Last night, as you may have heard, America’s film industry threw itself a massive party, and while some of the attendees looked to be in danger of starving, none of them looked especially poor. Anyhow, today the media is buzzing over Ang Lee’s upset and the 22-year-old Jennifer Lawrence’s win for Best Actress. However, before the Oscars began, Glenn Reynolds (of Instapundit fame) pointed out an Oscar injustice that should have moviegoers across the country livid: the billions in tax breaks and giveaways handed to movie studios each year. Here’s Reynolds, from Saturday’s Wall Street Journal.
The Right Stuff to Cut
Incoming Joint Economic Committee Chairman Kevin Brady’s (R-Texas) National Review Online op-ed, “What Kind of Cuts Grow the Economy,” makes it clear that the right kind of spending cuts will increase economic growth and create jobs.
Implement GAO Reforms: Culberson-Coburn or a Commission?
While February 2nd has long been recognized as Ground Hog Day, perhaps February 5th – at least for this year – should be coined Government Waste Elimination Day. On February 5, 2013, CAGW President Tom Schatz testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (OGR).
GAO Releases Updated High-Risk Series
Every two years, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) releases a report listing areas in the federal government it deems are at a high-risk of waste, fraud, and abuse.
Heads in the Sand (or somewhere else)
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) today became the latest in a growing list of Democrats who claim that the federal government does not have a spending problem.
One for Three, and Savings for All
“To sequester, or not to sequester?” That appears to be the question for many of our congressional Hamlets.
Rep. Pelosi’s Comment Misses the Mark on the U.S. Budget Problem
This weekend, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) spoke with Chris Matthews on “Fox News Sunday.” During the interview, Pelosi delivered a quote that may be the early front runner for most absurd quote of 2013: “It is almost a false argument to say that we have a spending problem.
Emergency Spending: a Bipartisan Failure
On January 29, 2013, President Obama signed into law a $50.5 billion relief bill aimed at helping victims of Hurricane Sandy. Despite complaints from many fiscal conservatives – Citizens Against Government Waste included – that the bill had been unnecessarily fattened up in order to serve parochial interests, the deal got done. Its passage marked an important victory for politicians like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), both of whom had publicly and loudly excoriated Congress for dragging its feet.
Sequestration: The Sky is Not Falling
WasteWatcher
January, 2013
Sandy Relief Bill is a Disaster
On November 18, 2012, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) told Politico that spending cuts triggered by the “fiscal cliff” projected to take effect on January 1 would be “devastating,” and that they would “really compromise our domestic security and our capacity to respond to emergencies and disasters like [Superstorm Sandy].” For that bit of scare-mongering, Sen. Lieberman was named Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) Porker of the Month.