Hogs at the Trough

Gitmo consumes $900,000 per prisoner annually

2013-05-18T00:00:00.000+12:00

‘Astronomical costs’: Gitmo consumes $900,000 per prisoner annually — RT News: "Maintenance of Guantanamo has been revealed to cost over $150 million each year, with immediate estimates citing it one of the most expensive prisons in the world. This comes as the hunger strike at the detention facility is far from over. Follow RT’s day-by-day timeline of the Gitmo hunger strike. The prison camp

Susan Rice Honored With Great American Award Night Before Benghazi Hearing

2013-05-16T00:00:00.000+12:00

Susan Rice? What a joke! What an ego, what a liar! Susan Rice Honored With 'Great American' Award Night Before Benghazi Hearing: "The evening gala and awards ceremony, which included Vice President Joe Biden, came the day before State Department whistleblowers testified at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the terrorist attack that took place at the U.S. consulate in

Afghan Leader Confirms CIA Cash Deliveries

2013-05-14T14:30:00.000+12:00

Money Can't Buy You Love-- Afghan Leader Confirms Cash Deliveries by C.I.A. - NYTimes.com: "But the cash deliveries to Mr. Karzai’s office are of a different magnitude with a far wider impact, helping the palace finance the vast patronage networks that Mr. Karzai has used to build his power base. The payments appear to run directly counter to American efforts to clean up endemic corruption and

Army Says No To More Tanks But Congress Says You Must

2013-05-09T00:00:00.000+12:00

Army Says No To More Tanks, But Congress Insists : NPR: "Built to dominate the enemy in combat, the Army's hulking Abrams tank is proving equally hard to beat in a budget battle. Lawmakers from both parties have devoted nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer money over the past two years to build improved versions of the 70-ton Abrams. But senior Army officials have said repeatedly, "No thanks

Richie Farmer Indictment

2013-05-07T00:00:00.000+12:00

Richie Farmer Indictment by CJ WEB ADMIN Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); Follow @hogsatthetrough !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=

Public Pensions and Bankruptcy

2013-05-04T00:00:00.000+12:00

Stockton, CA: One Of America's Most Miserable Cities Just Got More Miserable - Forbes: " . . . Though some cities’ have traveled unique paths on the way to fiscal hell, in many cases, the pension crisis that was predicted more than a decade ago is upon us, and taxpayers in each of those cities and states will pay for the fiscal mismanagement. At the very minimum, city governments should ensure

"Pension Progress"

2013-05-02T00:00:00.000+12:00

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Moving Ahead with "Pension Progress": "Buried in a transportation bill that President Obama signed on July 6, 2012, was a change to make it appear pension plans are better funded than they really are. The bill was called Map-21 "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act"." (read more at link above) In other words, "appearances" over the "truth."

Federal Programs Ponzi Schemes

2013-04-30T00:00:00.000+12:00

Best of the Web Today: Eine Kleine Trauermusik - WSJ.com: "This problem didn't begin with Obama, and you can't even blame George W. Bush: "The idea among Americans that they get back what they paid for, with some rate of return, dates to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's legislative marketing of Social Security nearly 80 years ago." As future Enron adviser Paul Krugman noted in 1996, Social

Pension Rate-of-Return Fantasy

2013-04-27T00:00:00.000+12:00

Andy Kessler: The Pension Rate-of-Return Fantasy - WSJ.com: "In June of 2012, Calpers lowered the expected rate of return on its portfolio to 7.5% from 7.75%. Mr. Milligan suggested 7.25%. Calpers had last dropped the rate in 2004, from 8.25%. But even the 7.5% return is fiction. Wall Street would laugh if the matter weren't so serious. And the trouble is not just in California. Public-pension

Getting Rich From Government Work

2013-04-25T00:00:00.000+12:00

Same-O Same-O-- Where Obama Staff Veterans Are Working in 2013 | New Republic: " . . . more than enough ways to cash in on a White House tour of duty that fall comfortably within the red lines governing Obama’s Washington. No one in the West Wing, from the president on down, would begrudge former colleagues the chance to make a buck so long as a modicum of tact is displayed. The easiest place

IRS workers accused of theft

2013-04-23T00:00:00.000+12:00

24 IRS workers in TN accused of theft | The Tennessean | tennessean.com: “According to the allegations in the indictment, while these IRS employees were supposed to be serving the public, they were instead brazenly stealing from law-abiding American taxpayers,” U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton III, who oversees federal prosecutions in West Tennessee, said in a prepared statement. The indictments

Debtor prisons thrive in the US

2013-04-20T00:00:00.000+12:00

Criminalizing poverty-- As economy flails, debtors' prisons thrive - CBS News: " . . . they reflect a justice system that in effect criminalizes poverty. "It's a growing problem nationally, particularly because of the economic crisis," said Inimai Chettiar, director of the justice program at New York University School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice. Roughly a third of U.S. states today jail

State pension crises persist

2013-04-18T00:00:00.000+12:00

Kentucky's pension reforms seen as positive for the state | Reuters: "pension crises persist in many places, most notably Illinois, which currently has a shortfall of $98.6 billion. Kentucky is one of 14 states that have only made partial pension payments over the past seven years, according to Chris Tobe, who served as a trustee of the system from 2008 through 2012. In fiscal 2011, it had

