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Showing results for tags 'spending'.
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We are talking about $85 billion dollars or 2% of our spending in one year. Even after sequestration our spending levels will be $15 billion more than last year but the government is preaching doom and glooom. How long are you going to let your government play you like a fool?
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If you signed and sealed federal student loan documents, take another look at your obligation to pay. You may walk away and leave your education bill to the national debt. There are several options for student loan forgiveness with similar features that consider income, debt, financial hardship and dependents. Special programs exist for teachers that have served low-income families for five years. In the 2015 budget, President Obama proposes another expansion of student loan forgiveness programs. The proposal, with the purpose to make higher education more affordable and prevent raises in tuition, would broaden and strengthen student loan debt forgiveness under the Pay as You Earn Program of 2012 (PAYE). Currently for those new student loan recipients, the Federal Pay as You Earn Program effective December, 2012 adjusts student loan payments consistent with the ABILITY TO PAY based on an established scale. Ten percent of discretionary income or 150 percent of the poverty level weighed by family size is the maximum standard resulting in an annual adjustment review. Twenty years later, the remaining debt is forgiven for private sector employees. For the public sector, debt is forgiven after 10 years. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendy-n-powell/the-next-phase-of-enhance-student-loans_b_5315840.html?ir=Education It looks like there will be a new career path for students. Borrow as much money as you can for as long as you can. Upon graduation you peruse a government job and in 10 years you are student loan free with the remainder of your loan being added to the national debt. And once again, as the Government pumps money into student loans, tuition continues to explode. This is not unlike what happened in the housing market. Currently $1.2 trillion is owed in student loans. This will not end well.
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Energy Department revives auto loan program despite Fisker flop
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
The Obama administration announced this week it is reopening a loan program for advanced fuel-efficient vehicles that was derided by Republican lawmakers last year after two of the first five loan beneficiaries halted operations. The Department of Energy said Wednesday it is reviving the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program and is reaching out to manufacturers of auto parts and components to apply for more than $16 billion in available funding, The Wall Street Journal reported. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said the program, which has has provided $8.4 billion in funding since 2009, will have a revised application process to speed up reviews and address concerns from auto makers about the process being too complex. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/04/energy-department-revives-auto-loan-program-despite-fisker-flop/ -
Obama calls for more spending on military presence, training in Europe
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
On the first day of a four-day European trip that will include a remembrance of D-Day and much discussion about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, President Obama called on Congress to approve up to $1 billion in spending on additional U.S. air and ground forces in Europe http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/03/obama-to-call-for-more-spending-on-military-presence-training-in-europe/?intcmp=latestnews -
Illinois spending $1,166 per bird to bring in prairie chickens
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
The cash-strapped Illinois government has found a new use for its fleet of aircraft flying birds into Illinois. I kid you not. State aircraft are flying to Kansas and transporting prairie chickens back to the Land of Lincoln. And at a time state lawmakers are looking at raising the state income tax, Illinois state employees have been hiking across Kansas trapping these chickens. Talk about fowl fiscal deeds. State pilots have flown between Illinois and Kansas not once, not twice but 14 times this year taking prairie chickens to downstate Jasper and Marion counties. Illinois is the Prairie State and prairie chickens are an endangered species here, so we thought it would be a good idea to bring them back, said Scott Simpson, site manager for Prairie Ridge State Natural Area in Newton, Ill. The feds are chipping in $337,000 toward the program and the state will pay $117,000. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/19/illinois-spending-1166-per-bird-to-bring-in-prairie-chickens/?intcmp=latestnews -
Employees at an ObamaCare processing center in Missouri with a contract worth $1.2 billion are reportedly getting paid to do nothing but sit at their computers. "Their goals are set to process two applications per month and some people are not even able to do that," a whistleblower told KMOV-TV, referring to employees hired to process paper applications for ObamaCare enrollees. The facility in Wentzville is operated by Serco, a company owned by a British firm that was awarded $1.2 billion in part to hire 1,500 workers to handle paper applications for coverage under the law, according to The Washington Post. The whistleblower employee told the station that weeks can pass without data entry workers receiving even a single application to process. Employees reportedly spend their days staring at their computers, according to a KMOX-TV report. Theyre told to sit at their computers and hit the refresh button every 10 minutes, no more than every 10 minutes, the employee said. Theyre monitored, to hopefully look for an application. The employee accused Serco of attempting to conceal the lack of work as it continues to hire employees for processing centers in Missouri, Kentucky and Oklahoma. The employee said Serco is compensated for each worker it hires. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/14/obamacare-contractor-pays-employees-to-do-nothing-whistleblower-says/
