It’s a well established fact that unlike previous U.S. Presidents, President Barack Obama made an unusual practice of bowing to foreign leaders, and particularly China’s and Japan’s leaders as he greets them, which is a major breach of diplomatic etiquette in that by doing so, the President appears to be acknowledging that he is…
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Back in 2013, some 8,000 members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) rallied at the California state capitol in Sacramento chanting, “We’re letting them know this is our house!” In 2012, the government employee unions had helped elect big-government, tax-hiking politicians such as Jerry Brown, and they were now clamoring for more money…
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According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the federal government has borrowed over $1.036 trillion to loan money to U.S. college students through the Federal Direct student loan program through April 2016, with over 86% of that amount having been added since January 2009. David Jesse of the Detroit Free Press reports that for the…
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According to a new whistleblower, supervisors at the the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ central office are abusing their power in ways that include physical and verbal intimidation, sexual harassment, and orders to their staff to not cooperate with Congressional investigations of wrongdoing at the federal government entity. Ashleigh Barry of Phoenix’ KPHO/KTVK News…
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As Craig Eyermann observed last year, veterans who survive combat face health care rationing by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs. Contrary to official proclamations, veterans wait months before they can even get on a schedule to receive care. In Phoenix, as many as 40 veterans died before receiving care, all due to a…
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Eileen Norcross and Olivia Gonzalez of the Mercatus Center have released a new report on the fiscal solvency of each of the United States, Ranking the States by Fiscal Condition. The rankings they determine for each state is based on the following five categories: Cash solvency. Does a state have enough cash on hand…
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The regional transit authority in California’s state capital recently laid off 20 employees, most of them administrators. “We don’t have business needs to justify these positions,” new business manager Henry Li told Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee. In other words, the jobs were not necessary, and therefore wasteful. The staff reductions will save…
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A bill that would allow the U.S. territorial government of Puerto Rico to restructure its debts has passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, where it now needs Senate and Presidential approval to become law. The Wall Street Journal describes the main goals of the bill that passed in the House with bipartisan majorities….
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Last week, based on estimates published by the U.S. Treasury Department, we indicated that Saudi Arabia owns at least 0.6% of the U.S. government’s total public debt outstanding. But that leaves at least two really big questions unanswered: How much is the total national debt of the United States now? And who are the…
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As we noted back in January, the California Coastal Commission, the most powerful land-use agency in the nation, fired executive director Charles Lester. Since high-level bureaucrats seldom lose their lucrative jobs, this move hinted at the prospects for improved accountability. That didn’t happen, however, and the firing of Lester, an appointee beyond the reach…
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