The WasteWatcher
The WasteWatcherTroubles With TARP
Barely sixty days after its establishment, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is itself, well, in big trouble.
The WasteWatcherFat Corporate Welfare Payouts
On November 4, 2008 Barack Obama won the battle for the Presidency. On January 20, 2008, he will face many difficult challenges. The national economic and financial crisis will place a heavy burden on the federal government. With a $1 trillion...
The WasteWatcherThe "Not-So-Big Three" Beg for a Bailout
The so-called “Big Three” domestic automakers, General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford have kicked into overdrive to lobby Congress to salvage what is left of their business operations using taxpayer funds. General Motors, which has entered negative...
The WasteWatcherThe 111th Congress: House of Card Check
Ironically, as Congress debates a bailout for the auto industry partly as a result of its massive, union-stimulated legacy costs, there are widespread expectations that Congress and the Obama administration will quickly try to push though the so-...
The WasteWatcherRAC-king Up Medicare Savings
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its most recent analysis of improper payments in the Medicare program on November 17, 2008. The good news is that vigorous cost recovery programs have helped whittle the percentage of...
The WasteWatcherNew Grace Commission Needed
Just five days after his historic election, President-elect Obama vowed to review every Executive Order signed by President Bush during the past eight years. He made it clear that he intends to overturn some of them. The President-elect should take...
The WasteWatcherThe Sun, the Moon, and the Stars
On November 17, 2008 the Washington Post reported that President-elect Obama “wooed” federal employees in seven federal agencies at the behest of American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO President John Gage. The Post stated that the...
The WasteWatcherACORN: Taxpayer Seed Money Underwriting Corruption and Voter Fraud?
Voter registration and vote fraud is once again front and center as November 4 approaches. As in previous elections, the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now, or ACORN, is at the center of political and legal storms.
The WasteWatcherGasp!
In April 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Massachusetts v. EPA. The lawsuit’s intent was to force the EPA to regulate CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHG) as pollutants because of their...
The WasteWatcherEuropean Resource Bank Update
Since 2004, Citizens Against Government Waste has been attending the European Resource Bank (ERB) Meeting. This year’s annual meeting of free-market think tanks was held in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, hosted by the New Economic School in the...
The WasteWatcherRailing Against High-Speed Rail
On November 4, voters in California will have a dozen propositions on the ballot. There are four bond issues, including renewable energy, veterans housing, and children’s hospitals. The most expensive – Proposition 1A – would provide for a bond...
The WasteWatcher2008 Prime Cuts is a Guide to Cut Spending
With the election on November 4th looming, both Presidential candidates have pledged to go through the budget line by line to find wasteful spending. Whoever wins could save a lot of time by reading Citizens Against Government Waste’s 2008 Prime...
