Government Waste Fighting GOP... oh...

The GOP tells us repeatedly how they're the enemies of waste in government programs. There is waste and fraud in government programs, there's a lot of money going in a lot of directions. It seems that somebody is doing something. Be very surprised, it ain't the GOP.

Earlier this week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the federal government recovered $4.1 billion in taxpayer dollars from individuals and corporations attempting to steal Medicare and Medicaid payments to which they were not entitled.

What's $4.1 billion? It is the largest amount of money ever recovered, by far, in the history of the programs since they were established in 1965

That would span more than a couple GOP Administrations...

*h/t to amk at BJ

Magical Federal Government And A Spill

The oil spill in the Gulf has people's teeth on edge which is approaching fury. Oil pouring out into the Gulf from a profit making operation and fouling water and shores for over a month and still counting is infuriating. BP's inability to deal with it has people screaming for the Federal government to take over from them.

I'm a lefty Democrat which means, in a quite abbreviated definition, I think that the government has the means, ability, and responsibility to deal with matters beyond the reach of society at large. That means that I'm real sure that the Federal government has the ability to shape economic outcomes through regulation and taxation. It means that the Federal government has the responsibility to keep a rein on outfits like BP. What it does not mean is that Federal government has magical powers. Pointing the Federal government at a problem ought to include it having the ability to do something with the problem.

The Fed doesn't drill holes a mile under the ocean's surface, it is not something they do and apparently didn't bother to ask BP if it was good enough at it. There isn't a Dept of Magic Wand Waving. Whatever you think about BP; it isn't in their self interest to have oil going all over the ocean. If you find yourself on the side of the ignoramus from Alaska on an issue when you didn't start out on her side of anything it is time to stop and think. The "Drill Baby Drill" babe has managed to show that she knows just about squat about anything beyond repeating slogans.

The idea that the Federal government knows a whole bunch about plugging an oil well ought to be pretty well disproved by the permitting that allowed this hole to be punched in the manner it was done. The idea that BP and the Federal Government aren't using all the resources available to address this mess passes rational belief. Nobody has said, "Great job, Brownie," instead there has been a steady drumbeat of BP is under the boot. People seem to forget what the function of government is and what its reach is. Problems are not amenable to wishes...

Water, A Town, The Fed, Stupidity Ensues

About 140 years ago a road was carved into the mountains outside Baker City. The purpose of this road was to cut a ditch to provide water to mines. A pipeline was laid in the ditch and this pipeline provides almost all of the water Baker City, population 10,000, uses. High quality water derived from a watershed now within the Wallowa Whitman National Forest. The water has some chlorine added to it to protect it from the city's own pipelines, otherwise the wet stuff is capable of winning water competitions nationally.

While it doesn't affect the quality of the water, there is a problem, the pipeline leaks. Baker City still gets its water but this is a waste of a resource. The city would like to repair the pipeline which lies under a road everyone agrees belongs to Baker City even though much of its 17 miles runs through the national forest. What is proposed, fairly straight forwardly, is to dig up the pipe, fix it, and cover it back up - all things Baker City is free to do with its road through the Wallowa Whitmans. The issue is getting the pipe carrying trucks to the dig, there are curves.

In fact, everyone involved agrees about the road and its ownership and control of it, unfortunately also that no one knows how wide it is. So Baker City is suing the Federal Government.

This stupid result is because were Baker City to exceed its unknown right of way a $100,000 Environmental Study taking a year would be required. This isn't a matter of the city wishing to create a highway of some sort into the forest, it is a matter of digging up a pipeline underneath the existing road and getting pipe to it. The crux of the matter is just how wide the right of way is and no one knows, not the city and not the federal government and so this will land on a Federal Judge's docket to sort out a matter of some feet. Lawyers and court time costs everybody money and cities of 10K don't need to throw money away in court. (if anybody does)