Today, Citizens Against Government Waste expressed outrage over the revelation that laid-off Boeing workers in the state of Washington will qualify for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), an unemployment benefits program that far exceeds the benefits normally handed out to unemployed workers. According to an August 1 story in the Seattle Times, the Department of […]
Stay Vigilant!
In today’s Congressional Quarterly, the headline reads, “Senate Democrats Weigh Sequester-Replacement Plans for September Votes” immediately followed by “the White House tries to broker a bipartisan budget deal with a small group of Republicans.” We who favor reducing the size of government need to be vigilant the next few months as Congress begins to negotiate […]
Keeping Internet Access Free of Taxes
On November 1, 2014, the moratorium banning discriminatory taxes on the Internet and taxes on Internet access imposed by the Internet Tax Freedom Act in 1998 will expire. At the time the legislation was initially enacted, the Internet had approximately 300 million users. Since then, the number of users on the Internet has increased to nearly […]
Ho Hum
Yesterday, the President traveled to Tennessee to discuss his “new” proposal for spurring on the economy and creating jobs. He proposes to lower the corporate tax rate and simplify the tax code by closing tax “loopholes.” Currently, the federal tax rate in the U.S. for corporations is 35%, one of the highest among industrialized nations. […]
I See Dead People
A Government Accountability Office report released June 28 has an eye catching headline, “USDA Needs to Do More to Prevent Improper Payments to Deceased Individuals.” Yup, here we go again, our government using our tax dollars to pay dead people. The GAO discusses in its report how the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) doles out […]
Gridlock is Good
Last week, the NBC News and the WSJ released a poll on Congress’s and President Obama’s approval ratings. The Wall Street Journal states, “Rising frustration over partisan gridlock in Washington has damaged faith both in President Barack Obama and lawmakers on Capitol Hill, with disapproval of Congress hitting an all-time high.” According the results, some […]
A Big Nuthin Burger
Yesterday and today, the President pivoted for the 19th time to the economy and gave a one hour-plus speech on the economy. On Wednesday, his first stop was Knox College in Illinois where he gave a commencement address in 2005. Many news reports prior to the event predicted the President wouldn’t come up with any […]
A Diller, A Dollar, A Cost-Saving Scholar
On Monday, July 22nd, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) co-hosted a lunch briefing with the Dollar Coin Alliance (DCA), of which CCAGW is a member. The purpose of the briefing was twofold: first, to reiterate the benefits and considerable cost savings to be realized by a transition from the dollar bill to […]
Get a Dog
In Washington, there is an old saying. If you want a friend, get a dog. Figuratively speaking, it looks like Obamacare needs to find a dog. The bad news about Obamacare and its implementation problems started as a trickle earlier this year but as it gets closer to October 1 when the Exchanges are suppose […]
SIRF’s Up!
Unfortunately, the title does not refer to the ideal sea conditions preferred by surfers . Instead, the acronym SIRF stands for “Stolen Identity Refund Fraud,” a crime that is rising in Florida and beyond, to include nearby Georgia and farther-away Michigan. Given the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS’) apparent inability to prevent this crime in the […]