Among U.S. states, Connecticut competes with Illinois for the title of being the most fiscally distressed as a result of the policies its politicians have implemented over the years, where the two states frequently trade off between each other for being in the worst shape. This fall, both states showed some progress toward resolving…
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Charles Manson has died of natural causes at the age of 83, and those unfamiliar with the fellow should read Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, by Vincent Bugliosi. In Los Angeles in 1969, Manson plotted a series of savage killings that were not entirely random. By having his followers scrawl…
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Since 1995, the U.S. Congress has given the most badly behaving of its members and its employees an unusual, secret taxpayer-funded perk. Writing at The Hill, Jennie Beth Martin explains how a law, the Congressional Accountability Act (CAA), that was meant to compel members of the U.S. Congress to live under the terms of…
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Two days ago, the news recently broke that the nation of Venezuela officially defaulted on its debt. Writing at Forbes, Frances Coppola reports on the straw that broke the camel’s back for what had been one of the richest nations in South America. Venezuela has defaulted on two of its US dollar-denominated sovereign bond…
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The United States Postal Service is reporting losses of $2.7 billion for the past fiscal year, USA Today reports, less than the $5.6 billion from the previous year but still the eleventh straight year the USPS has been a loser for taxpayers. Increases in package delivery failed to offset the drop in regular mail,…
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California government in general, and the state Board of Equalization in particular, are hives of nepotism. That ought not to be the case, particularly in a state with a voter-approved law, Proposition 209, against preferences in state employment, education and contracting. Nobody does anything about favoritism and lately lawmakers have been taking it to…
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Last week, the Congressional Budget Office issued its first estimate of how the U.S. national debt would change over the next 10 years as a result of the tax cut legislation now making its way through Congress. That estimate came in the form of a November 8, 2017 letter from CBO Director Keith Hall…
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It’s no surprise that the U.S. federal government does lots of stupid things. Sometimes, those things are meant to save money but, surprise surprise, those things really do the opposite and drive up costs instead. A good example of this unintended effect can be found in Medicare’s Direct and Indirect Remuneration (DIR) fees on…
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During the heyday of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, Emily Bazar of the Center for Health Reporting kept track of how Covered California, the ACA’s wholly owned subsidiary, actually performed. As she noted, Covered California wasted millions on promotion, handed out lucrative deals to cronies, and its $454 million computer system…
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If someone wanted to stop the U.S. government from wasting so much money, a very good place to begin would be to end the power that bureaucrats have to award multi-million dollar contracts without seeking any form of competition among the businesses they will rely upon to deliver results for U.S. taxpayers. Writing in…
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