|
Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the marketing of 20 ZYN oral nicotine pouch products under the premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) pathway. These products include ten different flavors and two nicotine strengths, signaling a notable shift in the agency’s approach to adult access to flavored nicotine alternatives. In the order, the FDA noted: “Due to substantially lower amounts of harmful constituents than cigarettes and most smokeless tobacco products … the authorized products pose lower risk of cancer and other serious health conditions.” The agency also determined that the applications “provided evidence from a study showing that a substantial proportion of adults who use cigarette and/or smokeless tobacco products completely switched to the newly authorized nicotine pouch products.” This is a significant step forward for consumer choice and welfare in America, which has lagged behind other nations in providing FDA-authorized tobacco harm reduction products. Nicotine pouches, which have experienced a rapid growth in use, are an innovative tool in reducing smoking. The FDA’s authorization of these products will help continue the decline in smoking rates for adults. The FDA’s recognition of non-traditional flavors (such as citrus and cinnamon) represents a welcomed shift. These flavors, already used in FDA-approved nicotine replacement therapies, offer additional options for smokers seeking alternatives to combustible tobacco. The FDA’s findings provide much-needed guidance to adults, and healthcare providers, on the benefits of tobacco harm reduction products. However, much work remains. With the inclusion of these products, the FDA has still authorized only 76 products through the PMTA pathway. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of far more harmful products have been approved under other pathways. These restrictive regulations have stifled the U.S. tobacco harm reduction market, leading to consumer confusion and a growing unregulated market. This authorization is a positive step, but comprehensive reform is needed to further reduce smoking rates, enhance competition, and spur innovation in safer alternatives to cigarettes.
Time for Postal Service Competition
Patience has understandably worn thin with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). After America’s mail carrier lost $9.5 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2024 and announced plans to raise stamp prices five more times through 2027, it’s little wonder that President-elect Trump has contemplated selling the agency off to the highest bidder. Short of a buyout, there’s plenty the incoming administration could do to ensure increased competition and lower costs at the USPS. President Trump should loosen the screws on the onerous postal monopoly and let private providers give the agency a run for its money.
Central Washington University economists Robert Carbaugh and Thomas Tenerelli compare the United States’ postal policies with that of five countries (Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, Australia). Each significantly commercialized their postal sectors over a twenty-year period and found plenty to write home about. Namely, “prices have not risen, productivity has increased, costs have decreased, the universal service obligation continues to be met, service quality measured by on-time delivery has not dropped, and overall customer satisfaction (though difficult to measure) seems to have increased.” Once competitors are allowed to enter the fray, national posts such as Deutsche Post respond by innovating and improving services for consumers. When the German postal monopoly was abolished in the early 2000s, Dutch postal services provider TNT announced plans to offer end-to-end letter delivery and strove to reach a majority of German households. This private competition made a sizeable dent in the Post’s letter market share, spurring the former monopolist to roll out a service that allows mail to be emailed and scanned to recipients. Consumers will only trust their post offices to carry out such a service if the post has a positive reputation for safeguarding consumers’ data and information. Deutsche Post has been busy shoring up its safety bona fides to prove it can handle such delicate tasks. For instance, the Post created a well-publicized “Deutsche Post Security Cup,” which rewarded researchers up to 6,000 euros to find significant bugs in their E-Postbrief secure message service.
USPS consumers wish they could have a similarly safe and tech-friendly experience. The closest equivalent to Deutsche Post’s scan and emailing service is “Informed Delivery,” which only offers images of the outside of consumers’ incoming mail. Too bad that stalkers and identity thieves have been having a field day exploiting weaknesses in the program’s authentication system. There is, of course, no guarantee that the USPS would get some much-needed business sense if it went the way of Deutsche Post and Royal Mail and relaxed its monopoly on mailing letters. However, international and historical experience suggests the agency could better itself by embracing competition. America’s mail carrier, the incoming administration, and Congress can work together to build a more vibrant and dynamic postal system.
