Government Spending with Fexingo: Budget, Deficits, and Public Finance Explained
Governments around the world spend trillions annually, yet the logic behind budget allocations, deficit targets, and public-debt ceilings remains opaque to most citizens. In this podcast, Lucas and Luna dissect the numbers behind national accounts, walking through real budget documents from the U.S., Germany, Japan, and emerging economies. Each episode focuses on a single government-spending concept, such as structural versus cyclical deficits, entitlement program burdens, military budget justifications, or surplus versus debt accumulation. They avoid partisan talking points and trace actual flows from tax receipts to procurement contracts to transfer payments.
Episodes
How Government IT Modernization Projects Drain Taxpayer Money
The federal government spends over $100 billion a year on IT, yet many systems still run on decades-old code. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into why modernization projects so often fail — and what the Pentagon's disastrous ERP rollout teaches us about the incentives behind these boondoggles. They trace a single $1 billion program through contracting pitfalls, shifting requirements, and the p
How Government Software Licenses Hide Millions in Waste
Every year, federal agencies spend billions on software licenses they never use — and the rules that are supposed to prevent waste actually encourage it. Lucas and Luna dig into the tangled world of government software procurement, from 'shelf-ware' to the perverse incentives in annual licensing. They explain how a single agency can buy 10,000 seats for 2,000 employees, why auditors keep flagging
How Government Pays Twice for the Same Prescription
In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into a little-known federal accounting quirk: the government sometimes pays twice for the same prescription drug. Through a specific example involving a common cholesterol medication, they explain how agencies like the VA and Medicare negotiate different prices, and how a lack of coordination between programs leaves taxpayers covering the gap. They trace the pro
How Federal Land Sales Leave Money on the Table
Every year, the federal government sells off public land for a fraction of its true value, leaving taxpayers billions short. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into a specific case: the 2017 sale of the Bureau of Land Management's Las Vegas holdings, where parcels bought for under $1,000 an acre were flipped for over $100,000 an acre within months. They break down why the government's auction pro
How the USPS Mail Trucks Is a Fiscal Time Bomb
The U.S. Postal Service is often dismissed as a slow-mail punchline, but its aging delivery fleet hides a fiscal time bomb. This episode drills into the $6 billion gamble on a new mail truck contract — and why the old Grumman Long Life Vehicles, some 30 years old, are still burning through taxpayer-funded maintenance. We look at how deferred maintenance inflates costs, how the agency's financial s
The Hidden Cost of Every U.S. Tax Dollar
When the U.S. government collects a dollar in taxes, how much actually goes to the intended program? In this episode, Lucas and Luna drill into the overlooked cost of 'tax administration' — the bureaucracy of collection itself. They walk through the Internal Revenue Service's annual budget, the cost to collect one hundred dollars, and the surprising economics behind the tax gap. They explore why t
How Government Food Aid Buys Overpriced Cheese
In this episode of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dig into a hidden chunk of the federal budget: the Dairy Price Support Program, which spends billions every year to buy up surplus cheese, butter, and milk powder. They trace how a Depression-era policy morphed into a modern subsidy machine, why the government ends up paying above-market prices for millions of pounds of cheese it
How Government Debt Collectors Overcharge Taxpayers
In this episode of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna investigate how the federal government's use of private debt collectors adds billions to the cost of collecting overdue taxes. They trace the history of these contracts, reveal how collectors pocket up to 25 percent of what they recover, and compare that to the Internal Revenue Service's own in-house collection costs. They also ex
How Government Pension Funds Hide Risk with Dreamy Forecasts
Government pension funds are sitting on trillions in liabilities, but many use optimistic return assumptions to keep contribution costs low. Lucas and Luna dig into the mechanics of discount rates, the Pension Protection Act of 2006, and how a 7 percent assumed return can distort a fund's true health. They compare state and federal plans, cite the classic example of the California Public Employees
Why the Federal Government Pays More for Medications Than Anyone Else
In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into why the federal government, the largest buyer of prescription drugs in the US, ends up paying some of the highest prices in the world. They trace the story back to a 1990 law that barred Medicare from negotiating drug prices, and follow the twists and turns up to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which finally gave Medicare that power. They break down ho