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IRS paid at least $13B in improper Earned Income Tax Credits
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
The Internal Revenue Service paid more than $13 billion in tax credits last year to people who may not have qualified, a government investigator said Tuesday. The Earned Income Tax Credits were supposed to go to low-income working families. The agency's inspector general issued a report Tuesday saying the improper payments were between $13.3 billion and $15.6 billion. That's about a quarter of all EITC payments. "The IRS can and must do more to protect taxpayer dollars from waste, fraud and abuse," said J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/13/irs-paid-at-least-13b-in-improper-tax-credits/?intcmp=latestnews -
The IRS has spent $96.5 million on office furniture under the Obama administration and is now claiming it has insufficient funding to adequately serve taxpayers. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew testified before the House two weeks ago about the IRS need for additional funding for the upcoming fiscal year. The IRS is currently seeking an increase of $1.2 billiona 7 percent raise over its FY 2014 $11.29 billion budget. It would bring the agencys FY 2015 budget to $12.48 billion. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/12/obamas-irs-spends-nearly-100-million-on-office-furniture/?intcmp=latestnews
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The Department of Defense paid $150 per gallon for alternative jet fuel made from algae, more than 64 times the current market price for standard carbon-based fuels, according to a report released on Wednesday. The Government Accountability Office noted in its report that a Pentagon official reported paying about $150 per gallon for 1,500 gallons of alternative jet fuel derived from algal oil. GAOs report examined the financial challenges facing increased purchases and use of alternative jet fuels by federal agencies. Currently, the price for alternative jet fuels exceeds that of conventional jet fuel, the report noted. The price for conventional jet fuel is currently $2.88 per gallon. GAOs report reveals that federal agencies have paid significantly higher prices in an effort to promote biofuels in commercial and military aviation. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/08/report-pentagon-paid-150-per-gallon-for-green-jet-fuel/
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Oregon facing pressure, probes over dysfunctional ObamaCare website
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
Despite receiving $160 million in taxpayer money, Oregon's ObamaCare website has yet to properly sign up a single person for health care. And there could be consequences. An Oregon legislator has gone to the FBI. Top officials have resigned. The state is investigating. And there could be a federal probe as soon as Thursday. It wasn't supposed to be like this. With a strong high-tech community in Portland and a progressive reputation, Oregon was an early, enthusiastic adopter of the Affordable Care Act. The state has been working toward a health care exchange since 2002 and was one of the first states to pass a law creating one. More than $300 million in federal dollars have come to Oregon from taxpayers all over the country, in the form of grants with names like the "Early Innovator Grant." Oregon ranks third among all states in grants to implement the ACA, despite being near the middle in population. Still, the website doesn't work. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/02/13/oregon-facing-pressure-probes-over-dysfunctional-obamacare-website/ -
Price of fixing, upgrading Obamacare website rises to $121 million
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
Fixing the Obamacare website to get it ready to handle a second round of enrollments will cost the federal government $121 million, according to Accenture, the contractor hired to repair the glitchy website after the original contractor, CGI Federal, was fired in January. The deal, which Accenture announced on its website Tuesday, costs more than the $93.7 million it took CGI Federal to build HealthCare.gov in the first place. Its also $30 million more than the government projected for fixes just a few months ago, when it called in Accenture on an emergency basis to try to keep President Obamas signature domestic law on track. There doesnt seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel for Obamacare website expenses, said House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa, California Republican. Developers are still being brought in to finish building HealthCare.gov, some states are abandoning their own failed sites, and federal taxpayers are still being handed the bills for it all. Read more: http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/29/obamacare-website-fix-will-cost-feds-121-million/#ixzz30NZW2JqE Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter -
Postal workers in cities big and small protested in front of Staples stores on Thursday, objecting to the U.S. Postal Service's pilot program to open counters in stores, staffed with retail employees. Rallies were planned at 50 locations in 27 states. In Concord, more than 100 boisterous workers donned bright blue shirts and lined a busy commercial road near a Staples store. "Union busting, we say no," they chanted, "the Staples deal has got to go." In New York, about 100 workers marched from the main office on Eighth Avenue to a Staples store about five blocks away, carrying signs and chanting, while in Washington, D.C., more than 200 people gathered at a Staples, drumming on buckets and holding signs that read: "Stop Staples. The US Mail is Not for Sale." One of them, postal service maintenance mechanic Robert Black, called the pilot program "a backdoor way of privatizing the post office" and taking away jobs from postal workers. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/postal-workers-union-protest-staples-program-23453287
