Open, Accountable Government

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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Economic Indicators Archive

Apr 11, 2008 by Dana Chasin

In case you didn't know (as I didn't 'til I stumbled on it), the Wall Street Journal maintains a number of statistical reports that economists use to gauge and forecast business conditions. These reports, issued by government agencies and business research groups, generally are accessible there for one month. Their Economic Indicators Archive is accessible here. Among the reports:

The Consumer Price Index
The Employment Situation
The Gross Domestic Product
Initial Jobless Claims
New Homes Sales

Good for what ails us.

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Health Care Spending - It's Not the Aging of the Population

Apr 10, 2008 by Craig Jennings

If policy makers are truly interested in fixing the Entitlement Crisis™, they need to look at the factors that are pushing the federal budget along an unsustainable path. As we've noted before, Social Security has minor financing issues, but its full-benefit operation does not pose a threat to long-term fiscal fitness. Medicare, however, does. And while it is tempting to indict the aging of the Baby Boom generation for fueling rapid increases in health care costs, policy makers would be wrong to set out to simply reduce benefits and/or increase Medicare premiums as a fix. Instead, they should focus their efforts on the supply side of health care, rather than increased demand resulting from the aging of the population.

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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- April 9, 2008

Apr 9, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

Health Care -- Bipartisan Support for Blocking Bush Medicaid Rule: CQ reports ($) that a House bill that would block the president's Medicaid rule changes is gaining support among Republicans. The proposed rule changes would shift about $17.8 billion (over five years) in Medicaid costs to states. The bill, H.R. 5613, will be marked up today in the Committee on Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee.

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Monthly Budget Review: March, 2008

Apr 8, 2008 by Craig Jennings

CBO estimates that the government incurred a deficit of $310 billion in the first half of 2008. The deficit last year at the same point in time was $258 billion. The $51 billion increase in the deficit through March was largely unaffected by differences in the timing of receipts or expenditures. A number of programs experienced double-digit percentage increases in spending in the first half of the year—including food and nutrition programs, unemployment benefits, veterans' health care, federal-aid highways, and community development block grants.

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Wash Post Opines on Future of Entitlements

Apr 7, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The Washington Post wrote their lead editorial yesterday on the future of entitlement programs. The editorial once again lumps Social Security, a relatively healthy program, with Medicare and Medicaid, which face more serious funding issues not because they are entitlement programs, but because of the rapidly growing cost of health care in both the public and private sectors.

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The Employment Situation

Apr 4, 2008 by Craig Jennings

While a loss of 80,000 jobs is troubling, an even more disturbing trend in the private job market continues. In March, the private sector shed 98,000 jobs, marking the fourth consecutive month to see private-sector losses. (click on image to enlarge) Dean Baker at Center for Economic and Policy Research has a good write-up of the situation:

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The Executive Casino: Risk-Free Gaming

Apr 2, 2008 by Craig Jennings

This Tom the Dancing Bug cartoon is a great illustration of the incentives that motivate executives. (The image below is one panel of the full, four-panel comic.) (Click to see the full comic)

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The Letters C, I, and A Declared Need-to-Know-Only

You're reading the special April Fools' Day, 2008, edition of The Watcher.

In a move to further protect a certain unnamed intelligence agency and its operations, the federal government has ruled the letters C, I, and A need-to-know information for use only by those with the highest security clearance. The government ordered that the public stop using these three letters immediately and instead substitute K for C, Y for I, and E for A. Whyle Presedent Bush ekknowledged thet thys khenge wyll keuse some dyffykulty for the Emeryken people, he esserted thet "Ef we kontynue to rysk useng these vytel letters, the terrorysts wyll wyn." The Depertment of Homelend Sekuryty ennounked thet epysodes of Seseme Street sponsored by the restrykted letters wyll emmedyetely be pulled from broedkest skhedules.

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EPA Outsourced to ExxonMobil

You're reading the special April Fools' Day, 2008, edition of The Watcher.

With FY 2009 budget cuts looming, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced April 1 that ExxonMobil will be taking over the majority of the agency's operations as part of a new efficiency plan adopted last year. As ExxonMobil is poised to take command, it has courageously called for a "war on pollution." A first step in its multi-pronged agenda to eliminate pollution is the elimination of all pollution reporting. ExxonMobil management boldly predicts a dramatic drop in pollution as soon as the program begins. The company won the contract, beating out Chevron and Sierra Club, by highlighting opportunities for new scientific discoveries. For instance, an innovative plan for comprehensive logging should eliminate tree-generated carbon dioxide by 2015. The company is planning to add the letter 'M' to the agency's acronym and rename it the Exxon Mobil Protection Agency (EMPA) to more accurately reflect its new direction.

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Cheney Refuses to Disclose Final Four Picks

You're reading the special April Fools' Day, 2008, edition of The Watcher.

In what public access advocates are calling the worst demonstration of excessive government secrecy, Vice President Dick Cheney is refusing to reveal his Final Four picks in the White House NCAA men's basketball tournament pool. Shortly after the 13-year-old son of a White House secretary moved into the lead in the pool after correctly predicting Davidson's shocking upset over Georgetown in the second round, Cheney's bracket was pulled. The Office of the Vice President explained that the Vice President is not technically a part of the White House and is therefore not subject to NCAA pool rules that require disclosure of picks in order to participate. Ironically, Cheney is also claiming to have locked up winning the pool when the tournament concludes, stating, "At this point, it's a slam dunk. Trust me."

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