Why the Federal Government Pays Too Much for Consultants
The federal government spends billions each year on private consultants, often for work that duplicates in-house expertise. In this episode, Lucas and Luna drill into a single 2021 Defense Department audit that found 40 percent of consulting contracts lacked proper oversight, and they trace how a $15 billion consulting bill became a political flashpoint. They explain what's actually driving the sp
Why the Federal Government Pays Too Much for Office Space
In this episode of Government Spending with Fexingo, we get into a surprisingly huge slice of federal waste: the billions of dollars the government spends each year leasing and maintaining office space. Using the example of a single, little-known federal agency that once paid above-market rates for a building it barely used, we show how the General Services Administration (GSA) has been signing le
How Government Data Centers Waste Billions on Idle Servers
Federal agencies spent over $10 billion on data centers last year, yet up to 30 percent of those servers sit idle most of the time. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into the Data Center Optimization Initiative, the GAO's latest findings, and the specific reasons why agencies keep paying for computing power they don't use. From power-hungry cooling systems to legacy contracts that lock in waste,
How Federal Grants Fuel the Yacht Tax Shelter
This episode of Government Spending with Fexingo digs into a niche but telling corner of federal finance: how wealthy Americans use a Depression-era tax break, accelerated depreciation on yachts, to write off millions while the government promotes the industry. Lucas and Luna trace the history of the rule, the lobbying that keeps it alive, and the estimated $100 million a year it costs taxpayers.
How Government Pension Promises Outpace Taxpayer Funding
Public pension plans across the U.S. face a quiet crisis: promises made to retirees are growing faster than the money set aside to pay them. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into the numbers behind the $1.5 trillion gap in state and local pension funding, using Illinois as a case study. They explain what 'funded ratio' means, why optimistic investment assumptions hide the risk, and how pension
How the Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet Costs You Billions
In this episode of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore the hidden costs of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet, a topic rarely covered in public finance discussions. They break down how the central bank's quantitative easing program, which ballooned its asset holdings to nearly $9 trillion, now results in billions of dollars in annual losses as interest rates rise. The convers
Why Federal Property Sales Keep Falling Through
The federal government owns roughly 250,000 buildings, yet it sells only a handful each year, often at a loss or not at all. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into the surprising economics of federal property disposal: why the General Services Administration struggles to offload surplus real estate, how congressional restrictions and environmental reviews stall sales, and what the push to modern
How Government Debt Collectors Overcharge Taxpayers
In this episode of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dig into a hidden cost of public finance: the federal government's reliance on private debt collectors. They explore how collectors are paid contingency fees that can total over 25 percent of what they recover, and how that creates incentives to pursue smaller debts aggressively—sometimes at the expense of fairness. The hosts trac
How Government Construction Delays Inflate Costs
Why do public infrastructure projects drag on for years and cost billions more than budgeted? This episode drills into the mechanics of delay: design changes, environmental reviews, procurement appeals, and the perverse incentives that keep projects from finishing. Lucas walks through the concrete example of California's high-speed rail and how its cost estimate ballooned from $33 billion to over
Why Government Audits Miss Trillions in Waste
The federal government loses an estimated half-trillion dollars a year to fraud, waste, and abuse—yet the audits meant to catch it are themselves a study in failure. In episode 147 of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dig into the Government Accountability Office's own annual high-risk list, the 2025 update that added pandemic relief funds and the Census Bureau, and the uncomfortabl
How Government Debt Shapes Your Interest Rates
In this episode of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how the federal government's borrowing directly influences the interest rates you pay on mortgages, car loans, and credit cards. They break down the mechanics of Treasury auctions, the role of the Federal Reserve, and the spillover effects on corporate bonds and consumer lending. Using the recent increase in federal debt a
How Federal IT Modernization Wastes Billions
