In a recent poll, a sizable portion of young Americans said they would rather vote for a giant meteor to strike the Earth over either of the two presidential candidates. There might be a reason for such a dark and depressing result. The first two presidential debates have utterly failed to discuss important issues facing the nation with any depth, choosing to focus on shenanigans instead of substance.
Wireless Tax Burdens Continue to Grow
In December 2005, there were 207.9 million wireless subscriber connections in the U.S. As of the end of December 2015, that number had grown to 377.9 million wireless subscribers, a gain of more than 170 million over the ten-year period. Today’s mobile devices and services provide much more than just the ability to make a […]
Medicare Making Improper Payments to Prisoners
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently exposed vulnerabilities that end up costing taxpayers hundreds of billions in wasteful spending due to erroneous and sloppy billing, and outright fraud. The OIG’s October 7, 2016 report documented that even though The Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization […]
Medicare Making Improper Payments to Prisoners
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently exposed vulnerabilities that end up costing taxpayers hundreds of billions in wasteful spending due to erroneous and sloppy billing, and outright fraud. The OIG’s October 7, 2016 report documented that even though The Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization […]
USPS Poorly Manages Owned Properties and Gas Rights
On September 20, 2016, the United States Postal Service (USPS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report titled “The Oversight of Oil and Gas Mineral Rights.” The report sought to assess USPS’ oversight of their oil and gas mineral rights. What should surprise no one, the OIG found that there is significant room […]
Morning Joe Is Wrong: Medicare Does Negotiate Drug Prices
Today on the Morning Joe Show, a false narrative was perpetuated: Medicare does not negotiate drug prices. The show’s eponymous host, Joe Scarborough, called for free-marketers to call Congress and demand that the government negotiate Medicare drug prices. Joe needs to supervise his producers’ research better. The free market is very much involved in negotiating […]
President Clinton Did Not Say What You Think He Said
There’s been a lot of hoopla about former-President Bill Clinton’s recent criticism of Obamacare and the news media is playing some of the more juicer tidbits. So you’ve got this crazy system where all of a sudden, 25 million more people have health care and then the people that are out there busting it […]
Clinton/Trump Round 2: Taxpayers Deserve a Policy Debate
Before the first Presidential debate on September 27, 2016, CAGW proposed policy questions that would enlighten taxpayers as to where each candidate stands on critical government waste issues facing the nation. Unfortunately, the debate utterly failed to discuss any of these issues with any depth, choosing to focus on shenanigans instead of substance. Hillary Clinton […]
Nothing to See Here. Move Along.
Yesterday, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) finally received an answer from the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics regarding an ethics complaint that we, and nine other signatories, submitted to them more than a year ago. The complaint, submitted on June 25, 2015, requested that the Senate Select Committee on Ethics investigate the senators and/or […]
Transparency Needed at the FCC
There is a problem with transparency at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) relating to the sharing of information with the public on critical regulatory matters under consideration. The most recent issue to arise relates to the proposed mandates being considered by the agency regarding set-top boxes. The notice of proposed rule-making was issued on February […]