The current executive branch of the federal government claims to be the most transparent in history but actually shows unprecedented hostility toward the news-gathering process. That is not a Tea Party press release but an ongoing story that emerged in some detail in a recent CSPAN session headed by Leonard Downie Jr., former executive…
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As we recently noted, longtime Long Island resident Carol Cooke received tax refunds for thousands of dollars, all to people who did not live at her residence. This was obvious fraud but when Cooke contacted the IRS they gave her the runaround. This was not an isolated case. A full 23,994 tax refunds were…
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Federal and state governments always deserve attention but county governments send out the property tax bills. The envelope of mine read: TAX BILL – OPEN IMMEDIATELY No exclamation point necessary. The tone is, “let’s have the wallet, Jack. And let’s have it right now.” Government likes the imperative mood. Inside the taxpayer learns that…
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The partial federal government shutdown came to an end early in the morning of Thursday, October 17, 2013, and the United States’ national debt ceiling was increased, as the nation’s leaders essentially agreed to kick the can down the road for another three months. If no budget agreement is reached by January 15, 2014…
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The United States Postal Service (USPS) lost nearly $16 billion last year, and attempts at reform have proved futile. USPS bosses, who continued to get raises during the recession, want to end Saturday delivery. Trouble is, Congress won’t let them do it, prohibiting a return to a five-day delivery schedule. The USPS expects to…
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Nobody should be surprised that the federal government is doing a poor job shutting itself down. The attempt is providing plenty of drama and long-winded speeches, but some the best lines are coming from comics, not politicians. David Letterman, for example, observed that too many non-essential government workers would seem to be the problem….
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About 17% of the U.S. federal government has been shut down since October 1, 2013, and later this week, on October 17, 2013, the U.S. Treasury reports that it won’t be able to continue play its shell game in keeping the U.S. national debt officially below the legal debt ceiling. In terms of negative…
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In post–World War I Italy, the rise of fascism in that country was marked by Benito Mussolini’s thugs, who made a point of visually distinguishing themselves by wearing black shirts as they engaged in intimidating tactics against Mussolini’s political opposition. Germany’s Adolph Hitler liked that idea so much that he copied it for his…
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Things are getting tougher for those who believe the federal government can trim spending. Consider the case of the Alaska-based Denali Commission, a 1998 project of Senator Ted Stevens aimed at helping rural Alaskans by building power plants and providing job training and health care. As the Washington Post noted, the Denali Commission, “became…
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The federal Environmental Protection Agency wields enormous power but also displays, “an absence of even basic internal controls,” as an inspector general testified during October 1 hearings in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the EPA’s “secret agent.” When he applied with the EPA in 1989, John Beale claimed he had worked…
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