Protecting the Atlanta Inspector General
On January 6, Atlanta City Councilmember Howard Shook introduced charter amendment legislation during a City Council meeting that would all-but-end the Office of the Inspector General’s (IG) independence. What’s more, IG Shannon Manigault’s investigative powers would be defanged and her access to records would be sharply limited. Passage of this legislation would render the IG helpless to hold Atlanta’s notoriously corrupt city leadership accountable for their misdeeds and sideline key IG allies from the watchdog’s governing board. As Manigault rightly notes, “What the legislation does — it is taking Atlanta backwards.” The Atlanta City Council must quash this horrible piece of legislation and give IG Manigault the tools she needs to turn the city around. It certainly isn’t easy to fight against corruption in Atlanta. Even when one investigation concludes, the crooks just keep on coming. In 2022, former Atlanta city official and pastor Mitzi Bickers was sentenced to 14 years in prison for using her position as city director of human services to steer $17 million in city work to local contractors in exchange for bribes. A sprawling, eight-year federal investigation has nabbed numerous other Atlanta officials for fraud, bribery, and misuse of taxpayer dollars. One recently uncovered perpetrator is former Chief Financial Officer Jim Beard, who used taxpayer dollars to buy machine guns, airline tickets, limousines, and fancy hotel rooms for him and his pals. These developments certainly don’t bode well for Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who has repeatedly called for ethics and transparency reforms.
The IG’s office is working to sniff out these schemes and expose city officials making a mockery of public service. According to one recently released report by IG Manigault’s office, one senior city employee actively tried steering solicitations for taxpayer-funded projects to a friend who worked for a bidding company. The employee would inappropriately share project details and granular budget information with their friend, who would then use the information to increase proposed costs for task order services. The IG found, “On the identified task orders, quotes increased at least $850,000 following the disclosure of budget information.” Another recent report by the IG concluded that the commissioner of the Department of Human Resources “abused her authority in creating a [city of Atlanta job] position for her daughter and attempting the termination of...[her daughter’s] supervisor” after the supervisor pointed out the daughter’s absenteeism. The IG deserves praise from city officials for bringing attention to this unacceptable conduct. Instead, she and her office have been targeted and obstructed every step of the way. Manigault notes that, lately, “there have been processes and procedures put in place that have made it harder for us to do our jobs, harder for us to get access to necessary records... City departments have been given an instruction — and we have multiple cases that can speak to this — where they were told to treat the Office of Inspector General requests like open records requests.” Meanwhile, city council members such as Rep. Marci Collier Overstreet (Dist. 11) have lambasted the IG for not going through “proper channels” nor being consulted about the corruption crisis. Overstreet should be more concerned about widespread criminal activity in city government and less concerned with how the news is delivered.
The latest proposed legislation is just the latest low blow by a group of lawmakers determined to stop the IG at all costs.
Unfortunately, Manigault is not the only IG who has faced pushback for doing her job. Baltimore city IG Isabel Cumming has taken considerable heat for standing up to Charm City’s corruption-plagued government. Cumming investigated Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, known for her lavish international trips on the taxpayer’s dime and problems accurately reporting her finances. Following the release of a report detailing Mosby’s many ethically dubious travel expenditures, Mosby’s lawyers pressured the IG office to revise the report to make the embattled attorney look better. Cumming stood firm, responding, “[n]o. I’m standing behind my report.” And, now that Mosby has been convicted for fraud and perjury, Cumming’s decision to not waver in holding her accountable looks all the better. Cummings persisted and during her tenure as IG, has identified tens of millions of dollars in wasteful and uncessary spending. IG Cummings also exposed the Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) and their unsanitary and unsafe working conditions, which ultimately resulted in the death of a DPW from heat exhaustion. Cummings wouldn’t have been able to do any of this work without the Baltimore City Council and ultimately the citizens giving her the independence to do her oversight work unfettered. Neighboring Baltimore County has also had more than its fair share of hostility against government watchdogs. In a battle that began in 2021, Baltimore County officials tried to strip IG Kelly Madigan of some investigative powers and attempted to set up roadblocks for requesting information which would have effectively made the IG’s office toothless. A public pressure campaign forced Baltimore County officials to back off.
