As this column documents, the federal government is an engine of waste, fraud and abuse lately exemplified by Obamacare and the stimulus package. For their part, state governments are fond of boondoggles such as California’s so-called “bullet train.” But when calculating the cost of government, taxpayers would be wise to factor in local waste…
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As we have noted, Obamacare violates medical ethics by first doing harm. In the early going, in violation of repeated presidential promises, Obamacare stripped many embattled Americans of the health plans they had selected. This pushed them toward the dysfunctional and insecure Obamacare website, where they would get the news about higher premiums and bigger…
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As we expected, the chairs of the House and Senate budget committees, Paul Ryan and Patty Murray, reached a deal in setting the amount of federal government spending for the next two years. The Washington Post reports on the particulars: Under the terms of the deal, spending for the Pentagon and other federal agencies…
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On December 9, the federal government dumped the rest of its 30 million shares in General Motors, which had become known as Government Motors, for good reason. In 2009, the federal government bailed out the bankrupt automaker to the tune of $49.5 billion and once held 60.8 percent ownership in the company. The loss…
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According to a recent report, a judge has ordered California’s High-Speed Rail Authority to “rescind its original funding plan, a decision that figures to halt state bond funding for the $68 billion project until a new plan is put in place.” That might slow down the project but taxpayers should recall the reasons it…
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If Obamacare (aka the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”) has had any success, it has been in signing up more Americans for Medicaid—the federal government’s program for providing free health care to people with poverty-level incomes. Or, thanks to changes mandated by the Affordable Care Act law, a large number of people whose…
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During the recent 16-day partial shutdown of the federal government, the U.S. economy continued to grow, according to this report on a recent survey by the Federal Reserve. In seven of the Fed’s 12 banking districts, growth was moderate and in regions such as Boston the economy continued to expand. Manufacturing was on the…
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So far Obamacare has been shuffling a deck full of jokers. It’s a bad idea in the first place, based on lies, paternalism and trickery, and enshrined in an elephantine bill few bothered to read but passed anyway. Even supporters such as Montana Democrat Max Baucus described it as a train wreck. The government…
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As one headline put it, “Health Care Site is Doing Better,” something one would say of a child still in bed with a fever. But even before December 1, when everything was supposed to be fixed, the federal health care website remained troubled. This news came from the New York Times, which was willing…
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The Washington Post is carrying a story today about the rising economic misery facing the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, home to 3.67 million Americans, the government of which has racked up $70 billion worth of debt. That places the territory third after California’s $96.4 billion and New York’s $63.3 billion in terms of…
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