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Budget, Commerce

Federal Bailout No More! State and Local Governments Must Deal With TheirOwn Pension Predicaments

11/01/2010

In December 2008, state governments had nearly $1.94 trillion set aside in pension funds for approximately 20 million active state and local government employees and seven million retirees and dependents who currently receive benefits. 

Using market-based discount rates that reflect the risk profile of pension liabilities, finance professors Robert Novy-Marx of the University of Chicago and Joshua Rauhof Northwestern University calculated that states have pension liabilities of $5.17 trillion, which means that state pension plans are unfunded by $3.23 trillion.  Local government pension plans are unfunded by $574 billion. 

Budget, International, Taxes

Cut Corporate Income Taxes

11/01/2010

America has been called the land of opportunity largely because it has been a place where businesses and individuals prosper.  This has been the result of a stable government, an educated workforce, protection of intellectual property, and a tax rate that historically has been low. Unfortunately, taxes are now going in the wrong direction. 

Budget, Taxes

Extending Bush Era Tax Cuts Will Aid the Economic Recovery

10/01/2010

One of the more spirited public policy debates that hasunfolded leading into the midterm elections has been what Congress should do with the Bush-era tax cuts,which are set to expire at the end of this year.  President Obama has stated he favors only extending tax cuts for the middle class and letting others expire, while businesses, Republicans, moderate Democrats, and taxpayer advocates maintain that anything other than a full extensionamounts to a tax increase that will only prolong the nation’s current economic woes. 

Commerce, Technology, Telecommunications

Privacy Problems

10/01/2010

Privacy may mean different things to different people, but at a certain level everybody wants their privacy protected.  The advent and growth of the Internet has greatly amplified privacy issues. 

As with every other subject that comes to the forefront of the American psyche, Congress is gearing up to offer legislation to “protect privacy.”  As usual, this means Congress could do more harm than good.

Healthcare, PBM, PBMs, Pharmacy Benefits Manager

ObamaCare Challenges Move Ahead in Court

10/01/2010

Over the past two years, taxpayers have watched the national debt climb to a frightening $13.7 trillion as Congress and President Obama massively enlarged the size and scope of the federal government against the will of the people.  Americans have simply had enough of the bailouts, tax hikes, earmarks, onerous regulations, and seemingly endless number of “jobs” bills.  The passage of President Obama’s landmark healthcare legislation, however,was perhaps most symbolic of Washington’s reckless and profligate behavior. 

Budget, General Waste

Pork on Life Support: Time to Pull the Plug

10/01/2010

Save America’s Treasures was one of the 60 programs proposed for elimination in President Obama’s 2011 Terminations, Reductions, and Savings report. Released in February 2010, the report recommended the elimination of the program because it “has not demonstrated how it contributes to nationwide historic preservation goals.”  Its demise would allow the National Park Service to“focus resources on managing national parks and other activities that most closely align with its core mission.”  Citizens Against Government Waste has long criticized the program, which has been the source of tens of millions of dollars in pork since 2001.

Defense, Taxes

Air Force Tanker Struggling to Lift Off

09/01/2010

Replacing the aging fleet of aerial refueling tankers has been an Air Force priority since 2002.  In that year, Congress approved funding for Boeing to lease up to 100 767s to replace the 50-year-old KC-135 tankers.  However, the deal fell apart in a 2004 bribery scandal in which a top Pentagon procurement officer and a senior Boeing official were convicted and served prison sentences.

Budget, Energy

The Perfect Storm for ESPCs

09/01/2010

Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC) is an idea whose time has come.  The federal government is beyond broke.  The budget deficit reached a record $1.4 trillion at the end of last fiscal year.  It is projected to remain over $1 trillion annually for as long as estimators can see.  This level of deficit spending will […]

General Waste, Taxes

Another Sour Note for Taxpayers

09/01/2010

Government watchdogs are familiar with how the federal government squanders billions of dollars a year on duplicative, expensive, and non-essentialgovernment programs.  Now taxpayers have a new reason to be disturbed; aSeptember 6, 2010Washington Postarticlereported that approximately half a billion dollars is being wasted by the Pentagon on military bands.

Budget, Taxes

Time to REIN in the Executive Branch

09/01/2010

On September 22, Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) introduced the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act as the companion bill to Rep. Geoff Davis’ (R-Ky.) legislation, H.R. 3765.  The DeMint legislation aims to stop costly anti-free market and job-killing regulations that are often imposed by federal agencies without any congressional oversight.