WasteWatcher - 2012 Archive
WasteWatcher is CAGW's monthly dispatch to members of the news media. Culled from dense General Accounting Office reports, obscure news items, and the occasional account of a whistleblower, WasteWatcher's stories captured headlines by transforming the dry matter of federal financial management into side-splitting -- albeit infuriating -- tales of government ineptitude.
The North Carolina Winston-Salem Journal said of WasteWatcher that it is "a monthly publication that probably deserves wider dissemination than it gets...even heavily discounted to allow for the ax CAGW is grinding, the news from its reports is high in shock value and humor (of the gallows variety)."
2012
January: Connect America Fund: Continuing the Universal Service Fee with No End in Sight | Time to End Earmarks Once and For All | News from ALEC | Minibus Drives Savings | Congressional Meddling in USPS Makes Bailout More Likely | California High-Speed Rail: Way Off Track | Federal Contractor Pensions Protected at Taxpayers’ Expense
February: Obama’s Proposal to Merge Agencies Merits Thorough Review | Lifeline/Link -Up Reform on FCC Agenda | Food Stamp Expansion and Fraud | State and Local Government Benefit Plans Are “Inherently Flawed” | The Elephant in the Room | Obama’s Proposal to Merge Agencies Merits Thorough Review | DHS Grants: Legacy of Waste
March: Taxpayers Charged Billions to Anoint Green Car Manufacturing Winners | Potential Savings Exist in DOD Budget | President Obama’s Corporate Tax Plan Invites Crony Capitalism | Obama Doubles Down on Corporate Welfare | FHA – The Next Housing Bailout | Developing a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights | It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again: GAO Exposes Government Waste and Duplication at its Worst
April: The Pig Book is Dead. Long Live the Pig Book | Congress Should Plug the Holes Before It Raises the Roof | Obama's Budget Ignores More Than It Mends | Why America Must Lower Its Corporate Income Tax Rate | Google Under Fire
May: The Pig Book is Dead. Long Live the Pig Book | Congress Should Plug the Holes Before It Raises the Roof | Obama's Budget Ignores More Than It Mends | Why America Must Lower Its Corporate Income Tax Rate | Google Under Fire
June: States Need More Felxibility, Fewer Mandates to Manage Medicaid | Congress and GSE Reform: "Ready, Fire, Aim"? | USPS in Disarray | Don't Get Fooled Again - Auto Bailouts Still Stink | Despite Federal Largesse, Education Performance Remains Unchanged
July: The FAST Solution to Medicare and Medicaid Fraud | Progress in Campaign to End MEADS | Don’t Let Trade Adjustment Assistance Block Free Trade | Mountain of Government Waste at Yucca | Rampant Waste Reported in NSF | President Obama’s “Campaign to Cut Waste” Has Lackluster Prospects | SSDI Funding at Risk
August: The Budget Control Act of 2011 | The Pig Book is Alive and Well | The Senate Budget Committee - A Story of Failed Leadership | FCC Continues to Forget Ahead with Net Neutrality Regulations | Multi-Billion Dollar CMS Overpayments Continue; Efficiency Programs Fail Spectacularly
September: Slash Sending Now | Without Major Reforms, SSDI Program Headed for Insolvency | Technology Policy Update | To Honor the Fallen, Stop Wasting Money
October: Solyndra Scoreches Taxpayers | Draft Dairy Reforms Would Hurt Consumers, Add Bureaucracy, and Increase Taxes | Senate Backtracks on MEADS, Supplies Earmark | Getting Progra Management Back on Track | Zombie Budget: Payments to the Deceased | Hearing Highlights Benefits and Challenges to Cloud Computing | The Shovel-Ready Jobs Swindle
November: Earmark Moratorium: Earmarks Live On, Transparency Does Not | Government in the Grocery Cart: $15 Billion to Influence Consumer Behavior | FCC Delivers a Turkey for Thanksgiving | Time to De-friend Bad Federal Contractors | Dismantle the USDA’s Milk Marketing Order System | Using Broadband Spectrum Auctions to Reduce the Deficit | Congress and the Criminal CLASS
December: Sequestration Option Considered After Super Committee Fails to Deliver | On Fannie, Freddie, and the FHA, Two Steps Back | As GM's Stock Price Drops, Auto Bailout Cost Goes Up | Another Failing Federal Loan Program | GAO Skewers United Launch Aliance Contract Programs | MEADS Test "Successful", Cost and Purpose Uncertain
