I don't know how I missed this article on Blackwater and all the taxpayer money it wastes in exorbitant wages and profits. Plus, there's this little gem about military wages: An unmarried sergeant given Iraq pay and relief from U.S. taxes makes about $83 to $85 a day, given time in service. A married sergeant with children makes about double that, $170 a day.

U.S. PIRG released a new report today that profiles how contractors who have poor performance or fraudulent practices can still receive new contracts from the federal government. The report profiles companies such as Bank of America, General Electric, Lexis-Nexis, Kellogg, Brown, and Root, and Northrup Grumman, among others. An excerpt from the report's executive summary: The rapid increase of federally contracted dollars—100 percent since 2000—makes outsourcing the fastest growing component of discretionary spending. The government's preference for using outside contractors to provide goods and services makes careful scrutiny of the process and the decisions more important than in the past. At present, loose rules, lack of competition, and limited accountability permit so-called 'bad actors' to receive contracts that put taxpayers and our money at risk. It's a very interesting report and I'm sure, as they imply, these examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Also of note, they use FedSpending.org for their contracts data - very cool! U.S. PIRG: Forgiving Fraud and Failure: Profiles in Federal Contracting

Good news- the Webb-McCaskill Wartime Contracting Commission amendment passed the Senate last night, too! Here's the press release. It got unanimous approval. However, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the amendment was water down to get approval. Most importantly, the commission wouldn't have subpoena power under this draft. Now it's on to the House. Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) has introduced a bill that set up a commission, too.

Prof. Ellen Danin has an interesting paper arguing that much of the debate about privatization is really about accountability, in one form or another. Here's the abstract: