CAGW Releases June WasteWatcher

A Monthly Dispatch From Citizens Against Government Waste

Gulp! Mayor Bloomberg’s Ban on Large Sodas is Hard to Swallow
By Erica Gordon

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg believes that the local government should crack down to help those with a coke addiction…but he’s not talking about drug addicts …

Congress and USPS: Rearranging the Deck Chairs
By Luke Gelber

One does not need to be an accountant to recognize that the United States Postal Service (USPS), which lost $8.5 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2010, $5.1 billion in FY 2011, and is on pace to lose another $11 billion in FY 2012, is in dire straits…

Farm Bill Should Buy the Farm
By Luke Gelber

When is $24 billion not a lot of money? When it represents all the savings taxpayers can expect from the supposedly new-and-improved Farm Bill, formally known as S. 3240, the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012 …

Round 3: Net Neutrality Debate Continues
By Deborah Collier

Even as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has yet to weigh in on the Verizon case against the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCCs) net neutrality 2010 Report and Order on Preserving the Open Internet …

Tobacco Excise Taxes Burn Down Federal Revenues
By PJ Austin

An April 2012 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that excise tax increases on certain tobacco products have resulted in dramatic shifts by manufacturers and consumers toward lower tax products …

Higher Education: The Next Bubble
By Aaron Swensen

The nation’s outstanding student loan balance climbed to more than $1 trillion in May, which includes $460.2 billion held by the federal government. If the higher education bubble bursts, taxpayers will have to clean up the mess …

Reform the Senate Office Allowance System
By PJ Austin

A culture of inefficient government spending is endemic in Washington, D.C. However, such behavior is particularly frustrating for taxpayers when the rare example of spending less money produces an unsatisfactory outcome…

Government Waste Is Alive And Well In West Virginia
By Jordan M. Hicks IV

In 2009, the state of West Virginia was granted $126,323,296 in stimulus funding for the “West Virginia Statewide Broadband Infrastructure Project” to increase broadband access in public facilities …

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.