As students return to school this fall, they are finding that their teachers are using technology tools, such as online curriculums and textbooks, and assigning online homework more frequently. Today, virtually all schools and libraries are connected to the Internet. However, once the school day has ended, students may find a different picture when they […]
It is None of Their Damn Business!
Last month the New Jersey Comptroller released a report on widespread fraud in their state’s school lunch program. More than 100 people on public payrolls, or members of their family, lied about their income in order to get their children on the free school lunch program. One school board member did not report any of […]
The White House Office of Nudging
There have been a series of news reports of a new project underway in the White House led by Maya Shankar, Senior Advisor for Social & Behavioral Sciences within the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). According to a column written by David Martosko in the U.K.’s Mail OnLine , “her mandate is to […]
The Article 1 President
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. As the U.S. Constitution clearly states, it is the Legislative Branch that writes law. The role of the Executive Branch and the president is to enforce the laws. But disturbingly, […]
The Sequester is Working
The biggest underreported story out of Washington this year is that the federal budget is shrinking and much more than anyone in either party expected.” Thus begins Stephen Moore’s piece today in the Wall Street Journal about the budget sequester. He lays out some notable numbers: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) annual outlays peaked in […]
The Fix is In…
The deal has been made; Congress and President Obama figured out a way to provide continued subsidies for healthcare premiums for congressional staff. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) just released the proposed regulation, which can be found here. Despite what many have noted is a lack of statutory authority to issue this regulation, it nonetheless […]
IRS’ Litany of Mismanagement
The IRS is in full crisis mode and the staff of Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) J. Russell George has been busier than a one-legged man in a butt kickin’ contest.
Wasteful Government Subsidies for Cape Wind Project
Wind energy has been touted by environmentalists as clean and cheap. While it may be clean, it is far from cheap. A maze of government subsidies, mandates and crony capitalism deeply mask the true cost of wind energy production to make it extremely wasteful of citizens’ dollars. In the free market, wind energy would never be built without the massive government intervention it receives.
Duplication Duplication
These next few weeks, I will be pointing out areas of duplication, overlap, or fragmentation in the federal government and suggestions on how it can be eliminated that will save millions of dollars for the taxpayers. Since 2011, the General Accountability Office (GAO) has been required to “identify and report annually to Congress on Federal […]
Summer Retransmission Dispute Heats Up
In the midst of the summer doldrums, a broadcaster and a multi-channel video programming distributor (MVPD) are battling over retransmission fees with consumers suffering the consequences. The parties this time are CBS and Time Warner Cable (TWC), with millions of viewers across the country losing access to shows such as “NCIS,” “The Big Bang Theory,” and “Under the Dome.”