The federal government spends over $90 billion a year on information technology, yet many systems still run on decades-old code. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into one notorious example: the Department of Defense's planned $3.8 billion cloud contract that was cancelled after years of legal battles, and the Air Force's $1.3 billion tanker maintenance system that was five years late and over b
How Government Subsidies to Big Ag Distort Food Prices
In this episode of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna examine the quiet ways federal agricultural subsidies shape what you pay at the grocery store. They break down the history of farm payments, from the New Deal to the modern era, and explain how crop insurance, direct payments, and price supports funnel tens of billions to a handful of commodity crops. With specific numbers and a c
How the Federal Government Spends a Billion on Advertising
The U.S. federal government spent over $1.1 billion on advertising in 2021, making it one of the largest advertisers in the country. This episode breaks down where that money goes, from military recruitment ads to public health campaigns, and examines the waste and duplication revealed by a Government Accountability Office report. Lucas and Luna discuss whether taxpayers are getting their money's
How Student Loan Subsidies Cost Taxpayers Billions
Every year, the federal government spends roughly $100 billion on student loan subsidies—more than it spends on the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the entire K-12 budget of the Department of Education combined. In this episode, Lucas and Luna drill into the mechanics: how income-driven repayment plans, interest rate subsidies, and loan forgiveness programs
Why Government Conference Spending Is Out of Control
Federal agencies spent over $3.2 billion on conferences in a single year, according to a 2024 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. This episode dives into specific examples, like the Department of Veterans Affairs spending $1.5 million on a single Orlando conference, and explores why approval policies are widely ignored. Lucas and Luna discuss the lack of oversight, comparisons to privat
How Government Consulting Contracts Inflate Costs
The federal government spent over fifteen billion dollars on management consulting last year—more than the EPA's entire budget. But a 2025 Government Accountability Office report found that nearly a third of these contracts produced no measurable improvement. This episode examines a specific case: a consulting engagement at the Department of Veterans Affairs that cost $250 million to 'modernize' a
How Improper Payments Cost Taxpayers Hundreds of Billions
In fiscal year 2025, the federal government made an estimated $247 billion in improper payments — money sent to the wrong people, in the wrong amounts, or for the wrong reasons. This episode unpacks the biggest source of waste in public spending: the Earned Income Tax Credit alone accounts for nearly $20 billion in overpayments each year. Lucas and Luna walk through why Medicare, Medicaid, and une
How Federal Crop Insurance Subsidies Cost Taxpayers Billions
Every year, the federal government spends over $15 billion on crop insurance subsidies—more than it spends on the National Park Service, the EPA, and several other agencies combined. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down how the program works, why it disproportionately benefits large agribusinesses, and why reforms keep failing. They explain the 62 percent premium subsidy, the role of private
The Trillion-Dollar Interest on Government Debt
The U.S. government is projected to spend over one trillion dollars on interest payments on the national debt in fiscal year 2026, making it the fastest-growing major category of federal spending. This episode breaks down how Treasury bonds, notes, and bills work, why the average interest rate on the debt has doubled in recent years, and how refinancing older low-rate debt at higher rates will pus
How the Federal Vehicle Fleet Wastes Billions
The federal government operates over 600,000 vehicles - from sedans to heavy trucks - costing taxpayers roughly $7 billion annually. This episode examines how poor fleet management, underutilized vehicles, and a lack of competition in maintenance contracts drive up costs. We look at specific examples like the GSA's 200,000-strong fleet where nearly a third of sedans sit idle each day, and how priv
How Sports Stadium Subsidies Drain Public Coffers
In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the economics of public financing for professional sports stadiums. Using the Las Vegas Raiders' Allegiant Stadium as a case study — which cost $1.9 billion with $750 million in taxpayer money — they explore why cities and states have spent an estimated $30 billion on stadium subsidies over the past three decades. They examine the broken promises of econo
How Federal Printing Wastes Over a Billion Dollars a Year
The U.S. federal government spends $1.1 billion annually on printing, yet a GAO audit finds that 40% of printed documents are never read. This episode digs into why agencies still rely on paper, the legal mandates that lock in waste, and how a shift to digital could save hundreds of millions. We also explore the broken procurement incentives that keep the presses running on unopened reports.
