By the narrowest margin ever the Senate has confirmed Janet Yellen to head the Federal Reserve. She will be the first female Fed boss, but that’s not the news. As the New York Times put it, Yellen is “an influential proponent of the Fed’s extraordinary measures to revive the economy.” She told the Times…
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Obamacare does not fall short in ways to abuse Americans. It inflicts on them a grotesque federal plan based on paternalism and lies. Obamacare takes away from millions of Americans the health plans they chose, liked and wanted to keep. Obamacare subjects Americans to a dysfunctional and insecure website, built by crony incompetent contractors…
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While monitoring federal debacles such as Obamacare and the stimulus package, taxpayers should not lose sight of local governments such as Los Angeles County, whose population of nearly 10 million exceeds that of many states, with a bureaucracy to match. Los Angeles County once maintained something called the Office of Public Safety, a police…
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2013 was a banner year for waste, fraud and abuse in government, with several strong contenders for the top ranking. Companies that got hundreds of millions of dollars under the federal stimulus package continued to go bankrupt, and the federal largesse failed to revive the economy. The Internal Revenue Service made life difficult for…
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President Barack Obama repeatedly told Americans that under Obamacare they could keep their health plan but that turned out to be an “incorrect promise,” as the New York Times famously put it. Obamacare took away Americans’ health plans by the millions, which was the plan all along. Obamacare mandates more expensive plans with weaker…
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The holiday season will be rough for many Americans, particularly those staring down the barrel of higher health insurance premiums due to Obamacare. The national and state economies are not exactly booming but for some city officials in California the Christmas stocking has been stuffed chock full all year. Recent data from the state…
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Troubles mount for the Affordable Care Act but a default position among Obamacare acolytes is that the state exchanges are a shining success story. A recent Sacramento Bee report calls that into question. Covered California is “spending tens of millions of dollars on two-year grants ranging from $250,000 to more than $1 million” to…
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According to a December 5-8 Gallup poll, a full 72 percent of Americans say big government poses a greater threat to the United States than big business or big labor. That strong majority of Americans has good reason for concern. Government holds a monopoly on police power. It was the federal government of the…
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Santa may still be en route but the elves at the California Air Resources Board (CARB) have already made their list and checked it twice. CARB bosses want to help low-income people by buying them cars. CARB now hands out $1,000-$1,500 for motorists to get rid of older vehicles. Under the new plan the…
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As this column documents, the federal government is an engine of waste, fraud and abuse lately exemplified by Obamacare and the stimulus package. For their part, state governments are fond of boondoggles such as California’s so-called “bullet train.” But when calculating the cost of government, taxpayers would be wise to factor in local waste…
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