Downsizing Blog
The Questions Medicare for All Supporters Must Answer
Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has officially unveiled the latest version of his plan for a government-run health-care system.
Why Is U.S. Government Infrastructure So Costly?
Tracy Gordon of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center writes interesting columns on taxes, fiscal federalism, and other economic issues. Before Congress and the administration enact another costly infrastructure bill, they should consider what Gordon wrote in a 2015 article.
California High-Speed Rail
The apparent death of California high-speed rail has led to a spate of stories asking, “What went wrong?”
Border Wall Costs Rising
The Office of Management and Budget recently argued that the proposed $5.7 billion would pay for 234 miles of a border barrier at a cost of $24.4 million per mile.
Costs Skyrocket for Air and Space
Smithsonian leaders have revealed that renovating the Air and Space museum in Washington, D.C. will cost almost $1 billion. That’s the equivalent of an army of 10,000 workers earning $100,000 each for a year to fix it up. Geez, government projects are expensive!
Not-So-Rapid Transit
Washington, DC opened its long-delayed streetcar for business on Saturday. Actually, it’s a stretch to say it is open “for business,” as the city hasn’t figured out how to collect fares for it, so they won’t be charging any.
Pentagon Bureaucracy
Many articles in recent years have expressed concern about Pentagon bloat. Mackenzie Eaglen called for streamlining the Pentagon’s “army of bureaucrats.” Ray Mabus said“Twenty percent of the Pentagon budget, one dollar out of five, is spent on … the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the defense agencies … Pure overhead.”
The GOP Candidates and Military Spending
Quite a number of media fact-checkers tripped over Ted Cruz’s claim in last night’s debate that Barack Obama had “dramatically degraded our military,” and Marco Rubio’s related pledge to rebuild a U.S. military that is “being diminished.”
Managing Federal Government IT
My blog on a federal computer project that went six times overbudget prompted an expert on information technology (IT) to send me an interesting email. In this study on government failure and this study on cost overruns, I discussed some of the reasons why $100 million projects end up costing $200 million.
DHS Computer Project: A Record Cost Overrun?
Politics and bureaucratic mismanagement drive up costs and generate failure in the federal government. More evidence comes from a Washington Post report today on a botched computer project at the Department of Homeland Security