Tag Archive for taxpayers

How the U.S. Can Save $9 Billion a Year

October 18, 2016 Comments Off on How the U.S. Can Save $9 Billion a Year

Unthinking adults are costing taxpayers a whole lot of money just by NOT doing something simple.  Meanwhile, they’re hurting themselves, those around them, and their employers (who pass on costs to consumers).  If you’re one of these people, please mend your ways.  Read about it:

Here’s a situation where you may want to behave more like a child. Adult immunization rates are far lower than kids’ immunization rates, and a study just published in the journal Health Affairs estimates that in 2015 common vaccine-preventable diseases in adults cost the U.S. $9 billion, with 80% of these costs (or $7.1 billion) from those who did not get vaccinated.

READ MORE

Uncategorized , , , , ,

Profitable Prisons

October 2, 2015 Comments Off on Profitable Prisons

Who has contributed in excess of $10 million in the last 16 years to politicians and spent almost $25 million to lobby for their interests?  You may be surprised.  They are GEO and Corrections Corporation of America, the two major for-profit prison companies in our country. Combined, private prison companies bring in $3.3 billion a year, all while the number of people in our prisons  doubled in only ten years (2000-1010).

Contracts with such companies require that the government keep their prisons at least 90% full…some have a 100% provision.  If not, taxpayers must pay for any empty beds.  They own 9 out of the 10 immigrant detention centers and profit greatly from a Congressional mandate (that they lobbied for) that a minimum of 34,000 immigrants be detained daily (and the number is rising, even as the number of undocumented aliens has leveled off).

For more details, view this PBS video:  http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/419/video.html

Uncategorized , , , , , , ,