The president’s fiscal reform commission started off with some breathtaking chutzpah from Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND):
Downsizing Blog
Downsizing on Glenn Beck
Fox News’ Glenn Beck Show recently spent a week featuring Chris Edwards and the Downsizing Government website.
Amtrak Delays
The Washington Post takes a look at the state of Amtrak and finds that train delays are a chronic problem. As a Cato essay on privatization notes, Amtrak “has provided second-rate rail service for more than 30 years while consuming more than $30 billion in federal subsidies.”
FHA Chases Its Tail
When it comes to fraud and abuse, government programs are always chasing their tail. In the private sector, businesses have a financial incentive to stop abuses before they happen. No such incentive exists with government programs. Instead, government officials usually uncover abuses after the fact.
Conrad's Budget Proposal
Senate Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad has released his budget plan for the next five years. The following are some thoughts on the proposal:
Food Subsidies Overkill
The Government Accountability Office recently reviewed 18 federal programs that provide food and nutrition assistance to low-income households, a subset of the nearly 70 programs that provide food and related subsides.
Obama's Fannie and Freddie Amnesia
Peter Wallison calls attention to President Obama’s amnesia regarding events that precipitated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s collapse. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Wallison points out that in 2005 then-Senator Obama joined with his Democratic colleagues in stopping legislation that would have helped rein in the government-sponsored housing duo’s risky behavior:
Rising Food Stamp Dependency
Food stamp enrollment has reached a record high of almost 40 million people. You can blame the recession and legislated benefit increases under presidents Bush and Obama. According to Obama’s latest budget, the total cost of the program will reach $73 billion this year, or more than double the 2007 price tag.
The Postal Service's Union Problem
Comments from members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at a recent hearing on the U.S. Postal Service’s woes indicate they don’t appreciate the USPS’s union problem. Postmaster General John Potter went before the committee to make his case for restructuring the postal operation, including greater labor flexibility.
The Debt Explosion
According to the Congressional Budget Office’s recent estimates of President Obama’s current budget proposal, debt held by the public relative to the size of the economy is heading toward heights last seen since the end of the Second World War: