You're Paying for Government and Corporate Miscalculations

Billed by Boston. Boston is billing you for overtime and weapons to head off riots that never happened. The city wants $1.9 million from the federal government for guarding the Democratic National Convention from attack. The cops there are still sitting on a $500,000 stockpile of tear gas, stun grenades, and the like they never had to use. Anyone think of shipping the paramilitary surplus to New York for the Republican National Convention? Of course not. New York will bill you for its own supply of noggin’ bustin’ goodies. (Boston Herald)

Retiring Debt at Your Expense. US companies are $350 billion short of what they are supposed to have put into pension plans. No problem they say. The pension funds are insured. You insure them. The companies may need a bailout from taxpayers along the lines of the savings and loan disaster in the 1980s. (Denver Post)

I Hate to Say, “I Told You So…” A company in Asheville, North Carolina is taking advantage of new overtime rules from Washington to work their people longer hours for less pay. Citizens Fuel Company had about 11% of their work force suddenly qualify for overtime. So they’re cutting the base pay to keep the weekly checks right where they were. (Asheville Citizen Times)

Land Grab. An analysis of 125 million records shows Uncle Sam has leased 229 million acres of taxpayer owned land to oil and gas companies since 1982. The leases are a bargain compared to the price charged on private land. The Environmental Working Group says the amount of land is the size of Montana, Wyoming, and Utah combined. This was supposed to help make the US more energy independent. But Uncle Sam’s Minerals Management Service estimates that over the past 15 years, the oil and gas industries have produced 53 days' worth of oil and 221 days' worth of natural gas. Since the leases were granted in 1982, US dependence on foreign oil and gas has doubled. (WashPost)

Flip Flop. The Bush administration -- which has poo-pooed the idea of manmade influences contributing to global climate change -- has changed it’s mind. It’s now issuing a report to Congress saying that manmade pollution is the only logical explanation for three decades of global warming. (NYT)

Same as the Old Boss… The Washington Post added up Senator John Kerry’s spending plans and subtracted his tax cuts then spread the results out over the next ten years. They found that the deficit would rise by almost as much as under President Bush’s plan. (WashPost)

Pvt Ryan, I Know You’re Busy, What with the Mortar Attack and All, But There’s an Error in Your Bank Account. The General Accountability Office studied 348 reservists’ pay and found 95% of them had some errors in their checks from Uncle Sam. What’s worse, by the time the government found out they’d overpaid some; the soldiers hadn’t put enough aside to pay the government back. They spent hours trying to straighten out Washington’s screw-ups from war zones. (GAO)

Fortunate Sons. South Carolina is 26th in population, but ranks 8th in casualties in the Iraq War. Rural states are bearing the brunt of casualties for a variety of reasons – from a cultural sense of duty to plain old economics. (The State)

Keeping Tabs. The Washington Post travels with the Congressman keeping tabs on the rural commitment to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO) tabulates the percentage of rural recruits sent to fight and die. (WashPost)

On Probation, but Still Allowed to Hang out with that Disreputable Crowd. Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN) was sentenced to 60 days in jail for toting a loaded 9mm handgun into the Louisville International Airport. The sentence was suspended so long as the Congressman keeps his nose clean for two years. That’s harder than it seems. He serves in Congress afterall. (AP)