The Government Racket: 2000 And Beyond

by Gross, Martin L.

• ISBN13: 9780060933944
• ISBN10: 0060933941
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-12-20
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

In 1992, Martin L. Gross shocked the nation with his New York Times bestseller, The Government Racket: Washington Waste from A to Z, after which he testified before Congress five times on hidden catastrophic waste. Now he has returned to the scene of the crime and found that things have gotten even worse.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(8)
Part One NEW WASHINGTON WASTE
Accounting	9	(7)
Is There a Bookkeeper in the House?
Baby-Sitters, Washington Style	16	(3)
``But I Don't Need Welfare!''
Budget	19	(12)
How to Steal $6 Trillion from Social Security and Call It a ``Surplus''
Computers	31	(7)
Wanted: Teenage Hackers
Conventions, Presidential	38	(3)
They're Partying on Our Nickel
Corporate Welfare	41	(8)
You Mean I'm Subsidizing Intel?
Demonstration Projects	49	(8)
Highways to Pork Heaven
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)	57	(8)
Are You Getting Your Free Money from Uncle Sam?
Federal Follies	65	(7)
More Aggravating Than Entertaining
Federal Palaces	72	(6)
$13 Million Just for the Architect?
Golf	78	(3)
Putts Instead of Planes
Horses	81	(3)
Millions for Belgian Steaks
International Enterprise Funds	84	(5)
Want to Buy a Mutual Fund-in Bulgaria?
Junkets, Military Style	89	(4)
Fly Me to the Moon
Kickbacks, Bribes, Con Jobs, and Simple Fraud	93	(13)
Uncle Sucker Gets Ripped Off, Inside and Out
Loans	106	(4)
The Government Bank: Everyone's Welcome
Mass Transit	110	(5)
Brother, Can You Spare Train Fare?
Merchant Marine	115	(6)
What Happened to Old Glory at Sea?
Metric System	121	(4)
How Many Millimeters Long Is Your Foot?
National Parks	125	(4)
Purple Mountain Majesty and Red Ink
Native Americans	129	(6)
Gambling Casinos: Revenge on the Palefaces
Outhouses	135	(2)
Relief Is Just a Fortune Away
Peanuts	137	(4)
Want to Buy Some Bootleg Nuts?
Pork	141	(14)
$15 Billion a Year to Study Why Politicians Are Compulsive Spenders
Quakes, Hurricanes, Fema, and Other Disasters	155	(5)
We Insure Everything
Radio Ads	160	(3)
Are We Paying to Pollute the Airwaves?
Recording Studios	163	(4)
High Tech-in Your Face
Small-Business Criminals	167	(4)
Holding Up Uncle Sam
SSI-Supplemental Security Income	171	(10)
A Good idea Too Often Gone Bad
Statistical Services	181	(4)
They've Got Our Number-Seventy-three Times
Telephones	185	(5)
Just Charge It to Uncle Sam
Universal Service Fund	190	(3)
Reach Out and Touch Someone-Like Harrison Ford
Volunteers (Americorps)	193	(4)
In Washington They Get Paid
Welfare	197	(7)
It's Bigger Than You Think
Youth at Risk	204	(4)
Have I Got a Teen Program for You!
Zooming National Debt	208	(77)
It Still Goes Only One Way-Up
Part Two REVIEW AND DEJA VU
Defeats and Victories in the Fight Against Waste
Office of Former Speakers	216	(1)
Government Airplanes, Nonmilitary	217	(2)
Decorating for the Bureaucracy	219	(2)
Helium	221	(1)
Congressional LSOs	222	(1)
Mining Law of 1872	223	(3)
Wool and Mohair	226	(1)
Rural Utilities Services	227	(2)
Essential Air	229	(2)
Federal Employees	231	(4)
Congressional Retirement	235	(2)
Auctioning Off the Airwaves	237	(1)
Newsletters	238	(2)
Forest Service-More Corporate Welfare	240	(2)
Congressional Perks	242	(12)
PART THREE BLUEPRINT FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
How to Redesign the Government and Save a Fortune in the Process
The Cabinet	254	(6)
The Oversized Little Cabinet	260	(1)
Programs That Should Be Eliminated	261	(1)
Antisubsidy Act	262	(1)
Duplication and Overlap	262	(2)
Congress	264	(4)
Presidential Primaries	268	(4)
Taxes: Eliminate the Internal Revenue Service	272	(2)
Initiative and Referendum	274	(3)
Establish an Independent Inspector General of the United States	277	(4)
APPENDIX
An Inventory of Waste: What's the Total?	281	(4)
Index	285