A department-by-department guide to cutting the government's budget.
The Department of Transportation subsidizes and regulates highways, airports, air traffic control, urban transit, and passenger rail.
The department will spend $79 billion in 2011, or about $670 for every U.S. household. It employs 58,000 workers and operates 84 different subsidy programs.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development funds public housing, provides rental vouchers, and subsidizes homeownership.
The department will spend $61 billion in 2011, or about $520 for every U.S. household. It employs 9,700 workers and operates 118 subsidy programs.
The Department of the Interior oversees more than 500 million acres of land, distributes subsidized irrigation water, and administers aid programs for American Indians.
The department spent $21 billion in 2011, or about $180 for every U.S. household. It employs 70,000 workers.
Indian Gaming: The Lobbyists Always Win
One of the issues discussed in my new essay on the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is the lobbying by groups of American Indians seeking official tribal status. The BIA has the power to confer tribal status, and it does so in a non-transparent manner. With official status comes tribal access to a wide range of federal subsidy programs plus the ability to earn monopoly profits with a casino. The gaining of official status for tribes was one of Jack Abramoff’s specialty services. Read more
Another Log for the Government Spending Multiplier Fire
At the center of the debate over efforts by policymakers to “stimulate” the economy with government spending is the issue of fiscal multipliers. Some economists argue that government spending can be a free lunch: an additional dollar of government spending increases GDP by more than one dollar. Other economists say that government spending is not so free: an additional dollar of government spending increases GDP by less than one dollar or even reduces it. Read more
Unemployment Insurance Fraud: Chile Has Solution
Like other government hand-out programs, the unemployment insurance system suffers from a substantial fraud problem. The Washington Post reports that 90 D.C. city employees and 40 former employees are being investigated for grabbing UI benefits to which they were not entitled. The cost of this fraud has been about $800,000 since 2009. Read more