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Testing backlog in Detroit reportedly allows serial rapists to stay free
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
DETROIT A published report says a backlog in testing thousands of Detroit rape evidence kits has allowed serial rapists to remain free and in some cases commit more attacks. The Detroit Free Press on Monday published an update about efforts to test the kits, which were recovered in 2009 from a Detroit police storage facility. They contain DNA and other evidence, but a majority of the 11,000 kits weren't tested in a lab. Officials say about 2,000 have undergone DNA testing. The rest are expected to be tested this year after $4 million was earmarked by the state. The newspaper cited one case where a man attacked a woman in 2006. Prosecutors say a rape kit tested six years later linked him to several other 2011 rape cases. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/04/21/testing-backlog-in-detroit-reportedly-allows-serial-rapists-to-stay-free/?intcmp=latestnews -
86M Full-Time Private-Sector Workers Sustain 148M Benefit Takers
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
Buried deep on the website of the U.S. Census Bureau is a number every American citizen, and especially those entrusted with public office, should know. It is 86,429,000. That is the number of Americans who in 2012 got up every morning and went to work in the private sector and did it week after week after week. These are the people who built America, and these are the people who can sustain it as a free country. The liberal media have not made them famous like the polar bear, but they are truly a threatened species. It is not a rancher with a few hundred head of cattle that is attacking their habitat, nor an energy company developing a fossil fuel. It is big government and its primary weapon an ever-expanding welfare state. First, let's look at the basic taxonomy of the full-time, year-round American worker. In 2012, according to the Census Bureau, approximately 103,087,000 people worked full-time, year-round in the United States. "A full-time, year-round worker is a person who worked 35 or more hours per week (full time) and 50 or more weeks during the previous calendar year (year round)," said the Census Bureau. "For school personnel, summer vacation is counted as weeks worked if they are scheduled to return to their job in the fall." Of the 103,087,000 full-time, year-round workers, 16,606,000 worked for the government. That included 12,597,000 who worked for state and local government and 4,009,000 who worked for the federal government. The 86,429,000 Americans who worked full-time, year-round in the private sector, included 77,392,000 employed as wage and salary workers for private-sector enterprises and 9,037,000 who worked for themselves. (There were also approximately 52,000 who worked full-time, year-round without pay in a family enterprise.) At first glance, 86,429,000 might seem like a healthy population of full-time private-sector workers. But then you need to look at what they are up against. The Census Bureau also estimates the size of the benefit-receiving population. This population, too, falls into two broad categories. The first includes those who receive benefits for public services they performed or in exchange for payroll taxes they dutifully paid their entire working lives. Among these, for example, are those receiving veteran's benefits, those on unemployment and those getting Medicare and Social Security. The second category includes those who get "means-tested" government benefits or welfare. These include, for example, those who get Medicaid, food stamps, Supplemental Security Income, public housing, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Women, Infants Children. Let's examine this second category first, which the Census Bureau reports as "anyone residing in a household in which one or more people received benefits from the program." In the last quarter of 2011, according to the Census Bureau, approximately 82,457,000 people lived in households where one or more people were on Medicaid. 49,073,000 lived in households were someone got food stamps. 23,228,000 lived in households where one or more got WIC. 20,223,000 lived in households where one or more got SSI. 13,433,000 lived in public or government-subsidized housing. Of course, it stands to reason that some people lived in households that received more than one welfare benefit at a time. To account for this, the Census Bureau published a neat composite statistic: There were 108,592,000 people in the fourth quarter of 2011 who lived in a household that included people on "one or more means-tested program." Those 108,592,000 outnumbered the 86,429,000 full-time private-sector workers who inhabited the United States in 2012 by almost 1.3 to 1. This brings us to the first category of benefit receivers. There were 49,901,000 people receiving Social Security in the fourth quarter of 2011, and 46,440,000 receiving Medicare. There were also 5,098,000 getting unemployment compensation. And there were also, 3,178,000 veterans receiving benefits and 34,000 veterans getting educational assistance. All told, including both the welfare recipients and the non-welfare beneficiaries, there were 151,014,000 who "received benefits from one or more programs" in the fourth quarter of 2011. Subtract the 3,212,000 veterans, who served their country in the most profound way possible, and that leaves 147,802,000 non-veteran benefit takers. The 147,802,000 non-veteran benefit takers outnumbered the 86,429,000 full-time private sector workers 1.7 to 1. How much more can the 86,429,000 endure? As more baby boomers retire, and as Obamacare comes fully online with its expanded Medicaid rolls and federally subsidized health insurance for anyone earning less than 400 percent of the poverty level the number of takers will inevitably expand. And the number of full-time private-sector workers might also contract. Eventually, there will be too few carrying too many, and America will break. http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/terence-p-jeffrey/86m-full-time-private-sector-workers-sustain-148m-benefit-takers -
