Back in 2012 analysts were predicting that the federal bailout of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be the most expensive government rescue of the financial crisis. At the time the cost was $153 billion and rising, and those costs would continue to climb regardless of federal plans for the agencies….
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The recent report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change echoed the usual warnings, but one of the report’s 235 authors offered something of a new spin. Sivan Kartha, a senior scientist with the Stockholm Environment Institute’s US Center in Somerville, Massachusetts, told NPR, “There’s no single techno-fix, there’s no silver bullet,…
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When calculating the cost of government, taxpayers should never forget the Internal Revenue Service and its institutionalized waste. As an official report notes, between October 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012, the IRS gave more than $2.8 million in bonuses to 2,800 employees with “recent substantiated conduct issues resulting in disciplinary action.” So the…
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April 15, the deadline to file returns, looms large on the calendar of many Americans. That date, unfortunately, fails to give taxpayers the full picture of how much of their money government is taking. As the Tax Foundation explains that task falls to Tax Freedom Day, the day when the nation as a whole…
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“This thing is working.” That was President Obama on April 17. “This thing” is Obamacare, and the president says 8 million people have signed up and the so-called Affordable Care Act is covering more people at less cost than most would have predicted just a few months ago. In typical style, the president included…
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The current salary of a U.S. congressman is $174,000 a year, with party leaders in both houses bagging more. House Speaker John Boehner leads the pack with an annual salary of $223,500. The push is now on to increase congressional pay led by Rep. Jim Moran, Virginia Democrat, who laments that members of Congress…
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The first anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing added new confusion to the tragedy. Some politicians still blamed the FBI for not following up on tips from Russian intelligence but a government report blames the Russians for not providing sufficient information. Whatever the case, some facts remain clear. No U.S. intelligence agency, military force,…
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As we have noted, the IRS targets supporters of limited government, calls it “horrible customer service,” and resists inquiry. The IRS also does a poor job combatting fraud, and sends out more than $3 billion to identity thieves. The Social Security Administration has paid out more than $30 million to at least 1,546 dead…
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The federal government maintains an $11.6 billion school lunch program feeding 31 million students daily. In 2010 First Lady Michelle Obama championed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which as this report notes “imposed a dizzying array of requirements on calories, portion sizes, even the color of fruits and vegetables to be served.” The rules,…
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As we have noted the federal Department of Defense wastes plenty of money and even spends on hardware that the military doesn’t need or want. Likewise, Obamacare has been incredibly wasteful but according to this report, taxpayers should also be looking at the State Department, which can’t seem to find how they spent $6…
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