Before I get to the annual Tricks and Treats, there is a trick that happened yesterday. The White House released their framework for a $1.7 trillion spending bill. As Patrick Hedger (TPA’s Vice President of Policy) said in our statement yesterday, “There is perhaps no greater illustration of the sad state of fiscal affairs in our nation than the fact that a $1.7 trillion spending package is considered reasonable.” Amen, Patrick. You can read the full statement here.
Tricks
Invasion of the Money Snatchers: UFOs may be patrolling the skies, but there’s an even bigger threat than an invasion of Little Green People. After all, Congress is busy spending taxpayers’ hard-earned money and racking up trillion-dollar deficits. Economists have long-warned that “there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” and any new spending green-lit by lawmakers will ultimately have to be paid for somehow. That “somehow” will show up sooner rather than later in Americans’ tax bills, adding to the already high costs of buying essentials and doing business. Lawmakers have repeatedly proposed raising corporate tax rates despite the economic growth and prosperity that followed the 2017 lowering of the tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. And, President Biden has called for nearly doubling the tax rate on capital gains from 23.8 percent to 43.4 percent, while House Democrats “only” want to raise the rate to 28.8 percent. Any increase, however, will be felt by consumers with higher prices or Americans trying to grow their retirement accounts and companies trying to use private capital to grow their businesses and hire more workers. In addition, There’s plenty of evidence that raising business taxes would harm American competitiveness, cost thousands of jobs, and raise prices for millions of Americans. And, if we’re going to have the resources to take the take the fight to the Body Snatchers, we better stop the Money Snatchers in their tracks.
Mail Delivery is Slower than a Haunted Hayride: Hayrides are plenty of fun, especially because you are never quite sure if that costumed 16-year-old is actually wielding a real chainsaw. Part of the thrill is that hayrides are just slow enough so an amateur Freddy Krueger employed by the farm can jump on. But, compared to mail trucks nowadays, hayrides might as well qualify for the Daytona 500. The United States Postal Service (USPS) is currently relaxing service standards on first-class mail (i.e., letters) and periodicals, meaning that fewer Americans will be able to rely on two and three-to-five-day delivery turnarounds.
And the service slowdowns are wreaking havoc on the agency’s reputation. Consumers across the country feel that they can no longer count on the USPS for fast, reliable deliveries, which is a tad problematic considering that no competition is allowed. So, don’t even think about using hayrides to deliver your mail when the USPS falls down on the job.
Government’s Monster: Municipal Broadband: The bipartisan infrastructure bill also gives $65 billion for government entities to build out high-speed internet. This opens the door to let the government work its way into traditionally private sector enterprises. American taxpayers have learned time and time again the irresponsible nature of government-owned networks (GONs). GONs typically have a very low “take rate.” Despite big government advocates’ claims about private networks, the vast majority of Americans don’t want a government network. For example, in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, consultants projected 30 percent market share for the city government’s network, offering internet through Sun Prairie Utilities. In reality, they only garnered 7 percent. They had to sell, and the losses incurred fell to the taxpayers. The internet and its infrastructure has grown exponentially due to private investment and a hands-off regulatory approach. If anything has worked well recently, it has been the resiliency of our existing internet infrastructure. The government trying to run its own networks is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist and a blatant power grab by nameless bureaucrats.
Treats
Baltimore Inspector General Going Ghostbusters on Charm City Politicians and Wasteful Spending: When Baltimore’s public officials continue to make excuses for dysfunctional finances, soaring crime, and failing schools, there’s only one person you can call: Inspector General (IG) Isabel Cumming. Days after being chosen as Baltimore’s IG in 2018, Cumming made clear that “nobody is off limits. Overtime situations, theft of time. Purchase cards. There are so many areas that need to be looked at…I love going after white collar criminals.” At the time, then-Mayor Pugh sung her praises, stating Cumming “knows how to operate independently to be fair and just.” Maybe Pugh would not have been so effusive if she knew that Cumming would be actively investigating the Mayor’s Office for fraud. After media reports revealed that then-Mayor Pugh had cozy financial ties to the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), the IG’s office began to take a closer look at the city leader’s money dealings. Plenty of illegal activity was unearthed, and before long, Pugh was behind bars. But Cumming has kept fighting to expose corruption in Charm City, detailing more than $7 million in spending waste for fiscal year 2021. The number of investigations and identified savings has increased by leaps and bounds over the past three years, reflecting increased productivity at the IG’s office. Let’s hope that this ghostbuster can keep holding the ghouls in Baltimore’s city government accountable. If the Baltimore City IG Advisory Board takes away the independence of the IG, this treat may become a trick.
