(Washington, D.C.)  – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is baaaaack…with its annual compendium of Halloween tricks and treats.  While the public squares of many of the country’s large cities are being occupied by disgruntled pod people who decry Wall Street greed and express a rabid hostility to capitalism, they should instead be protesting vampiric Washington politicians who plague taxpayers with wasteful spending.  The biggest “trick” of all is the fact that on October 31, 2011 the U.S. national debt will surpass the nation’s gross domestic product.  This $14.9 trillion burden hovers like a spectre over the country and promises to be a nightmare for future generations.     

Trick:  After more than a decade of relentless pork-barreling, Congress was forced to adopt an earmark ban after the mid-term elections, when a posse of fiscally conservative freshmen stormed Congress and ended the practice. 
Treat:  The earmark ban isn’t really holding, as CAGW has found piles of pork in the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bills.  

Trick:  The Department of Energy (DoE) immolated $535 billion in taxpayer funds on a loan to Solyndra.  The DoE’s loan guarantee program has been an ill-conceived corporate welfare giveaway program from the start and is so poorly managed that it was no surprise that a crony capitalistic creature like Solyndra would eventually slink out of that swamp. 

Treat:  Congress finally loosened its death grip on funding the alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter.  The engine was unnecessary and undesired by the Defense Department, but kept alive with a steady infusion of earmarks.  The alternate engine has been mummified for now, but could return to life if taxpayers are not vigilant.    

Trick:  The Obama administration and the Federal Communications Commission have relentlessly moved ahead with net neutrality rule-making, a policy that will suck the life’s blood out of a vibrant, competitive Internet. 

Treat:  Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius bowed to fiscal reality, announcing on October 14, 2011 that the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act was unworkable.  CLASS was just one of the many “Abbie Normal” policy scraps that were stitched together to bring the Frankenstein-like Patient Protection Act to life.  CLASS was designed to charge participants premiums for at least five years before any benefits actually kicked in, a funhouse-like gimmick used to conjure up phantom deficit reductions.  In reality, CLASS is goblin’ up taxpayer dollars.

Trick:  The fiscal werewolves are howling at the door of the United States Postal Service, which creeps closer to its financial abyss and a possible taxpayer bailout.  The USPS’s demise could be a poison pen letter to taxpayers.          

Treat:  The International Fund for Ireland, a long-standing earmark which got $486 million since 1986, appears to have evaporated.  If former Speaker of the House Tip O-Neill (for whom the IFI was created as a parting gift) were still around, he’d probably scream like a banshee, but taxpayers are cackling with glee at the thought that the IFI may have finally gone to its grave. 

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.