As reported in a new article for the Wall Street Journal, “Pension Gaps Loom Larger,” David Reilly notes that based on unrealistic return assumptions, the nation’s largest public employee pensions could face big shortfalls: “Many of America’s largest pension funds are sticking to expectations of fat returns on their investments even after a decade…
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In an incisive, recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Sara Murray reports that: “Efforts to tame America’s ballooning budget deficit could soon confront a daunting reality: Nearly half of all Americans live in a household in which someone receives government benefits, more than at any time in history. “At the same time, the…
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In Slate, James Ledbetter reports that “Social Security’s disability insurance is expensive, destructive, and out of control.” “Throughout the year, economists and both houses of Congress have debated whether to extend unemployment insurance for another 13 weeks, or 26 weeks, worried that the payments would bloat the deficit or, worse, actually cause people to…
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Citizens Against Government Waste reports that the U.S. Senate’s version of the 2011 Department of Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Act includes 590 projects ($2.2 billion) with an increase of 29.4% in costs over Fiscal Year 2010’s 588 projects. “The significant increase in the number of projects is indicative of senators’ continued…
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Through the Freedom of Information Act, Judicial Watch has obtained copies of Treasury Department documents that show that President Obama’s Compensation Czar (“Pay Czar”), Kenneth Feinberg, received an annual GS-15 salary of $120,830, contrary to the claims that he was unpaid. “Jill Farrell, a spokesman for Judicial Watch, said her organization had sought clarification…
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Kevin Williamson at National Review has further discussed his June 2010 projections of total long-term, U.S. national debt being $130 trillion. In a 2008 Forbes article, economist Laurence Kotlikoff had more conservatively estimated the debt to be $70 trillion. What Williamson points out now though is that both the total, money supply of the…
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The Associated Press reports that having received a $50 billion bailout in corporate welfare from the U.S. government, General Motors Corporation (GM) is giving its new CEO Daniel Akerson a $9-million pay package, the same deal received by his predecessor Edward Whitacre. Akerson is the fourth CEO in less than two years at Government…
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In an article by Janet Adamy, the Wall Street Journal reports that contrary to the claims of the Obama administration, rates for health insurance for individuals and small businesses are projected to increase by as much as 20%. Although such rate increases primarily apply to new policies, “consumers could be subject to the higher…
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In her September 4th article in the Wall Street Journal, “How Government Unions Became so Powerful,” Amity Shlaes traces how federal protectionism, collective bargaining, and striking powers for public-sector unions have created government labor monopolies for which private workers are forced to pay ever higher taxes for generous pensions and other benefits: “This weekend…
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This new interactive graphic from the Wall Street Journal traces the growth in job gains and losses in the United States from December 2007 through August 2010. The results show that all sectors of the U.S. economy have dramatically declined except for employees in education, health care, and government, with federal and state workers…
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