Where is the Money Going?
Upgrading U.S.’s 5,000 Nuclear Warheads Could Cost Hundreds of Billions of Dollars
One nongovernmental assessment, from the nonpartisan Stimson Center, projected that Washington might need to allocate $352 billion over 10 years to keep the nuclear arsenal of 5,113 warheads working effectively in the coming decades. This includes an estimated $66 billion just to modernize the buildings and laboratories where the upgrades would take place. read more
Overbilling by Doctors and Hospitals Costs Medicare a Billion Dollars a Year
The biggest culprit in the problem, accounting for $6.6 billion, is a practice known as “upcoding.” In upcoding, the doctors and hospitals bill for a visit or procedure that is higher than the one they performed, a violation that is difficult to monitor considering that Medicare deals with an average of one million billings a day. read more
Georgia Becomes First State to Close Archives to Public
Officials said the public will be able to visit the archives and access its collections of documents, but by appointment only. Even these appointments will be limited because staff will also be reduced. read more
Whistleblower Earns Largest IRS Award ever…After Serving 2½ Years in Prison
As a result of his whistleblowing, the IRS was able to recover billions of dollars in unpaid taxes from various individuals. UBS, meanwhile, paid $780 million to the U.S. government to avoid criminal prosecution and turned over account information for more than 4,500 Americans. read more
Health Care Waste Costs more than Pentagon Budget
The biggest area of waste in health care is unneeded services, which uses up $210 billion each year. Administrative costs consume another $190 billion, and inefficiencies burn up $130 billion. More than $100 billion disappears from inflated prices, and fraud robs another $75 billion. read more
The Bailouts 4 Years Later: Were They Worthwhile Investments?
Critics like former TARP inspector general Neil Barofsky reply that the bailouts failed to exact reforms, and even preserved the broken too-big-to-fail system that led to the crisis. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve made secret loans and guarantees to large banks worth $7.77 trillion, which the Fed claims have been repaid. read more
Education Dept. Spends more than a Billion Dollars a Year Tracking Down Student Debtors
Of the $1.4 billion paid out, $355 million was paid to nearly two dozen companies specializing in private debt collection. Another $1.06 billion was allocated to “guarantee agencies,” nonprofit organizations or state government agencies that administer student loan. Guarantee agencies often outsource the dirty work to debt collectors as well. read more
Outside Campaign Spending Surpasses 2008…With 8 Weeks to Go
Spending by outside groups totaled $306.2 million as of September 5, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In comparison, such groups blew $301.6 million on the entire 2008 election.
Before 2010, liberal outside groups consistently outspent conservative ones, but this trend has been massively reversed. So far this year conservative groups have outspent their liberal counterparts by $240 million to barely $60 million. read more
9/11 Lawsuit against Airlines for Negligence to Go to Trial
World Trade Center Properties sought an additional $8.4 billion in damages, which included the estimated cost of replacing the two towers that were destroyed, but Hellenstein capped their potential gain at $2.8 billion, the value of its lease of the property from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. read more
Texas Reconsiders Law Imprisoning Prostitutes as Waste of Money
A prostitute sentenced to a state correctional facility is costing taxpayers $18,538 a year, and those sent to lower-security state jail are costing $15,500 annually.
Criminal justice reformers argue that convicted sex workers belong in community-based programs that cost considerably less, about $4,300 a year.
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IRS Will No Longer Help Track Down Taxpayers Owed Money from Retirement Plans
Since 1994, the IRS has provided a letter-forwarding service for individuals, companies and organizations trying to track down taxpayers who are owed money from pension funds and other sources.
The IRS announced that due to budget constraints, it would limit its letter-forwarding program to assist those seeking to convey a message for a humane purpose or those in an emergency situation. read more
10 Occupations with the Largest Percentage of African-Americans
1. Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides—33.1%
2. Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators—30.5%
3. Barbers—27.7%
4. Security guards and gaming surveillance officers—27.2%
5. Railroad conductors and yardmasters—27.2%
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10 Occupations with the Smallest Percentage of African-Americans
1. Dredge, excavating, and loading machine operators—0.0%
2. Medical transcriptionists—0.3%
3. Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters—0.3%
4. Dental hygienists—0.5%
5. Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers—0.9%
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10 Occupations with the Largest Percentage of Latinos
1. Drywall installers, ceiling tile installers, and tapers—59.7%
2. Graders and sorters, agricultural products—51.5%
3. Miscellaneous agricultural workers—49.5%
4. Cement masons, concrete finishers, and terrazzo workers—47.8%
5. Roofers—47.3%
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11 Occupations with the Smallest Percentage of Latinos
1. Appraisers and assessors of real estate—0.0%
2. Chiropractors—1.3%
3. Medical transcriptionists—2.1%
4. Financial analysts—2.7%
5. Artists and related workers—2.8%
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IRS Supervisors Encouraged Staff to Ignore Fraud in Taxpayer ID Number Applications
The focus of the audit was the Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) program, which was established in 1996 to provide individuals ineligible for Social Security numbers, in particular resident aliens, with ID numbers for tax purposes.
Nearly three million tax returns were filed in 2011 using ITINs, involving tax refunds totaling $6.8 billion, most of it as a result of applying the Additional Child Tax Credit.
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