The U.S. Ambassador to an African nation asked his facility manager to order four flower pots for the embassy; nothing fancy, just four plastic flower pots. He came back and said, on second thought; order a truck load of them since there is a lot of money left in the facilities budget and it should all be spent. The facility manager ordered the pots, and when they arrived, four of them were placed where they were needed around the embassy compound. The rest were unloaded and placed out of sight behind a building, where they were left to slowly crumble in the blazing African sun.
Bigger is not Better
News broke on Friday, July 24 that Anthem, the largest for-profit managed health care company in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, will purchase Cigna for $48.4 billion. The total deal, which includes purchasing Cigna’s debt, is worth $54.2 billion. Cigna is known primarily for administrating health insurance coverage for large employers. The Wall […]
Our Constitution Continues to Dissolve
On Thursday, June 25, the Constitution and our tripartite system of government took a major hit. The Supreme Court, in a 6 to 3 opinion, ruled against the plaintiffs in King v Burwell, a lawsuit concerning who was entitled to taxpayer-funded subsidies in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) better known as ObamaCare. You may recall […]
IRS Hiring of Outside Litigator Appears to Violate Law and Infringe Privacy
In what appears to be an unprecedented and illegal action, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has apparently for the first time hired a law firm to assist in the income tax audit and investigation of a taxpayer. In a May 13, 2015 letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) […]
DOE’s Green Loan Programs Waste More Green than They Create
A decade after the creation of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) first program to stimulate green energy projects, the concept is projected to lose more money than it receives, leaving taxpayers holding the reusable cloth bag.
Trade Promotion: When Authority Is Tempered by Accountability
In the semantics of “fast track” legislation related to trade agreements, words matter. Historically referred to as “trade promotion authority” (TPA), the bill currently being considered by the Senate first and then the House establishes the parameters within which a president can negotiate a treaty with other nations. In exchange for this curb on the executive, the legislative branch agrees to limit its own prerogatives, as well. The Congress is bound to either approve or reject any such treaty with an “up or down” vote: it can be neither amended nor filibustered. Thus, it is “fast tracked.”
The Ghoulish Amtrak Blame Game
Within hours of the deadly crash of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia, big spenders from Washington and New York pounced on the tragedy as a reason to throw more taxpayer money Amtrak’s way. Let’s begin with the fact that eight people lost their lives in this accident. More than 200 were injured. Politicians and liberal […]
GAO Cites Billions Left on the Chopping Block
The prevailing wisdom inside the Beltway and especially among big-government politicians and bureaucrats is one that was espoused by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in 2013. Flummoxed by a reporter’s question on budget cuts, she literally threw up her hands and exclaimed, “The cupboard is bare! There’s no more cuts to make!”
Capital Investments Don’t Happen Overnight Mr. Wheeler
On February 26, 2015, the three Democratic commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made a monumental decision to regulate the Internet under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. In other words, they thought it was a good idea to apply an 80 year-old statute intended to regulate the monopoly Bell telephone system […]
The List Nobody Wants to Make: The 2015 GAO High Risk List
Anyone who has spent time on social media in recent years has inevitably noticed the proliferation of lists.