WasteWatcher
January, 2013
An Increasingly Connected Society Needs Spectrum
According to a January 7, 2013 article in Wireless Week, on December 25, 2012, nearly 17.4 million mobile devices, including tablets, Smartphones, and cell phones were activated.
GM Bailout Could Get Much Worse
WasteWatcher, January, 2013
Tanking the Taxpayers
The hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks that Congress has approved for upgrades to the M1 Abrams are so “vital” for national security that the Department of Defense (DOD) has more than 2,000 of the tanks parked in a California desert.
Sandy Relief Bill is a Disaster
On November 18, 2012, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) told Politico that spending cuts triggered by the “fiscal cliff” projected to take effect on January 1 would be “devastating,” and that they would “really compromise our domestic security and our capacity to respond to emergencies and disasters like [Superstorm Sandy].” For that bit of scare-mongering, Sen. Lieberman was named Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) Porker of the Month.
Higher Taxes Will Lead to New Spending
The fiscal cliff, a combination of automatic budget cuts and tax increases set to take effect at the beginning of 2013, has dominated the news since the 2012 Presidential election. The effect of going off the cliff would be detrimental to the U.S. economy, potentially leading to a 3.6 percent decline in the gross domestic product. These impending negative consequences have led to Congress and the president scrambling to strike a deal.
CAGW’s Top Technology and Telecommunications Issues for 2013
The technology and telecommunications industries are vital and innovative sectors of the U.S. economy. Advances in these fields have a positive impact on other industries such as health care, education, transportation, and services.
GSA bats .333 on cloud security authorizations
In June 2012, Government Computer News reported that GSA hoped to have three cloud service providers approved for provisional authorizations to operate by the end of 2012. Batting .333 towards achievement of this goal, the General Services Administration announced on December 27, 2012 the first Joint Authorization Board (JAB) approval of a provisional cloud security authorization under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP).
Two Different Worlds: Public vs. Private Sector Compensation
Despite the popular belief that federal employees are underpaid public servants, the data tells a very different story. When all of the factors that affect compensation are accounted for, there is significant evidence that federal employees make considerably more than their private sector counterparts.
No Last-Minute Delivery on Postal Reform
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 USPS management team was not soon allowed to address its multiple structural deficiencies, its long-term fiscal outlook would most resemble the strife-ridden country of Greece. “We need less expensive work hours, and we need more flexibility on who can do what jobs…Nobody can operate with 1940 work rules in a 2020 environment,” stated Donahoe.