Tad DeHaven

A Tale of Two Frauds

The President has announced a government crackdown on Medicare and Medicaid fraud. The effort appears to be an attempt to make it easier for Americans to swallow the health care “reform” he’s trying to shove down their throats. As House Republican leader John Boehner correctly asked, “Why can’t we crack down on fraud without a big-government takeover of health care?”     
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Posted by Tad DeHaven on March 11th, 2010

Fannie, Freddie, Peter, and Barney

Last week, after Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) said that holders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s debt shouldn’t be expected to be treated the same as holders of U.S. government debt, the U.S. Treasury took the “unusual” step of reiterating its commitment to back Fannie and Freddie’s debt.
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Posted by Tad DeHaven on March 10th, 2010

Reassessing FHA Risk

As the Federal Housing Administration edges closer to a taxpayer bailout due to the large number of risky mortgage loans it has insured, it continues to insist that no such bailout will be required. However, a new study from a group of economists at New York University finds that the FHA’s assurances might not be based in reality.
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Posted by Tad DeHaven on March 9th, 2010

Smelling Your Email

In response to this week’s news that the beleaguered U.S. Postal Service is facing $238 in losses over the coming decade, Charles Krauthammer lamented the inevitable demise of the government mail monopoly:  Read more

Posted by Tad DeHaven on March 5th, 2010

Ray LaHood as Santa Claus

U.S. News & World Report’s columnist, Paul Bedard, reports that Transportation secretary Ray LaHood told him that it's fun playing Santa Claus to states and cities around the nation. Read more

Posted by Tad DeHaven on March 4th, 2010

Privatize the U.S. Postal Service

In August, President Barack Obama commented that "UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. ... It's the post office that's always having problems." We found out just how deep those problems were when Postmaster General John Potter announced that the U.S. Postal Service is facing $238 billion in losses over the next 10 years.
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Posted by Tad DeHaven on March 3rd, 2010

Federal Aid to States is Too Popular

The Economist’s Free Exchange blog asks: “[W]hy isn't federal aid to states more popular, and popular enough to get through Congress, given that nearly every American lives in one?” Read more

Posted by Tad DeHaven on March 2nd, 2010

More Black Eyes for DHS

The Department of Homeland Security is in the news for a range of management problems. Bureaucratic bungling at DHS has been an agency hallmark since its creation in 2003. In 2008, the House Committee on Homeland Security counted $15 billion worth of failed DHS contracts for various projects since its inception. Read more

Posted by Tad DeHaven on March 1st, 2010

EDA, NADO, & Appropriations Hearings

A couple weeks ago Orson Swindle, an assistant secretary of commerce for economic development in the Reagan Administration, was kind enough to send me news articles from his days battling policymakers over porky Economic Development Administration projects. In a 1989 Insight article, Orson gave a nice summation of one of the problems with special interest spending:     Read more

Posted by Tad DeHaven on February 26th, 2010

Put Housing GSEs in Budget and Privatize

The two large housing government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have been in government receivership since September 2008. The U.S. Treasury has given the housing GSEs $112 billion in cash infusions, and this past Christmas Eve it quietly announced it would cover all of Fannie and Freddie’s losses beyond the original $400 billion limit through 2012.
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Posted by Tad DeHaven on February 25th, 2010
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