Watchdogs (Try) to Perform Pentagon Exorcism: The Department of Defense (DoD) is up against plenty of demons. In addition to having to defend America against a wide range of enemies, internal bloat and inefficiencies make basic operations far more difficult than they need to be. And the Pentagon isn’t in the habit of turning inward to solve these issues… but things may be starting to change. In September, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report criticizing, “major defense organizations, such as the Army, [for] not naming representatives to a year-old task force on fighting fraud and not conducting assessments of risks that are recommended in official guidance.” Contracting fraud is a particularly pressing concern, given that the Pentagon spends more than $400 billion per year in contracts.
The good news is that the Pentagon has acknowledged the seriousness of the problem by creating a Fraud Reduction Task Force and making use of a risk management program to identify and act on fraud concerns. Much more has to be done, of course, including critically examining chronically overbudget programs such as the F-35 boondoggle. But with enough cooperation between the DoD, GAO, and lawmakers, public officials can sort out the devilish details of Pentagon funding and put spending on a more sustainable path.
Is that Norman Bates Next Door, or Just a Federal Worker? Walking around L’Enfant Plaza is truly an eerie experience. One can never be sure if they’re being watched from one of the darkened windows of a drab office building. But thankfully, the era of continuous stretches of dreary government buildings may soon be coming to an end. August marked the start of what will likely be a long-term effort to plug federal employees into private coworking spaces. Recently, the General Services Administration (GSA) “awarded a multi-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract to five commercial co-working companies —WeWork, The Yard, LiquidSpace, Expansive and Deskpass —…that will allow agencies to purchase flexible, temporary space from any of the companies.” It is clear from the terms, though, that this is only intended to be a preliminary effort for now. The federal government won’t be able to spend more than $10 million on any one coworking vendor, and the contract can only go for up to five years. A $50 million contract, of course, is a drop in the bucket compared to the federal government estimated $5 billion in office renting costs. But it is certainly a start, given the broken status-quo. The GSA’s own IG estimated in 2018 that rental payments for unused office space cost taxpayers $21 million annually. Only a Psycho could conclude that is a good use of taxpayer dollars.
BLOGS:
MEDIA:
October 22, 2021: The Georgia Virtue ran TPA’s op-ed, “Special Interests Try To Stifle Food Imports, Harm The Economy.”
October 22, 2021: Townhall.com ran TPA’s op-ed, “World Health Organization Shamed Further by 100 Experts.”
October 22, 2021: MVMagicValley.com ran TPA’s op-ed, “Blowback to Biden's Banking Hustle.”
October 25, 2021: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about electric vehicles.
October 25, 2021: I appeared on Newsy (nationally syndicated) to talk about wealth taxes.
October 25, 2021: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA in their story, “OIG oversight hearing canceled as government transparency called into question, again.”
October 25, 2021: VP of Policy Patrick Hedger appeared on Real America with Dan Ball on One American News to discuss the reconciliation package.
October 26, 2021: Snusforumet.se ran TPA’s op-ed, “Is the vision of a non-combustible tobacco industry within reach?
October 26, 2021: The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA in their article, “Baltimore County Executive Olszewski establishes ethics commission to review inspector general’s office.”
October 26, 2021: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA in their story, “Mayor Scott promises accountability for federal relief money; critics question reality.”
October 26, 2021: Inside Sources quoted TPA in their article, “‘Build Back Better’ Could Break IRA Retirement System, Experts Warn.”
October 27, 2021: I appeared on the Conservative Commandos radio show to talk about TPA’s Taxpayer Tricks and Treats.
October 27, 2021: I appeared on the Tim Jones Show on KWTO 93.3 FM (Springfield Mo.) to talk about TPA’s Taxpayer Tricks and Treats.
October 27, 2021: Real Clear Markets ran TPAF’s op-ed, “App Store Legislation Is a Dangerous Cybersecurity Trick, Not a Competition Treat.”
October 27, 2021: ePrescott News quoted TPA in their story, “‘Build Back Better’ Could Break IRA Retirement System, Experts Warn.”
October 27, 2021: The Daily Mail quoted TPA in their story, “Billionaire tax proposal in chaos: House Democrat says plan has been scrapped moments before Senate Finance Chair pushes back and insists 'we're continuing to work with members’”
October 27, 2021: The NH Journal quoted TPA in their story, “‘Build Back Better’ Could Break IRA Retirement System, Experts Warn.”
October 28, 2021: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about COVID relief funds for Baltimore.
October 28,2021: I appeared on WBOB 600 AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about unemployment and inflation.
October 28, 2021: I appeared on Rush to Reason on KLZ 560AM (Denver, Col.) to talk about TPA’s Taxpayer Tricks and Treats.
October 28, 2021: Townhall.com ran TPA’s op-ed, “The Democrats Desperate Attempt at a Wealth Tax.”
October 28, 2021: I appeared on 93.1 WACV (Montgomery, Ala.) to talk about the $1.7 trillion reconciliation bill and the Taxpayer Tricks and Treats.
Have a great weekend!
