The Swine Line

January 2008 Wastewatcher

Featuring the following articles:

The Sound and Fury Over Payday Lending
By Marc Kilmer

There has been a lot of discussion about the practice of payday lending recently. Many self-appointed “consumer” advocates deplore the fact that people choose to borrow money from these lenders and are upset that these institutions have proliferated over the past decade. However, the loans are popular with consumers and are often the best alternative many have for necessary cash. There is no reason to take away this option from consumers who choose it.

Rep. Rogers’ “Road to Nowhere”
By Elizabeth Wright

The Kentucky Courier Journal ran a series of articles in December 2007, on another “road to nowhere” that dramatically demonstrates how a politician’s desire to “bring home the bacon” trumps other needed public works.

IRS Security Vulnerabilities
By Leslie K. Paige

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on January 8, 2008 documenting the mediocre progress made by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) toward tightening its information security systems. The GAO said: “The IRS is at increased risk of unauthorized access to and disclosure, modification, and destruction of financial and taxpayer information, as well as inadvertent or deliberate disruption of system operations and services.”

Binging on Taxpayer Dollars
By Evan Miller

The societal pressures on servicemen can, at times, be overwhelming. However, with the launch of the website ThatGuy.com this month, the Department of Defense (DOD) has left its traditional post on the battlefield to play nanny to soldiers with taxpayer dollars a role for which it is ill-suited.

Alaska Begins to Grow Up
By Leslie K. Paige

Fortunately for taxpayers outside of Alaska who have been forced to pay for billions of dollars in earmarks, Governor Palin understands that the state is all grown up and can stand on its own.