Want Less Corruption? Try Having Smaller Government.
People can never be made incorruptible. We can, however, design governmental systems filled with checks and balances that limit the temptations.
Government Waste
Government Watchdog Finds $60 Billion in Pandemic Unemployment Fraud, Suggests Maybe Doing Something About It
Despite multiple warnings in the past, the Department of Labor has yet to implement a comprehensive strategy for detecting unemployment insurance fraud.
Pentagon Can't Account for $220 Billion of Gear Given to Contractors
The actual total is probably higher according to the Government Accountability Office's new report.
Will We Get Private Flying Cars Before the Pentagon Manages To Get This New Jet Off the Ground?
A Swedish company will soon be delivering electric single-person aircraft that can take off and land vertically, which the F-35B struggles with despite billions in funding.
Government Spending Billions To Expand Broadband but Can't Tell Who Needs It
The Federal Communications Commission uses broadband coverage maps that are so severely flawed, states started shelling out to make their own.
Congress Has a New Scapegoat for COVID Fraud: Banking Apps
Fintech platforms facilitated fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program, according to a new congressional report.
San Francisco Wants To Spend $1.7 Million on a Single Public Toilet
Local officials argue that the eye-popping sum is necessary due to rising construction costs, but experts disagree.
We Told You Why and How California's High-Speed Rail Wouldn't Work. You Chose Not To Listen.
The New York Times newsroom illustrates what happens when you listen to the New York Times editorial board.
Millions of PPP Loans Were Flagged as Potentially Fraudulent. Many Were Never Investigated.
A new report takes an illustrative look inside the Small Business Administration, which was clearly overwhelmed by the obligation to push unprecedented piles of money out the door quickly.
Don't Use Immigrants as Political Pawns
The best rebuke to the Biden administration's inhumane border policies is for Republican governors to welcome migrants into their states.
San Francisco Spent Over $20,000 on a Trash Can
“We need to have a trash can that works for the city of San Francisco,” said city project manager Lisa Zhuo.
The Army Thinks Printers Cost Over $1 Million
Poor accounting practices mean the Department of Defense can't even tell how much money or equipment it has lost.
Federal COVID Aid to States and Localities Cost $855,000 Per Job Saved
A new paper reveals that the state and local bailout was not only unnecessary but incredibly wasteful.
Why Everything About Politics Sucks, in 1 Chart
Only 6 percent of Americans say the federal government is extremely "careful with taxpayer money," yet those same Americans consistently report that they want the government to do more.
Watchdog Report: At Least 20 Percent of Federal Pandemic Unemployment Dollars Wasted
A new report from the Government Accountability Office found that nearly $80 billion was paid out to ineligible beneficiaries or outright fraudsters.
Do We Really Need 100 Different Federal Programs To Fund Broadband?
A new GAO report finds that the government lacks a "national strategy with clear roles, goals, objectives, and performance measures."
The V.A. Bought 10,000 iPhones for Veterans. 8,544 of Them Were Never Used.
The department lost nearly $2.4 million on data plans for iPhones and iPads that sat in storage.
We Can't Fund COVID Treatments for the Uninsured Because We Spent Trillions of COVID Aid on Wasteful Garbage
Congress used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to throw money around in ways that would be comedic if the results weren't so tragic.
Audit: L.A. Spending as Much as $837,000 per Unit of Housing for Homeless
Despite apportioning over $1 billion for homeless housing, cost overruns and sluggish pacing threaten to jeopardize the city project.
Rand Paul: Feds Wasted $52 Billion on Slot Machine-Playing Pigeons, COVID Aid, Afghanistan, and More
No wonder the federal budget is so out of whack.
Georgia Tax Crimes Unit Illegally Spent Asset Forfeiture Funds on Trinkets and Swag
A state watchdog concluded an office in the Georgia Department of Tax Revenue illegally kept $5 million in forfeiture funds and spent it partially on swag like sunglasses and engraved guns
After Toppling Al Qaeda, America Wasted a Staggering Amount of Money in Afghanistan
There will likely never be a full accounting of the war's cost, but as much as $600 billion might have simply vanished due to waste, fraud, and incompetence.