Kentucky pensions underwater

2013-04-16T00:00:00.000+12:00

Better late than never? Kentucky's pension reforms seen as positive for the state | Reuters: "Under the new law, Kentucky will be required to fully fund its ARC by fiscal 2015, at a cost of about $100 million a year that is to be covered by changes to the state's personal income tax. Kentucky will also put new hires into retirement plans similar to those provided in the private sector and

Policemen are India's most corrupt officials

2013-04-13T00:00:00.000+12:00

Who's going to police the police? Average Indian bribe is $670 | ZDNet: "Policemen are India's most corrupt officials, according to a Web site that aggregates reports from members of the public as part of a social initiative to tackle corruption. The site ipaidabribe.com (IPAB), run by the Bangalore-based Janaagraha centre for citizenship and democracy, aggregated over 22,490 reports of bribes

Social media, crowd sourcing, and crime solving

2013-04-11T00:00:00.000+12:00

Social media, crowd sourcing, and crime solving-- NYPD Couldn't Find Mugger For 3 Weeks, Internet Commenters Catch Him in 1 Hour | Alternet: " . . . So what can we take away from the NYPD's 3-week fail and the Internet's 1-hour win besides a good (yet sad) laugh? Perhaps an awareness that social media is not just the place where people post silly statuses and pictures with friends. Social media

CalPERS Pension System and Stockton Bankruptcy

2013-04-09T00:00:00.001+12:00

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: CalPERS Pension System in the Crosshairs of Stockton Bankruptcy Dispute: "In spite of this huge runup in stocks and bonds, pension funds are still underfunded by a minimum of $2.8 trillion. If these undeserved pensions have priority, taxpayers will be on the hook for them. For the sake of the average taxpayer, let's hope CalPERS is thrown in the mix and

People do not want the truth

2013-04-06T00:00:00.000+12:00

People seem willing to believe what they want to hear, even when dealing with known liars. Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Cyprus Banks Closed Until Thursday; "Solution is Feasible, Can Be Extrapolated to Spain", Says Spanish Economist; Lies of the Day: "Today's lie of the day is by Chancellor Angela Merkel who says don't worry, Cyprus is a "Special Case". How long will citizens of Spain

Detroit manager to listen, then assess priorities

2013-04-04T00:00:00.000+12:00

The first step in resolving a serious financial problem is to stop fueling the fire by spending money you don't have Poor guy is going to clean up the Detroit "mess"-- Detroit manager to listen, then assess priorities - seattlepi.com: Orr insists he has no immediate plan of action other than getting a sense of the city's priorities. "You really want to look into the swimming pool to see if

More on Big Sugar’s Uncle Sugar Daddy's subsidy

2013-04-02T00:00:00.000+12:00

The Big Sugar Sweetheart Deal with Uncle Sugar Daddy-- Carl Hiaasen: Big Sugar’s subsidy — how sweet it is - Carl Hiaasen - MiamiHerald.com: " . . . The major beneficiaries of this bailout would be cane growers in Florida and beet operations in Minnesota, Michigan and North Dakota. Big Sugar has outsized political clout in Washington, as evidenced by the silence of so-called fiscal conservatives

More Sleaze in Tallahassee

2013-03-30T00:00:00.000+12:00

Even more sleaze from Tallahassee-- Another scandal in Tallahassee? You bet! - Carl Hiaasen - MiamiHerald.com: " . . . The organization had presented itself as a charity called Allied Veterans of the World, and had tax-exempt, nonprofit status. Under a typically porous Florida law, it was allowed to operate Internet “sweepstakes cafes” as long as the earnings were donated to charitable causes.

Sleaze from Tallahassee affects the Everglades

2013-03-28T00:00:00.000+12:00

More sleaze from Tallahassee-- Carl Hiaasen: Call this a sign of our sleazy times - Carl Hiaasen - MiamiHerald.com: "Even in a state of perpetual sleaze, some dirty deals stink more than others. The most recent is a weird little law approved last spring that allows the South Florida Water Management District to enter the commercial billboard business. The water agency usually sticks to flood

Big Sugar’s Uncle Sugar Daddy

2013-03-26T00:00:00.000+12:00

Big Sugar, Big Hogs-- Carl Hiaasen: Big Sugar’s subsidy — how sweet it is - Carl Hiaasen - MiamiHerald.com: " . . . According to the Wall Street Journal, the USDA is on the verge of purchasing 400,000 tons of sugar in a massive bailout of domestic sugar processors. The move would cost taxpayers about $80 million. It’s the sweetest of deals for the big companies that grow cane and beets. For

Homestead police officers fired in brutality cases and cover-up

2013-03-23T00:00:00.000+12:00

This stuff is sickening--when is the public going to say enough! ? Homestead police officers fired in brutality cases and cover-up--"Two police officers accused of assaulting men outside of Celio's Cuartel Latino bar in Homestead were fired along with another officer who allegedly covered up the incident, a police spokesman said Friday afternoon. The police brutality incident happened nearly

Hey US, look at Detroit, that's where you're headed!

2013-03-21T00:00:00.000+12:00

A Crisis Born of Bad Decisions and False Hope--sound familiar? For Detroit, a Crisis Born of Bad Decisions and False Hope - NYTimes.com: " . . . . Under Michigan law, the emergency manager would ultimately have the authority to remove local elected officials from most financial decision making, change labor contracts, close or privatize departments, and even recommend that Detroit enter