(CNN) -- First, the bad news: Even if the economy improves, middle-class career paths will continue to disappear as globalization and technological innovation render more jobs obsolete. Now, the good news: The fear, stress and humiliation caused by unemployment (and underemployment) can be alleviated with a simple solution. And now, the even-better news: This simple solution is starting to find backers on both sides of the political spectrum. A monthly cash payment to every American, no questions asked, would solve several of our most daunting challenges. It's called a basic income, and it's cheaper and much more effective than our current malfunctioning safety net, which costs nearly $1 trillion per year. The idea of a basic income, sometimes called a guaranteed minimum income or a negative income tax, has been discussed for decades by notable economists like Milton Friedman. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the idea had bipartisan backing before losing steam. Recently, in the face of a sputtering economy, a weak job market and rising income inequality, it has been gathering supporters at an ever-quickening pace. In fact, just last month, former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich called a basic income guarantee "almost inevitable." The concept of a basic income is not entirely abstract. Several countries, such as Brazil, have achieved notable success with their programs, lifting many people out of poverty. In countries like India, nongovernmental organizations are experimenting with pilot programs in specific areas, with promising results so far. The United States is already experimenting with a variation of basic income, even though most people don't realize it. Alaska has a small version, called a Permanent Fund Dividend, which is incredibly popular and made the state one of the most economically equal places in America. Importantly, Alaskans don't consider it "redistribution," but rather "joint ownership." The benefits of a basic income on a national scale would be wide-ranging. First, there's the lift to the overall economy if everyone has money to spend. Next, there are the obvious psychological benefits of knowing you can always afford food and shelter. Then there's the societal stability factor: If people's basic economic needs are being metno matter what the unpredictable job market is doingwe don't have to worry about the potential for civil unrest as a result of mass unemployment. http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/14/opinion/wheeler-minimum-income/index.html?hpt=hp_t4
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White House releases data listing Medicare's top-paid doctors
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
WASHINGTON Medicare paid a tiny group of doctors $3 million or more apiece in 2012. One got nearly $21 million. Those are among the findings of an Associated Press analysis of physician data released Wednesday by the Obama administration, part of a move to open the books on health care financing. Topping Medicare's list was Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, whose relationship with Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., made headlines last year after news broke that the lawmaker used the doctor's personal jet for trips to the Dominican Republic. Medicare paid Melgen $20.8 million. AP's analysis found that a small sliver of the more than 825,000 individual physicians in Medicare's claims data base -- just 344 physicians -- took in top dollar, at least $3 million apiece for a total of nearly $1.5 billion. AP picked the $3 million threshold because that was the figure used by the Health and Human Services inspector general in an audit last year that recommended Medicare automatically scrutinize total billings above a set level. Medicare says it's working on that recommendation. About 1 in 4 of the top-paid doctors -- 87 of them -- practice in Florida, a state known both for high Medicare spending and widespread fraud. Rounding out the top five states were California with 38 doctors in the top group, New Jersey with 27, Texas with 23, and New York with 18. In the $3 million-plus club, 151 ophthalmologists -- eye specialists -- accounted for nearly $658 million in Medicare payments, leading other disciplines. Cancer doctors rounded out the top four specialty groups, accounting for a combined total of more than $477 million in payments. Overall, Medicare paid individual physicians nearly $64 billion in 2012. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/09/white-house-releases-data-listing-medicare-top- -
F-35 fighters plagued with delays, cost overruns, federal report says
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
The development of the ballyhooed F-35 fighter jet faces new delays and is over budget, a new report from the Government Accountability Office has found. The F-35s are fifth-generation fighter jets, and are designed to be the U.S. militarys new primary fighter aircraft. The Department of Defense plans to buy 2,457 of the planes between now and 2037, at a total cost of more than a trillion dollars including development and maintenance costs. While the first F-35s are scheduled to be fully operational by July 2015, the GAO report warns that they may not be. Persistent software problems have slowed progress capabilities expected by the Marine Corps in July 2015 will not likely be delivered on time, and could be delayed as much as 13 months, the report reads. But a spokesman for Lockheed Martin, which is making the planes, told FoxNews.com that they will meet the schedule. Lockheed Martin remains confident we will complete flight testing of the software required for Marine Corps Initial Operational Capability this year, spokesman Michael Rein said. Initially, the planes were also expected to be operational by 2012. The program has also seen cost overruns. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the cost of F-35 development has risen from an estimated $306 billion in 2001 to an estimated $390 billion now. And while the cost increased, the military also reduced the requirements for the planes, accepting longer takeoff distances and a reduced combat radius (the furthest point that the plane can effectively go to and patrol.) Given that, some security experts said the latest software-based delays did not surprise them. These are nothing new. This aircraft has been in trouble both with cost and performance since the start, Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told FoxNews.com. Cordesman noted that the cost overruns come at the expense of other military priorities. To get the money the Air Force has had to cut active forces. This aircraft is so expensive that it basically dominates the entire procurement budget, he said. http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/04/03/f-35-fighters-plagued-with-delays-cost-overruns-federal-report-says/?intcmp=features -
