Author Archive: David Theroux

David J. Theroux is Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of The Independent Institute.
Full biography and recent publications

$7.5 Billion in Electric Car Subsidies Is Pure Waste


Wednesday March 23rd, 2011   •   Posted by David Theroux at 8:51pm PDT   •   1 Comment

Margo Thorning writes in the Wall Street Journal, “Pull the Plug on Electric Car Subsidies: They are costly and don’t do enough to protect the environment,” that the flow of taxpayer money into subsidizing plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) is economically and environmentally harmful, a waste, and should be ended now. There are a lot…
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Key California State Workers Receive Half-Million Dollar Payments for Sick Days


Sunday March 20th, 2011   •   Posted by David Theroux at 3:10pm PDT   •   0 Comments

In “State workers’ unused paid time means big payouts,” Marisa Lagos reports in the San Francisco Chronicle that while California has been facing a financial crisis with record deficits and high unemployment, many state government employees are receiving half-million dollar payments for amassed sick days upon leaving or retirement: One public employee received a…
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Obama Understates U.S. Government Deficits by $2.3 Trillion


Friday March 18th, 2011   •   Posted by David Theroux at 5:59pm PDT   •   1 Comment

The Associated Press reports that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) questions the claims of the Obama administration regarding projected budget deficits over the next ten years in which the White House overestimates tax revenues and savings from Medicare payments to doctors. A new assessment of President Barack Obama’s budget released Friday says the White…
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New Video on Spending and Debt Crises for State Governments


Thursday March 17th, 2011   •   Posted by David Theroux at 2:40pm PDT   •   0 Comments

FreedomWorks has produced a very timely new video, “We Won Wisconsin—But the Fight Goes On,” on the very serious, looming crises for state government across the U.S., as a result of the unsustainable entitlements, government employee union costs, and other spending and debt.

“Mandatory” U.S. Spending Alone to Exceed All Federal Revenues


Wednesday March 16th, 2011   •   Posted by David Theroux at 12:38pm PDT   •   0 Comments

Jeffrey Anderson at The Weekly Standard reports that “Mandatory Spending to Exceed all Federal Revenues — 50 Years Ahead of Schedule”. We have now gotten to the point . . . where if national defense, interstate highways, national parks, homeland security, and all other discretionary programs somehow became absolutely free, we’d still have a…
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The U.S. as Welfare State: Government Entitlements Now 35% of Wages


Monday March 14th, 2011   •   Posted by David Theroux at 9:34pm PDT   •   6 Comments

In “Is the U.S. Becoming a Welfare State?”, Daniel Indiviglio reports in The Atlantic that U.S. government entitlement programs now account for a whopping 35% of wages, up from 26% in 2008. Uncle Sam has been aggressively increasing Americans’ allowance recently. Government entitlement programs have grown to account for 35% of wages, according to…
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World’s Biggest Bond Fund Dumps All U.S. Government Debt


Wednesday March 9th, 2011   •   Posted by David Theroux at 7:50pm PST   •   0 Comments

Susanne Walker reports at Bloomberg that because of fears of inflation created by the enormous credit expansion by the Federal Reserve and rapidly increasing U.S. government deficit spending, the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Company (Pimco) has dropped all U.S. government debt from its portfolio. Bill Gross, who runs the world’s…
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Obamacare Waivers Climb to Over 1,000


Sunday March 6th, 2011   •   Posted by David Theroux at 11:16pm PST   •   2 Comments

In The Hill, Jason Millman reports that the the number of organizational waivers issued by the Obama administration from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) has now reached 1,040. What the article does not discuss is that those receiving such waivers overwhelmingly include major government-employee unions such as the Service Employees International…
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Medicare Fraud: $48 Billion at a Minimum


Thursday March 3rd, 2011   •   Posted by David Theroux at 5:08pm PST   •   1 Comment

In an article in Politico, Brett Coughlin reports that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that at least 10% of all Medicare payments (a minimum of $48 billion) are fraudulent and that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are unable even to identify an estimate of the degree of improper payments….
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58% Favor Government Shutdown Until Spending Cuts Are Agreed Upon and 61% Want Cuts


Monday February 28th, 2011   •   Posted by David Theroux at 8:36am PST   •   4 Comments

Rasmussen Reports has released a new poll indicating that 58% of likely American voters prefer a partial shutdown of the U.S. government “until Democrats and Republicans can agree on what spending to cut” and 61% want less spending. As Republicans and Democrats in Congress haggle over the budget, most voters would rather have a…
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