#Gov
How Your Tax Dollars Subsidize Fossil Fuels
In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the $20 billion in annual federal subsidies for oil, gas, and coal companies. From the percentage depletion allowance — a deduction dating back to 1913 — to intangible drilling costs that let companies expense up to 70% of drilling costs immediately, they trace how these tax breaks persist through lobbying and survive bipartisan reform efforts. They also
How Government Payroll Systems Overpay by Billions
Episode 132 of Government Spending with Fexingo digs into a $10.2 billion annual overpayment in US federal payroll — mistakes in timekeeping, benefits, and tax withholding that add up to roughly $78 per taxpayer. Lucas and Luna walk through the root causes: outdated COBOL-based systems across 26 agencies, a 2024 GAO report showing error rates above 5 percent, and the perverse incentives that keep
How Government Pricing Models Overcharge You by Billions
In this episode of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dive into a little-known culprit behind bloated public costs: flawed government pricing models. Using the Federal Reserve's 2024 study on federal procurement, they reveal how outdated 'cost-plus' contracts inflate prices by 20 to 30 percent compared to fixed-price alternatives. Lucas explains the perverse incentives that reward co
How Government Leases Lock Cities Into Overpaying
Episode 130 of Government Spending with Fexingo uncovers a hidden drain on public budgets: long-term office leases signed by city and state governments. Lucas and Luna examine a specific case—the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's 30-year lease at 1500 Market Street in Philadelphia, signed in 1994—to show how these deals lock in above-market rates for decades. They explain why governments don't hedge
How Government Incentive Zones Create Windfall Profits
Episode 129 of Government Spending with Fexingo: Budget, Deficits, and Public Finance Explained. Lucas and Luna dig into the economics of government incentive zones, using a specific case: the 2023 expansion of Opportunity Zones in the US. They break down how the program was designed to spur investment in low-income areas, but instead delivered outsized windfalls to real estate developers and inve
Why Government Software Projects Cost Ten Times More Than Planned
Episode 128 of Government Spending with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna examine why government IT projects routinely run 800 to 1,000 percent over budget, using the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' electronic health records modernization as a case study. The original 2018 contract with Cerner (now Oracle Health) was valued at $10 billion over 10 years; by 2024, the VA had spent $18 billion and still h
How Government Carbon Credits Became a 30 Billion Dollar Subsidy
In this episode of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna drill into the $30 billion carbon-credit market and reveal how it functions as a hidden subsidy for the biggest polluters. They trace the origin of carbon offsets to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, explain the mechanics of cap-and-trade vs. offset credits, and unpack the California Air Resources Board's controversial offset protocols for
How Government Employee Pensions Really Work and Who Pays
Lucas and Luna break down the economics of government employee pensions, using the case of Illinois to show how most state pension systems are underfunded by trillions. They explain the key driver: assumption rates that were too high for decades, plus the perverse incentive to push costs to future taxpayers. Lucas walks through how actuarial math works for a typical teacher pension, the difference
The Hidden Tax in Every Dollar You Deposit
Episode 125 of Government Spending digs into an invisible tax that most people never see: seigniorage. When the Federal Reserve prints money, it captures the difference between the cost of producing a dollar bill and its face value — about 50 cents per hundred-dollar note. But that's just the start. Lucas and Luna walk through how the U.S. Treasury issues coins for a fraction of their face value,
How Government Mailing Costs You Billions Each Year
Every year, the federal government spends over $1 billion on postage alone — more than the entire postal service budget of many small countries. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down how a single 2018 Government Accountability Office report found that nearly 40 percent of all official government mailings go unread, and yet the volume of mandatory mailings keeps growing. They trace the problem
How Government Data Centers Waste Billions on Idle Servers
The U.S. federal government operates over 7,000 data centers, many of which run at less than 15 percent utilization. This episode drills into a 2025 GAO report showing that agencies spend $14 billion annually on data center operations, with half that going to power and cooling servers that sit idle 85 percent of the time. Lucas walks through the single worst-case: the Department of Agriculture's L
How Government Audits Miss Trillions in Waste
Lucas and Luna break down a 2025 report from the Government Accountability Office revealing that federal agencies cannot account for over $2 trillion in spending. They explore the roots of this accounting failure, from incompatible IT systems to incentive structures that discourage accuracy, and why the problem has persisted across administrations regardless of party control. Specific examples inc
Why the EU Digital Services Tax Costs US Consumers
