Cancer care costs are rising, and the 340B outpatient drug discount program is needlessly contributing to the increase.
From the Bureaucracy, With Love: Disguised Costs from Federal Agencies
In 1957, Ian Fleming published From Russia, With Love, the fifth book in his series about the suave MI6 agent, James Bond. In the novel, the Soviet Union’s intelligence agency, led by Colonel Rosa Klebb, sends assassins to disguise themselves as Bond’s allies until Klebb herself leaves Bond’s life hanging by a thread with her poisoned blade. Like Colonel Klebb, the Obama Administration issues regulations under the guise of protecting Americans against some perceived danger, while in reality, they are toxic weapons used to rob taxpayers of wealth and freedom.
Hensarling: “Economic Growth for All, and Bank Bailouts for None”
On June 7, 2016, with the mantra “Economic Growth for All, and Bank Bailouts for None,” House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) unveiled the key principles of his proposal to replace the Dodd-Frank Act with “real reforms that work,” in a speech to the Economic Club of New York.
Can You Repeat That … Please?
Today’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the National Park Service (NPS) included testimony by Director Jonathan Jarvis and Department of the Interior Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall. The purpose of the hearing was to examine how the NPS handles cases of misconduct and unethical behavior and it examined serious issues such as […]
Stop Making Excuses for Obamacare
The Obamacare insurance exchanges are not functioning according to plan. At the hands of insurers and the flawed six-year-old act, patients, taxpayers, and businesses have been handcuffed into paying increasingly high premiums, are facing less consumer choice in coverage, and Americans are quickly finding health care to be just what the Obama administration has fought […]
Purple Money
The largest public-private partnership (P3) in the U.S. is expected to start construction by the end of the year sits just outside the Capital Beltway in Maryland. What Maryland calls the Purple Line, we consider a colossal waste of taxpayer dollars. The Purple Line was first estimated to cost around $2 billion to construct, operate, […]
Time for a Time-Out on Set-Top Box Mandates
It is doubtful the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman thought there would be much concern about his proposed mandates on set-top box standards, which would allow third parties access to program guides and video content without needing to be licensed. Obviously, he was wrong. The proposed set-top box rules would require multi-channel video programming distributors […]
House Budget Committee Hearing on Unauthorized Programs and Mandatory Spending
On June 9, 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on the Budget held a hearing titled, “The Need to Control Automatic Spending and Unauthorized Programs.” The witnesses included: the Honorable David Walker, former Comptroller General to the United States; Stuart Butler, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute; and Lily Batchelder, a professor of […]
Next on Hotel Hell: City of Baltimore
For eight consecutive years, the city-owned and operated Hilton Baltimore has lost money, $5.2 million in 2015. Baltimore’s economy has not been strong recently, and the riots following the Freddie Gray incident haven’t had a positive impact on the city’s tourist business. However, the Hilton was losing money well before the recent troubles. Instead of making $7 million a […]
Keeping Internet Governance in the U.S.
On March 14, 2014, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) would not renew its contract to oversee the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in September 2015. The announcement called into question what governing body would provide the necessary oversight of the organization in order to prevent […]