The U.S. federal government is giving $3 million to the University of California at Davis despite a recent record of waste, incompetence and corruption at the campus. UC Davis has pepper-sprayed students and abused taxpayers by handing out most of the $1 million federal lawsuit settlement to lawyers, politically correct outside organizations, campus cops,…
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The federal government, more than $16 trillion in debt, saw fit to send the space shuttle Endeavour on a final joyride before it lands in a museum. Riding a Boeing 747, the shuttle’s farewell tour of California included two aerial laps around the state capitol in Sacramento. Fans were snapping pictures of a publicity…
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On a recent C-SPAN show, Richard Cordray, director of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, (CFPB) confirmed that the new federal agency that hasn’t done much in its first 14 months except expand an already bloated and wasteful government during a recession. The CFPB is the result of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform…
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“Solyndra’s power solutions offer strong return on investment and make great business sense.” That is a rather strange claim for the website of Solyndra Inc., accessed on August 29, 2012 no less. Some history is in order. Solyndra was the first renewable energy firm to get federal stimulus money and bagged $535 million in…
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U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) administrator Daniel M. Tangherlini, “serves a vital role in President Obama’s agenda to build a more sustainable, responsible and effective government for the American people.” He has his work cut out for him. Federal workers are paid about twice as much as workers in the private sector, but at…
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In “Bad Rap: Video Spoof Amplifies Agency Ill” (Wall Street Journal), Peter Landers reports that in a rap video produced by a Government Service Agency (GSA) employee, he fantasizes about being a GSA Commissioner and spending lavish amounts of taxpayers’ dollars with no accountability. For the video, he won a GSA contest, which was…
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The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations are lackluster at best. One troublesome aspect of the whole “movement” concerns the poor economic logic underlying their causes. The occupiers are targeting the wrong enemy when they claim corporate greed and income inequality caused by capitalism is generating the problems in Washington. These claims have been propagated by…
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Sam Hananel at the Associated Press reports that despite knowing about the problem since 2005: The federal government has doled out more than $600 million in benefit payments to dead people over the past five years, a watchdog report says. Such payments are meant for retired or disabled federal workers, but sometimes the checks…
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Independent Institute Research Fellow Emily Skarbek is interviewed here by Nick Gillespie of Reason TV regarding the Institute’s very timely and far-reaching Government Cost Calculator. The Calculator enables any American to clearly understand three aspects of federal government spending. First, the Calculator helps you determine how much a person will pay for various federal…
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San Jose City Councilman Pete Constant wants to answer his office phone but the City Hall employees’ union says he should not be allowed to do so. The union has taken the Councilman to court, attempting to force him to hire someone else to be his administrative assistant and answer phones for $70,000 a…
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