Read More »"/> Read More »"/> October, 2012 | MyGovCost | Government Cost Calculator

Archive for October, 2012

Bipartisan Energy Bust


Wednesday October 31st, 2012   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 1:01pm PDT   •   2 Comments

In 2007, energy researchers at Colorado State University created AVA Solar, which became Abound Solar of Loveland, Colorado, with manufacturing facilities in Tipton, Indiana. The President of the United States, Barack Obama, touted Abound Solar as an example of the clean-energy future, claiming it would create 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs. Members of…
Read More »

The Global Debt Clock


Tuesday October 30th, 2012   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 8:20am PDT   •   6 Comments

We came across a really cool web application over at the Economist: The Global Debt Clock, which visualizes the level of publicly-held debt for nations around the world. The map below shows how much all the governments of the world collectively owe entities other than themselves, according to each government’s public-held debt per capita….
Read More »

Government Funds Gimmickry


Monday October 29th, 2012   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 9:56am PDT   •   1 Comment

Shimon is a robot with four arms who plays marimba, bobs his head, and can reportedly improvise like Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane. Shimon’s inventors at the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology claim that he morphs the styles of the jazz masters and produces novel, surprising arrangements. Shimon’s brief recital at this site…
Read More »

Is Medicare Spending the Biggest Driver of the Deficit?


Friday October 26th, 2012   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 6:06am PDT   •   4 Comments

The University of Michigan’s Robert Dittmar wonders: Up until about 1970, the government more or less balanced its budget. There were surplus years and deficit years, but on average, the government ran a surplus of about $2 billion over the period 1929 through 1969. Starting in 1970, the government began to run sustained deficits, and…
Read More »

UN-good Waste for U.S.


Tuesday October 23rd, 2012   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 9:36am PDT   •   5 Comments

Millions of American workers can’t find jobs and even the freespending Obama administration has frozen federal salaries for two years. But the situation is different at the United Nations, which gets approximately 25 percent of its budget from the United States. The UN employs 489 executives, more than the number of equivalent positions (484)…
Read More »

Fed Battery Boost a Bust


Monday October 22nd, 2012   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 11:08am PDT   •   2 Comments

In 2009 the federal government gave a $249 million grant to A123 Systems, a green energy manufacturer touted by President Obama as an example of “what’s possible in a clean energy economy.” The company used the money to make batteries for electric cars in two Michigan factories. But since 2009 the company lost $857…
Read More »

Justice Light as a Feather


Thursday October 18th, 2012   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 9:16am PDT   •   1 Comment

Native Americans arise – some of you anyway. The United States Department of Justice has a momentous announcement. If you are a member of one of the more than 500 federally recognized Indian tribes you will be allowed to possess eagle feathers. And get this, the Justice Department is giving you this privilege, even…
Read More »

The Growing Complexity of Medicare


Wednesday October 17th, 2012   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 4:58am PDT   •   3 Comments

How many pages does it take to explain the basics of the U.S. Medicare program? If you answered “a lot more than it used to”, you’re right! Each year, legal publisher CCH puts out a book simply titled Medicare Explained, which they describe as follows: A book for Medicare beneficiaries and others who need…
Read More »

EPA Fuels Scam


Monday October 15th, 2012   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 12:21pm PDT   •   2 Comments

The federal Environmental Protection Agency, in keeping with its unofficial Stalinist mascot Che Guevara, likes to posture as a tough law-and-order agency, finding inspiration in Roman crucifixion campaigns, and always on guard to protect the planet from “polluters.” Now it turns out that EPA rules are a target-rich environment for scammers. The 2007 Renewable…
Read More »

Debt Growing Too Fast for the CBO To Keep Up


Thursday October 11th, 2012   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 6:08am PDT   •   3 Comments

For a long time, the Congressional Budget Office’s forecasts for the U.S. national debt have been considered to be the most accurate of all national debt projections. But with the national debt growing so fast in recent years, it appears the CBO is having a very difficult time in keeping up. Sean Parker of…
Read More »

Facebook Twitter Youtube

Search MyGovCost