The press and many fans of Obamacare are beginning to wake up to problems with the healthcare law. It appears reality, not the Utopia that was promised, is settling in. I have written about this in an earlier blog found here. Now, the New York Times is pondering another possible scenario with respect to the law and employers. […]
COINS Act Makes Cents
On June 6, 2013, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), along with Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) introduced S. 1105, the Currency Optimization, Innovation, and National Savings Act. This bipartisan legislation would save the United State $4.5 billion by eliminating the $1 bill and replacing with the $1 […]
Boneheaded Bonuses and Boondoggles
Just when you thought the IRS had been properly chastised and humbled for its egregious behavior with respect to its over-the-top spending on training conferences, some $50 million between 2010 and 2012, the agency is now preparing to hand out $70 million in bonus money to its employees. This is being done in spite of […]
Show Ex-Im the Ex-It
The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) is among the federal government’s least-known but most obvious examples of corporate welfare. Its populist mission – the subsidization of American exports – might appeal to a wide swath of economically unsophisticated observers, but it is nonetheless an unfair giveaway of tax dollars. The Ex-Im bank […]
Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others
In April, I wrote about a developing story that some members of Congress were looking for ways to get themselves and their staff out from participating in Obamacare. There was such a large kerfuffle and outrage about it that news reports quickly surfaced that Congress was doing no such thing. Yesterday Politico broke another story […]
Reform on Sugar Policy Isn’t Getting Sweeter
The Senate overwhelmingly approved its version of the Farm Bill on June 10, 2012 with a vote of 66-27. There is plenty to say about what is in the $955 billion legislation—with more than $760 billion for going to food stamps and nutrition programs, and billions more going to various other programs, it seems that […]
Internal Revenue (Dis)Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is under heavy scrutiny after a report by the Inspector General (IG) at the Treasury Department. Recent videos have surfaced showing IRS employees practicing the popular dance, “the cupid shuffle” and parodying Star Trek. Costing more than $50,000, these videos add visual representations of the service’s recent misuse of tax […]
No Sweeter Time for Sugar Reform
Among the bevy of wasteful, misguided, market-distorting policies that comprise U.S. agricultural policy, perhaps none is more convoluted or a product of cronyism than the commodity support program for sugar.
Recovery Audit Contracting: The Wave of the Future
On the large list of sources of waste in Medicare, improper payments are near the top. According to a February 27, 2013 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, “In 2012, the Medicare program covered more than 49 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries at an estimated cost of $555 billion, and reported improper payments estimated to be more than $44 billion.” Medicare’s high level of complexity and susceptibility to improper payments are among the reasons that the GAO designates Medicare as a high-risk area. One method that has proven successful in reducing improper payments is the increased usage of recovery audit contractors (RACs).
Another IRS Box-Office Hit!
We’ve heard a lot about the IRS’s over-the-top targeting and harassment of conservative and tea party groups and how the agency delayed the groups’ applications for non-profit status. But the hits just keep coming for the IRS. This past weekend, we were treated to the spectacle of IRS employees doing a tax-payer funded line dance […]