Social Security Administration Sides with “Adult Baby,” Dumps Diaper Contents on Taxpayers

by Dan Mitchell | Oct 21, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Waste, Welfare and Entitlements

I must not be very bright. Even after decades of experience in Washington, I still have this naive belief that bureaucrats and politicians will occasionally do the right thing – even if for no other reason other than to cover their rear ends after being caught doing...

Report from World Economic Forum Gives U.S. Poor Grades for Wasteful Spending and Burdensome Regulation

by Dan Mitchell | Aug 18, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Government Waste

The latest issue of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report contains some rather damning information about government incompetence in the United States. America ranks only 68th in the “Wastefulness of Government Spending” category (page 373) and 49th...

Is Pentagon Waste Even More Egregious than Welfare-State Waste?

by Dan Mitchell | Jul 31, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Waste

I realize that national defense is one of the few legitimate functions of the federal government, but that doesn’t mean the Pentagon budget isn’t riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse. Here’s a jaw-dropping example reported by Bloomberg. A U.S. contractor in Iraq...

Just in Case You Need One More Reason Why the Department of Housing and Urban Development Should Be Abolished…

by Dan Mitchell | Jul 30, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Government Waste

While I’ve been somewhat critical of Senator Coburn’s willingness to raise taxes, I’ve never doubted that he is a sincere and tireless fighter for smaller government. Indeed, his staff periodically share examples of government waste that boggle the mind, though I...

The Transatlantic Government-Incompetence-and-Stupidity Contest: The U.S v. U.K.

by Dan Mitchell | Jul 23, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Government Waste

Last week, we compared a bone-headed display tpqof incompetence by the German government with a perverse form of harassment by a local government in the United States. We have another America-v-Europe contest, but the roles are reversed. This time, the buffoons in...