National Science Foundation funded climate change musical to tune of $700,000
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
Call it Climate Change: The Musical! The National Science Foundation has spent nearly $700,000 on a climate change-themed theatrical production, leaving some in Congress questioning if the organization's grant funds could be put to better use. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, questioned White House science czar John Holdren in a hearing last Thursday about the way the NSF is using taxpayer money -- including on the grants for the play, a New York production called "The Great Immensity." I support basic research, which can lead to discoveries that change our world, expand our horizons and save lives, Smith, chairman of the House Science Committee, told FoxNews.com. But NSF has funded too many questionable research grants. Spending taxpayer dollars to fund a climate change musical called The Great Immensity sounds more like a waste of taxpayer dollars -- money that could have funded higher priority research. All government employees and their agency heads need to remember they are accountable to the American taxpayer who pays their salary and funds their projects. It is not the government's money; it is the people's money, he added. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/31/climate-change-to-make-it-off-broadway-debut-thanks-to-national-science/?intcmp=latestnews -
Postal Service bailout? USPS billions in the red as lawmakers push reform
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
It might feel like first-class postage is going up every few weeks, but the U.S. Postal Service nevertheless is in need of a bailout. Frank Todisco, chief actuary for the Government Accountability Office, told a House committee last week that the agency had $100 billion in debt and unfunded health benefit liabilities at the end of the last fiscal year. At this stage, even the Postal Service admits it needs help. "Despite our efforts and our hard work, we cannot return the organization to profitability or secure our long term financial outlook without the passage of comprehensive reform legislation," Jeffrey Williamson, United States Postal Service executive vice president, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently. Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has ideas for how to fix it, and says part of that is convincing members of his own party that six-days-per-week mail delivery doesn't make sense. "Much of what I have to do is to get my fellow Republicans to swallow the pills of five-day delivery -- going to the curb for delivery, right-sizing the size of the post office, quite candidly changing their medical retirement system to make it streamline with the rest of the workforce in America, by putting them on Medicare and out of a very expensive private program that you and I pay for," Issa told Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/20/postal-service-bailout-usps-billions-in-red-as-lawmakers-push-reform/?intcmp=latestnews -
Bipartisan group of senators reach deal on extending unemployment benefits
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
A bipartisan group of senators ended a long-running election-season standoff and struck a compromise that would extend jobless benefits for 2 million Americans who have been out of work the longest, the lawmakers said Thursday. Should the Senate approve the election-year measure -- as seemed likely -- it would throw the issue to the Republican-run House. Its fate there was uncertain. The timing of a Senate vote also was unclear. Two leaders of the negotiations --Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Dean Heller, R-Nev. -- said in a statement that the deal would be retroactive to the end of last year, when the emergency benefits program expired. Since then, the benefits have ended for roughly 2 million people. As the stalemate dragged on, Democrats had said opposition by most Republicans to extending the emergency benefits showed GOP indifference toward helping those out of work. Republicans said they wanted an extension that was fully paid for and which improved the system. One aide said the measure's price tag was $9.7 billion. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/13/bipartisan-group-senators-reach-deal-on-extending-unemployment-benefits/?intcmp=latestnews -
A lack of competitive bidding processes among state Medicaid agencies caused the program to overpay for diapers by about $62 million in 2012, according to a report released by federal auditors on Monday. Only five state Medicaid agencies have implemented competitive bidding programs for disposable incontinence supplies, according to the inspector general for the department of Health and Human Services. Those states reported saving up to of 50 percent on those supplies, the IG report found. States nationwide implemented cost control mechanisms, the report noted, but Medicaid could have saved about $62 million if competitive bidding processes were adopted nationwide. Those savings would amount to 23 percent of the Medicaid bill for disposable incontinence supplies, which include nine categories of diapers and liners, including products for adults and children. http://freebeacon.com/medicaid-overpays-millions-for-diapers/
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'Unacceptable': Lawmakers battle military retiree cuts ahead of key budget vote
Phurfur posted a topic in The Geek Club
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and that's how they getcha'