Privatization

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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more news

Magic of the Market, Private Prisons Edition

Sep 21, 2007 by Matt Lewis

A recent study by University of Utah professors found no clear advantage to privatizing prisons, in terms of either cost or benefits. The Desert Morning News has the story (via the AFSCME privatization blog): Privatizing Utah's prison system would have no clear cost advantages, according to an independent study that was presented to lawmakers on Wednesday.

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OMB Watch Supports Wartime Contracting Commission

Sep 20, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The Senate is now debating and amending the Defense Department authorization act. Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO), along with all the other Democratic freshman Senators, are pushing an amendment that would set up a commission to investigate wartime contracting.

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FedSpending.org Adds New Data, Features

Sep 20, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

FedSpending.org has launched a new version today, with updated data from parts of FY 2006 and FY 2007, new features and search functionality, greater accessibility for people with disabilities, and a few bug fixes in the site. The site now contains contracting data through the second quarter of FY 2007 and federal assistance data through the first three quarters of FY 2006.

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Take the BudgetBlog Reader Survey

Sep 18, 2007 by Craig Jennings

We here at the BudgetBlog would like to know what you think of our blog. Please take a moment to fill this short reader survey and give us your thoughts.

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Student Loans Get The Kinsley Treatment

Sep 17, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Michael Kinsley has a great article on the student loan "industry"- another example of privatization that costs more money than when the government does it itself (other examples include Medicare Advantage and the IRS private debt collection program). Behold the power of private enterprise and all its efficiency.

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College Access Bill To Be Enacted

Sep 6, 2007 by Matt Lewis

CongressDaily (subscription required) reports that the President will sign the Higher Education Access Act of 2007- a revenue-neutral bill that will give more help to students to pay for college.

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Another Strike Against IRS Private Debt Collection

Sep 6, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

Does anyone really like the IRS' private debt collection program except the folks who are making money off of it? Apparently not. Yesterday, the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, an independent federal advisory panel made up of taxpayers from every state, released recommendations that the IRS "abandon all plans to outsource any taxpayer debts and restrict collection activities to properly trained and proficient IRS personnel." It's pretty clear where they stand on the program.

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Links

Aug 22, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Lots of good stuff came out today.

A Congressional Research Service (CRS, aka the super-authoritative researchers who members of Congress ask to do reports for them, but typically the reports aren't available to the public) comparison of the House and Senate SCHIP bills
The House Budget Committee's breakdown of how some of Bush's proposed budget cuts would impact each state
A knowledgeable article in the Washington Post about the

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Private Spies

Aug 21, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Walter Pincus had a story last weekend about a huge new batch of contracts being issued by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)- the Pentagon's not-so-mini CIA. Definitely worth a read, but before you do, take a look at this June article in Salon.com about intelligence agencies and their increasing use of contractors.

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The Fall of Imperial Rove

Aug 15, 2007 by Matt Lewis

A lot of people are commenting on Karl Rove's departure and its implications. From a a fiscal policy perspective, Rove (and President Bush's) governing philosophy has a basic incoherance in its advocacy of tax cuts and a larger state. Rove, i'd venture, was no "starve the beast" advocate, in the style of lunatics like Grover Norquist who want to "destroy" government for some pathological reason I can't identify. Deficits to Rove were never a means toward shrinking the government. They were an unfortunate consequence of Bush's "have my cake and eat it too" attitude about fiscal policy.

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