm Policy is a nearly […]
Illinois: Land of Winkin’…and Nudgin’ (Say No More!)
On Monday of this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it was suing the state of Illinois over a lawsuit that alleged that state officials had mislead investors over the health of their pension funds between 2005 and 2009.
To Catch a Thief
‘Tis the season…for tax refund fraud. And the 2012 filing season promises to be a whooper when it comes to taxpayers’ refunds being ripped off.
The Madness of King Barack?
Washington Post Associate Editor and uber-journo Bob Woodward has been blurting out all kinds of cogent things lately, most of it is giving the White House fits. But he is saying what many people are thinking.
It’s Getting Scary Out There…
We just received a copy of Organizing for Action’s email to their supporters. This group is the president’s restructured re-election operation, still carrying on his never-ending campaign.
Dire Straits – USPS Floundering
Those were the exact words of the United States Post Office’s (USPS) Postmaster General (PMG) Patrick Donahoe earlier this week during a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Postal Reform is Coming…
On Wednesday, February 6, 2013, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced its intention to terminate Saturday first-class mail delivery on August 1, 2013. The announcement will certainly trigger a spirited public debate over the impact of such a dramatic change and could prompt resistance or outright obstructionism from lawmakers who don’t believe that the USPS is legally authorized to take such action without congressional approval. But the pronouncement serves to limn, once again, the depth and breadth of the USPS’s financial and structural woes. It also focuses attention on postal officials’ drive to reshape operations to adjust to significant and ongoing drops in first-class mail volume in the face of stultifying, costly labor work rules, excess infrastructure that straitjacket the agency. The USPS announced on November 15, 2012 a record $15.9 billion loss in fiscal year 2102.
Government Waste Watchdogs Under Fire
Federal spending, both in real terms as well as a percentage of gross domestic product, has swollen to near-historic levels. An equally alarming, but less high-profile trend compound taxpayers’ concerns: government watchdogs, tasked to sniff out waste, fraud, and abuse, are being starved of money, compromising their oversight capabilities over the exploding federal leviathan.
FHA – The Next Housing Bailout
On February 29, 2102, like a perverted state-run version of Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist, officials at the bankrupt government-sponsored housing enterprise (GSE) Fannie Mae, after sustaining another $24 billion in losses during the previous quarter, trundled up to the federal trough once again, bleating “May I have some more.” The GSE needed $4.6 billion.
Congressional Meddling in USPS Makes Bailout More Likely
Congress seems to have two legislative speeds: inertia in the face of an oncoming fiscal disaster, or ugly, last-minute scrambles to ram through sham legislation that often exacerbates already fraught situations.