Within hours of the deadly crash of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia, big spenders from Washington and New York pounced on the tragedy as a reason to throw more taxpayer money Amtrak’s way. Let’s begin with the fact that eight people lost their lives in this accident. More than 200 were injured. Politicians and liberal […]
Put a Fork In It: Why Taxpayers are Fed Up with Pork-Barrel Spending
For 16 years, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu fed her constituents powerful promises of pork – pork barrel spending that is. Fortunately for taxpayers, the results of the December 6, 2014 Senate run-off race stifled any of Landrieu’s future attempts at bringing home the bacon, and eliminated the dangerous implications that Landrieu’s fiscal negligence could have […]
By Your Leave: Federal Employees on Administrative Leave Cost Taxpayers Billions
ICYMI, this American Public Media interview with the Washington Post reporter Lisa Rein is a quick primer on a very big problem. In a nutshell, over a three-year period, 2011 to 2013, more than 57,000 federal employees hung out at home for a month or longer while cases of wrongdoing or malfeasance or whatever were […]
See You In Court – Again
One of the things that is becoming more disturbing each day is how the Obama Administration is issuing a tsunami of regulations, interpretive rules, sub-regulatory guidance, executive orders, guidelines, and even divine proclamations on White House tissue paper (just kidding on that last one) that contradict, subvert, or circumvent the law. Even though I just […]
Satellite TV Bill Moves Forward in the Senate
On September 17, 2014, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation approved S. 2799, the Satellite Television and View Rights Act (STAVRA), which would extend for five years the Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act. The current authorization expires on December 31, 2014. While one would think this would only be of interest to users […]
Past Porker Cordray Crimps Car Dealers
So, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is at it again! According to the September 17th, 2014 edition of the Wall Street Journal, the agency announced its intention to regulate the automobile dealers and the finance companies that service them. In prepared remarks, CFPB Director Richard Cordray (named August 2014 “Porker of the Month” by […]
Control, Alt, Delete
Control, Alt, Delete seems to be the standard M.O. for the Obama Administration when they want to extricate themselves from politically damaging, and possibly criminal, behavior. Deleting emails, using alias emails, crashing or losing computers seem to be some of their favored tactics.* Most informed citizens are well aware of Lois Lerner’s lost emails due […]
Here We Go…AGAIN!
President Obama has told the Congress and the country that he will be using his pen and phone to get his priorities implemented. That has meant bypassing Congress and changing, or ignoring, current law. It is well known that this has occurred several times during the horrendous rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA / […]
Federal Agency Hands Out Participation Trophies
According to the website for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the mission of the agency “is to make markets for consumer financial products and services work for Americans — whether they are applying for a mortgage, choosing among credit cards, or using any number of other consumer financial products.” The agency came into existence […]
IRS Should Not Create Software That Already Exists
While very little gets done in Washington during an election year, deadlines must be acknowledged and addressed, such as the expiration of the Internet tax moratorium on November 1, 2014. Two days prior to that critical date, a lesser-known but nonetheless important matter is scheduled to come to an end. On October 30, 2014, the […]