In this episode of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna unpack the European Union's Digital Services Tax—DST—which took effect in 2021 and now applies to over 20,000 companies. They focus on a specific case: how the DST on digital advertising revenue from platforms like Google and Meta gets passed through to small American businesses that buy those ads. Using data from a 2025 US Treasu
How Government Credit Ratings Work and Why They Matter
In episode 120 of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down the mechanics of sovereign credit ratings. They examine how agencies like Moody's, S&P, and Fitch assign ratings, why the United States has faced downgrade warnings despite its economic size, and what a rating change actually means for bond yields, borrowing costs, and state budgets. The hosts use the 2023 U.S. debt-ceil
How Government Contractors Turn Two Billion into a Hundred Billion
Lucas and Luna dig into a single case study that reveals how the US government's cost-plus contracting system can turn an initial $2 billion estimate into a $97 billion total program cost over its lifetime. They follow a specific defense program — the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — from its original 2001 cost projection to its current estimated lifetime sustainment costs, showing how the structure of
The Hidden Billions in Government Rent Payments
Episode 118 of Government Spending with Fexingo looks at how much taxpayer money goes toward renting office space for federal agencies. Lucas and Luna examine a 2025 Government Accountability Office report showing that the U.S. government leases over 190 million square feet of office space at a cost of roughly $5.7 billion per year. They dig into why the government rarely buys buildings outright,
How Government Procurement Costs You 40 Percent More
Lucas and Luna break down why governments pay roughly 40 percent more than private companies for the same goods and services. Using the example of office furniture—where the GSA pays $1,200 for a chair that retails for $450—they trace the root causes: Buy American Act requirements, small business set-asides, and complex bidding rules that add compliance overhead. They compare procurement costs in
How Government Economic Forecasts Are Always Wrong
In this episode of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna examine why official government economic forecasts consistently miss the mark. Using the Congressional Budget Office's 2024 prediction of a 2025 federal deficit of $1.5 trillion versus the actual $1.9 trillion as a case study, they explore the structural biases in forecasting: political pressure to be optimistic, reliance on outda
How Government Debt Is a Tax on Future Wages
Lucas and Luna unpack the real cost of federal debt — not as a scary abstract number, but as a concrete claim on future workers' paychecks. Using the Congressional Budget Office's July 2026 long-term budget outlook, they trace how interest payments on the national debt are on track to become the single largest federal expense by 2030, surpassing Social Security. Lucas explains the 'crowding out' m
How Your State Government Pays 15 Percent More on Everything
Episode 114 of Government Spending with Fexingo: Budget, Deficits, and Public Finance Explained dives into the hidden cost of state-level prevailing wage laws. Lucas and Luna break down how these laws require union-scale wages on publicly funded construction projects, driving up costs by 15 to 20 percent versus the private sector. Using the example of a California high school renovation that cost
Why Government Construction Costs 50 Percent More Than Private
Episode 113 of Government Spending with Fexingo digs into a stunning data point: public construction projects in the US cost roughly 50% more per square foot than comparable private-sector builds. Lucas walks through the three structural drivers — prevailing wage laws that inflate labor costs by 20–30%, Davis-Bacon compliance paperwork that adds 5–7% in administrative overhead, and a procurement s
Why Government Land Auctions Cost You More Than Market Rent
When the government sells land leases or mineral rights, it often auctions them to the highest bidder. But in practice, auction designs can systematically undercut taxpayers. This episode explains how 'common-value auctions' for everything from offshore wind leases to public grazing allotments create a winner's curse that depresses bids, leaving money on the table. With a specific case: the 2024 o
How Government Subsidies Create Dead Mall Ghost Towns
Lucas and Luna explore how federal and state subsidies for big-box retail and shopping malls have artificially propped up unprofitable commercial real estate, creating a landscape of dead malls and ghost towns. They zero in on the 2024 collapse of a major mall in upstate New York that had received $15 million in tax incentives over a decade before shuttering. The episode explains the specific subs
How Government Pension Funds Are Dumping Public Stocks
Episode 110 of Government Spending with Fexingo dives into the quiet exodus of public pension funds from U.S. equities. Lucas and Luna unpack a startling Morningstar data point: state and local pension plans have slashed their domestic stock allocations from 60% to 40% over the past decade. They explore why giants like CalPERS and the New York State Common Retirement Fund are shifting into private
How the Federal Reserve Prints Money and Where It Goes
When you hear 'the Fed prints money,' what actually happens? In episode 109 of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna walk through the mechanics of modern monetary policy—from open market operations and reserve creation to the balance sheet expansion we saw during COVID. They explain why most newly created money sits as bank reserves, not in your wallet, and how quantitative easing ultim
