The federal government spends nearly $1 million a year on fees for bank accounts with a balance of zero. The Washington Post calls this “one of the oddest spending habits in Washington” and explains how it works. When federal agencies hand out grants they don’t just send out checks. Rather, they create “an account…
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The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is keeping busy overhauling the nation’s food-safety system, a legacy of the 2010 Food Safety Modernization Act, which tasked the FDA to prevent food-borne illnesses rather than just respond to them. That means the FDA will have to decide which fruits and vegetables will be subject to…
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After the mortgage crisis left many homeowners in foreclosure, the federal government cut a $3.6 billion settlement with banks accused of wrongful evictions and such. But now those settlement checks are being returned for “insufficient funds.” As the New York Times noted, the government chose Rust Consulting to distribute the checks. But Rust failed…
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As a rule, most things that academics argue most about among themselves tend to have very few or little real world consequences. At least, that’s the main insight of what has become known as Sayre’s Law, which states: “Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so…
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How do each of the big budget proposals now circulating about Washington D.C. compare to each other? And better still, how much do each spend per average American household? Political Calculations did the math: Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center provides a year-by-year comparison of each of the different spending proposals: She notes:…
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The federal government funds many things, among them solar energy companies that quickly go bankrupt, such as Solyndra, and luxury cars built in Finland by Fisker, a company that just laid off most of its workers. The federal government also funds the study “Sexual Conflict, Social Behavior and the Evolution of Waterfowl Genitalia.” Patricia…
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The United States Postal Service (USPS) lost nearly $16 billion last year and has been attempting to cut costs by, among other measures, ending delivery of mail on Saturday. This simple, common-sense step has proved difficult and now Congress is backing off from its plan to end Saturday delivery, and it won’t let the…
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Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senator since 1992, recently told an audience in San Francisco that the gun lobby is mounting an intimidation campaign and would attempt to unseat various senators if they support the restrictions she is pushing against so-called “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines. “A fear has set in,” Feinstein said, “that if they…
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The timing couldn’t be any better to ask the question, especially since it follows Burt Abrams’ takedown of Paul Krugman’s “we only owe the national debt to ourselves so it doesn’t matter” argument and the official release of President Obama’s “mind-blowing” budget proposal tomorrow, but here is the answer at least through the end…
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Fisker Automotive has laid off most of its employees, a sign of impending doom for a company some called Solyndra on wheels, with good reason. Fisker got a federal Advanced Vehicle Technology Loan of $529 million, about the same amount Solyndra received before laying off its employees and going bankrupt. The $529 million came…
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