Post Apocalypse
Neither rain nor sleet nor snow will stop the U.S. Postal Service. But a pandemic on top of a political fiasco? That's a first-class problem.
New Treasury Data Shows That the Rollout of Emergency Rent Relief Continues to Be a Hot Mess
Congress approved $25 Billion in emergency rental assistance in December. Only 6 percent of that money has been spent so far.
Broadway Hit Hamilton Could Get Up to $50 Million Federal Bailout
It must be nice to have Washington's pile of taxpayer cash on your side.
Critics Warned the Largest Tax Increase in San Francisco History Would Be Ill-Spent. It's Now Funding $60,000 Tents for the Homeless.
San Francisco politicians are raising eyebrows at the high costs of an emergency program that provides secure camping sites to the city's homeless.
There Has Been a Mind-Boggling Amount of Unemployment Fraud Since the CARES Act Passed
Enhanced unemployment benefits may have helped many Americans weather the pandemic, but they've also attracted the interest of some modern-day Willie Suttons.
Bringing Earmarks Back Won't Fix Congress
Eliminating earmarks didn't make the government smaller. But reinstating them would facilitate legislative corruption.
Why Don't We Know How Many Vaccine Doses Are Being Thrown Away?
At a time when supply is constrained and time is of the essence, medical providers in many states are throwing precious doses away.
Massachusetts Spent Millions on a Campground It Can't Seem To Keep Open
Meanwhile a privately owned campground nearby works to bring in business
The Space Force Has a Horse. Of Course.
The horses used to belong to the Air Force, which makes only slightly more sense.
As Delayed Tax Day Approaches, Consider What You Get for Your Money
Do you appreciate the incompetence, in-fighting, obstructionism, authoritarianism, and waste that you pay for?
The Feds Sent More than 1 Million Coronavirus Stimulus Payments to Dead People, GAO Says
As much as $1.4 billion might have been paid to deceased Americans. The IRS says that money must be returned.
Trump Administration Says Identities of Coronavirus Stimulus Loan Recipients Are 'Confidential'
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says that information is confidential. Government watchdogs say that excuse is bogus.
Mission Creep and Wasteful Spending Left the CDC Unprepared for an Actual Public Health Crisis
Spending nearly 14 times as much on the CDC as we did in 1987 did not, apparently, help the agency combat the biggest disease threat America has faced in a century.
New York Paid $69 Million to a Shady Vendor for Ventilators That Were Never Delivered
New funding and new powers haven't made government bureaucracies more competent.
There Is Literally One Guy Overseeing Nearly $500 Billion of Emergency Coronavirus Spending
He has no colleagues or staff, but he's supposed to provide oversight on $454 billion in coronavirus spending—nearly equal to the annual budget for Medicare.
Baltimore County Admits It Hasn't Been Recycling Glass for 7 Years. It Still Encourages Residents to Recycle Glass.
When ritual is more important than reuse
The Wall Isn't Working
Parts of Trump's expensive vanity project on the southern border have been blown over by stiff winds. Other sections will have massive holes in them, by design.
D.C.'s Cash-strapped Public Transit Agency Didn't Know It Had Hundreds of $400 Gold Pins Sitting in Storage
A recent Inspector General's report found the agency had serious problems tracking and managing its inventory.
Fed Scientists Filmed Themselves Giving Monkeys Brain Damage. A Watchdog Group Wants the Footage.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health reportedly damaged monkeys' brains with acid before showing them pictures of fruit.
Rand Paul: Feds Wasted Millions Subsidizing Serbian Cheese Production
But at least they had enough tax dollars left over to buy a Bob Dylan-made sculpture for the U.S. embassy in Mozambique, and to get zebrafish addicted to nicotine in London.
Pentagon's Second Audit Identifies 1,300 New Problems
Despite the failure, Pentagon officials are spinning the audit as a step in the right direction.