How Government Trust Funds Are Running Out of Money
The Highway Trust Fund is projected to run out of money by 2027, but that's just one of dozens of federal trust funds facing insolvency. Lucas and Luna explain the accounting mechanics behind trust funds like Social Security, Medicare, and the Highway Trust Fund—how they collect dedicated revenue, how they spend it, and why the trust fund 'lockbox' is largely a myth. They walk through the Highway
How Municipal Bond Markets Create Hidden Subsidies for the Ultra-Rich
Lucas and Luna dig into the $4 trillion municipal bond market and how its tax-exempt status disproportionately benefits wealthy investors. With 70 percent of the tax savings flowing to the top 1 percent, they ask: is the muni bond subsidy an efficient way for cities to borrow, or a backdoor mechanism that widens inequality? They walk through a specific case: the $1.2 billion Houston stadium bond i
The Hidden Cost of Government Data Collection Mandates
In episode 106 of Government Spending with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna unpack why federal data collection mandates cost businesses billions and inflate government budgets. They examine the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, which aimed to reduce burden but instead led to 9.5 billion hours of paperwork annually as of 2025. The hosts drill into the hidden costs of compliance for small businesses, the 'tim
How Government Infrastructure Projects Inflate Costs with Prevailing Wage Laws
Lucas and Luna unpack why government infrastructure projects — roads, bridges, rail — routinely cost two to three times more than comparable private-sector builds. The focus is on prevailing wage laws, specifically the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, which requires contractors on federal projects to pay locally 'prevailing' wages — often union-scale rates that can be 30-50% higher than market rates. Luca
Why Government Building Projects Cost Three Times the Private Sector
Lucas and Luna dig into the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, which requires 'prevailing wages' on federally funded construction projects. They examine how this law, originally meant to protect local workers during the Depression, now adds 30 to 50 percent to the cost of federal buildings, highways, and military bases — costing taxpayers an estimated $10 billion per year in excess wages alone. Using a conc
How Government Budgets Hide the True Cost of War
When the U.S. government funds a war, it doesn't put a line item in the budget. Instead, it uses 'emergency' designations and supplemental appropriations — a practice that has allowed over $2 trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan costs to bypass normal budget rules. Lucas and Luna trace how this started with the Korean War, exploded after 9/11, and now accounts for roughly 15% of annual discretionary s
How Government Emergency Spending Bypasses Normal Budget Rules
When a natural disaster or national security crisis hits, Congress typically passes emergency funding bills that bypass the normal budget process. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down how 'emergency designations' have become a routine loophole for adding hundreds of billions to the deficit. They walk through specific examples: the $13 billion disaster aid package that included money for non-
How Government Fee Structures Hide Your Real Cost
Episode 101 of Government Spending with Fexingo: Budget, Deficits, and Public Finance Explained. Hosts Lucas and Luna dig into the hidden fee ecosystem that governments layer onto everyday transactions—from passport renewals to parking tickets to business licenses. Lucas walks through a concrete case: the state of Maryland's vehicle registration fee, which includes a separate surcharge for 'automa
Why Government Pensions Are a Trillion-Dollar Time Bomb
Episode 100 of Government Spending with Fexingo drills into one of the biggest hidden liabilities in public finance: state and local government pension funds. Lucas and Luna unpack the specific math behind the $1.4 trillion funding gap for U.S. public pensions as of mid-2026. They focus on the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System, which has only 40 cents set aside for every dollar promised. They e
How Government Efficiency Offices Fail to Cut Waste
Episode 99 of Government Spending with Fexingo examines why federal efficiency initiatives, from the Grace Commission to the current DOGE-style units, rarely achieve lasting savings. Lucas and Luna walk through the structural incentives that doom these offices: political timelines that clash with multi-year reform cycles, performance metrics that reward studies over action, and the revolving door
Why Government Audits Miss the Real Waste
Governments spend trillions of dollars annually, yet their own auditors consistently miss the biggest sources of waste. This episode examines why the US Government Accountability Office and similar bodies focus on compliance and fraud while ignoring structural inefficiencies that cost taxpayers far more. We break down a 2025 study showing that financial audits catch only 0.2 percent of potential s
How Government Bond Auctions Actually Work
When the US Treasury needs to borrow money, it doesn't just call up a bank. It runs a multi-billion-dollar auction every single week. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the mechanics of government bond auctions: who the primary dealers are, how competitive and non-competitive bidding work, what the 'tail' tells you about market stress, and why the Treasury's 'when-issued' trading matters.