IGs such as Shannon Manigault, Kelly Madigan, and Isabel Cumming are the heroes that taxpayers absolutely do deserve. Unfortunately, lawmakers are determined to hold them back and eliminate all barriers to corruption. Atlanta lawmakers have a stark choice; they can continue to allow corruption to fester or they can take a stand and zealously defend the IG’s independence.
Monday: Taxpayer Watchdog Slams IRS’ Lawless Midnight Rulemaking
Tuesday: Atlanta Lawmakers Must Protect IG Independence
Wednesday: U.S. Postal Service Needs Some Competition
Thursday: The Subsidy and the Stranglehold and Taxpayer Watchdog Slams FTC’s Lawsuit Against John Deere
Friday: Across the Pond: Exploring Tobacco Harm Reduction in LMICs with Samrat Chowdhery
Media:
January 9, 2025: FilterMag mentioned TPA in their article, “How the FDA Made a “Gigantic, Chaotic Mess” of the US Vapes Market.”
January 10, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA for their story on Mosby and fundraising.
January 10, 2025: Bozeman Daily Chronicle (Bozeman, MT) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Gallatin County risks credit rating to support struggling fiber project.”
January 10, 2025: RealClear Markets ran TPA’s op-ed, “A Simple Solution For Tax Chaos With National Benefits.”
January 10, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA for their story on Governor Wes Moore.
January 12, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me for their story on Maryland’s budgets, including school system budgets.
January 13, 2025: The Detroit News (Detroit, Mich.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Mass tort litigation has shocking economic costs.”
January 13, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me for their story on Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT).
January 13, 2025: The Atlanta Journal Constitution (Atlanta, Ga.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Atlanta City Council must protect IG independence.”
January 13, 2025: The Bradford Era (Bradford, Pa.) quoted TPA in their article, “The cost of no-bid contracts.”
January 13, 2025: The Fairfield Sun Times (Fairfield, Mont.) quoted TPA in their article, “Waste of the Day: No-Bid Contracts Jeopardize Taxpayer Funds.”
January 13, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA for their story on Governor Wes Moore.
January 14, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA in their article, “Critics slam Moore's budget, blame poor planning for $3B deficit, tax hikes on rich.”
January 14, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted me in their story on Maryland’s budget.
January 14, 2025: Inside Sources ran TPA's op-ed, "Expect Trump to make changes to BEAD program."
January 15, 2025: The Las Vegas Review Journal (Las Vegas, NV) ran TPA’s op-ed, “The shocking economic costs of mass tort litigation.”
January 15, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA in their story on Maryland’s budget.
January 15, 2025: El Tiempo Libre ran TPA’s op-ed, “The shocking economic costs of mass tort litigation.”
January 15, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA in their article, “Moore and Hogan clash over Maryland's fiscal legacy.”
January 15, 2025: The Center Square ran TPA's op-ed, “State and federal policies may stymie BEAD participation.”
January 15, 2025: AOL ran TPA’s op-ed, “State and federal policies may stymie BEAD participation.”
January 16, 2025: Townhall ran TPA’s op-ed, “The Fraudulent Populism of Our Leaders.”
January 16, 2025: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me for their story on breaking down Governor Moore’s budget.
January 16, 2025: RealClear Markets ran TPA’s op-ed, “The Empty 'National Security' Case Against Nippon, U.S. Steel.”
January 16, 2025: Targeted News Service mentioned TPA in their article, “Smith, Edwards, Blackburn Introduce Bill to Protect Americans from Unfair Tax Preparation.”
January 16, 2025: I appeared WBOB Radio (Jacksonville, Fa.) to talk about regulations and the national debt.
January 16, 2025: The Baltimore Sun ran TPA's op-ed, "Criminals Have Their Sights Set on Americans' Mail."
Have a great weekend!
Best,
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
1101 14th Street, NW
Suite 500
Washington, D.C. xxxxxx
|
