On January 10, 2012, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) released a report on state and local government defined benefit pension plans in which he detailed the risks associated with the nation’s $4.4 trillion public pension debt, calling the defined benefit pensions structure “inherently flawed in the state and local government setting.” This massive liability is dangerous for taxpayers and could mean future cuts in services, reductions in benefits, higher taxes, or a combination of these less-than-desirable options.
Federal Contractor Pensions Protected at Taxpayers’ Expense
Taxpayers may be surprised to learn that they are currently bankrolling the retirement plans of profitable, private sector companies. With a record-breaking national debt, a sinking economy, and millions of Americans facing losses to their own retirement accounts, taxpayers should not be on the hook for tens of billions of dollars for private contractor pensions and benefits.
Without Major Reforms, SSDI Program Headed for Insolvency
According to a June 14, 2011 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) trust fund is on track to run out of money by 2018. Although the SSDI’s financial woes have been exacerbated by a dramatic increase in claims resulting from a weak economy, the program’s problems run much deeper.
Multi-Billion Dollar CMS Overpayments Continue
Healthcare, General Waste
Does Obamacare Save or Cost Money?
The strange world of congressional budget scoring obscures whether Obamacare saves or costs money, but it also provides insight into why the federal government is in such a financial mess. Revenue and cost figures are thrown about in an attempt to justify each side’s position. Understanding the relevant facts provides a clearer picture of reality.
ObamaCare Challenges Move Ahead in Court
Over the past two years, taxpayers have watched the national debt climb to a frightening $13.7 trillion as Congress and President Obama massively enlarged the size and scope of the federal government against the will of the people. Americans have simply had enough of the bailouts, tax hikes, earmarks, onerous regulations, and seemingly endless number of “jobs” bills. The passage of President Obama’s landmark healthcare legislation, however,was perhaps most symbolic of Washington’s reckless and profligate behavior.
The Great Unraveling Continues…
The new summer blockbuster “Inception” features spectacular special effect sequences of towering edifices exploding, crumbling, and otherwise disintegrating in a film that addresses the fine line between reality and a dream state. Right before the film’s protagonists emerge from medically-induced dream states, they experience instability, turbulence, and ultimately the total collapse of their immediate physical environments. These sequences, which are awesome to behold on the big screen, are reminiscent of what is happening now in the real world with regard to the fiscal projections made about President Obama’s healthcare bill, only a lot less entertaining.
Making Fiscal Sense in New Jersey
Politicians frequently stand on soapboxes and tell voters what they want to hear, but often fail to back their words up with action after they are elected. President Obama did this during the 2008 presidential race when he promised that people would be able to keep their doctor if healthcare reform passed and assuredeveryone making less than $250,000 thatthey would not be hit with any new tax increases. Now that the healthcare bill has passed,citizens are discovering that that their doctors are dropping private insurers and most taxpayers will have to pay moreto provide health benefits for everybody.
Playing Politics with The Anthrax Vaccine
The anthrax attacks of October, 2001 may seem like a distant memory to many Americans, but the incidents created widespread alarm, prompting a debate within the U.S. government over how to better protect the nation from the critical threat of chemical and biological weapons attacks.
“There Ain’t No Rules Here”: Vote Buying, Fix-its, and Budget Gimmicks Used to Ram Through Healthcare Bill
On Christmas Eve morning, Senate Democrats managed to strong arm enough members with giveaways such as the “Cornhusker Kickback” and “Louisiana Purchase” to pass Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) healthcare bill, H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This $2.3 trillion legislation, packed with tax increases, insurance mandates, Medicare cuts, and rationed care was rammed through the House on March 21, 2010 in a 219-212 vote.