By Leslie Paige WasteWatcher, December, 2012 The United States Postal Service (USPS) announced on November 15, 2012 that in fiscal year (FY) 2012, which ended on September 30, the agency lost a record $15.9 billion. In June, 2012 at a PostalVision 2020 conference in Washington, Postmaster General (PMG) Patrick Donahoe flatly stated that if the […]
Defense Waste: The Final Frontier
Sean Kennedy As the country careens toward the automatic year-end program cuts and expiration of tax breaks labeled “the fiscal cliff,” Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has been on the offensive, releasing reports in consecutive months highlighting wasteful spending in government. The November Wastewatcher detailed Sen. Coburn’s Wastebook 2012, which targeted 100 projects costing taxpayers more […]
Chevy Volts Fail to Electrify Customers
In the movie Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s character, Ray Kinsella, is on the brink of bankruptcy and debates whether or not it is completely absurd to build a baseball field in his cornfield and expect people to come watch games played by ghosts of former players. In a famous scene, Kinsella is walking in his backyard when he hears a mysterious voice call out, “if you build it, they will come.”
Special Access is all About the Data
The special access marketplace provides dedicated high-capacity connections that serve voice and data needs for smaller carriers, large businesses and government through lease agreements with larger telecommunications providers. In 1999, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to deregulate the special access marketplace, which has helped to spur growth and innovation in all areas of telecommunications. […]
A Vice Presidential Comparison
With the presidential election just around the corner and the lion’s share of media attention going to the nominees, we at Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) thought it might make sense to shed some light on the candidates for Vice President. On November 6, one of these men will be elected President of the Senate and the second most prominent member of the Executive Branch. He will be first in line to assume the highest office in the land, a transition that has occurred without an election nine times.
Weatherization—Money Continues to Pour
It has been three and a half years since Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and the wasted money in this bill has taken its toll on taxpayers. President Obama and cheerleaders for the $838 billion stimulus promised it would be the antidote to a floundering economy, creating anywhere from “thousands and thousands” of jobs to 3.5 million jobs, depending upon which Obama administration spokesperson was making the rounds on the Sunday morning talk shows.
Amtrak: Throw Money from the Train
Since 1971, the federal government has been subsidizing the for-profit passenger rail system Amtrak. The company received $1.4 billion in 2012, and the House of Representatives increased its appropriation to $1.8 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2013. With a trillion dollar deficit and the national debt at a record $16.2 trillion, federal funding for Amtrak […]
The American Infrastructure Crisis
During rush hour on August 1st, 2007, the I-35W Mississippi River Bridge collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring 145 more. This disaster triggered widespread talk about America’s crumbling infrastructure, an issue that has been put on the backburner amidst the Great Recession. Annually, the United States spends approximately $200 billion on surface infrastructure, though it is not nearly enough to combat collapsing bridges and congested roads.
Mandating the Hypothetical: EPA’s Cellulosic Biofuels Mandate
It is no secret that many federal regulations in the United States are ineffective and burdensome to the economy. However, the current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirement for oil producers to purchase non-existent cellulosic biofuels may be the most absurd.
Owe Back Taxes? Have Some More Cash
It has long been clear that, when monitoring the activities of the federal government, one must often suspend natural expectations for sanity and integrity. For example, anyone who fails to pay taxes should be last in line to collect benefits paid for by taxpayers. But if the results of four recent reports are any indication, tax deadbeats are raking in federal cash.