Why Government Drug Price Negotiation Backfires on Medicare
Episode 96 of Government Spending with Fexingo examines a well-intentioned policy that hits an unintended wall: the Inflation Reduction Act's Medicare drug price negotiation. Lucas and Luna walk through how capping prices on a subset of drugs creates a counter-effect—higher launch prices for new drugs and fewer generic entrants. The hosts anchor the discussion on the first ten drugs selected for n
How Government Subsidies Keep Petrol Cheap for the Richest Drivers
Episode 95 of Government Spending with Fexingo drills into a specific, regressive subsidy: the US government's tax break for employer-provided parking. Lucas and Luna unpack how this $7.3 billion annual subsidy disproportionately benefits high-income commuters in expensive urban cores, while low-income workers and transit users get next to nothing. They trace the policy back to 1984, examine how i
How Government Procurement Creates an Innovation Tax
When the U.S. Department of Defense needed a new logistics software, it spent a billion dollars over eight years, then scrapped the project. This episode drills into how government procurement rules—designed to prevent corruption—actually discourage innovation. Lucas and Luna walk through the specific case of the DoD's failed ERP system, compare it to commercial software deployments, and explain w
Why Government Accounting Rules Hide Trillion-Dollar Liabilities
Every year, governments publish balance sheets showing debt-to-GDP ratios that seem manageable — usually under 100 percent. But those numbers exclude the biggest obligations: future pension payments, healthcare entitlements, and infrastructure maintenance. In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine a 2025 study from the Hoover Institution that calculated the United States' true fiscal shortfall at ov
Why Government Subsidies Keep Petrol Cheap for the Richest Drivers
Episode 92 examines how the US federal government spends roughly $20 billion a year on fuel tax subsidies that disproportionately benefit high-income households. Lucas and Luna trace the history of the gas tax freeze from 1993 to the present, showing how a once-progressive revenue tool became a regressive subsidy. They walk through data from the Energy Information Administration and Congressional
Why Government Reimbursement Rates Create Hospital Monopolies
Episode 91 of Government Spending with Fexingo digs into how Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates inadvertently fuel hospital consolidation. Lucas and Luna examine the 2023 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research showing that a 10% cut in public reimbursement rates leads to a 3% increase in hospital mergers in that market within two years. They walk through the mechanics: when pub
How Government Tax Breaks Create Corporate Welfare Loopholes
In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into a specific case: the U.S. federal tax expenditure for carried interest, which costs taxpayers roughly $14 billion per year. They trace how this loophole originated in 1993, why it persists despite bipartisan criticism, and what it reveals about the broader category of tax breaks as hidden spending. Lucas breaks down the mechanics — how fund managers pay 23.
Why Government Software Projects Fail So Often
Episode 89 of Government Spending with Fexingo dives into the staggering failure rate of large government IT projects. Lucas and Luna examine the $5 billion California Medicaid system that never went live, contrasting it with the UK's Gov.UK Notify platform that cost a fraction and works. They unpack three root causes: requirements bloat, procurement rigidity, and vendor lock-in. The hosts also di
How Government Fee Structures Create Hidden Costs for Citizens
In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine how government fee structures — from passport renewals to small business filing fees — often embed hidden costs that far exceed the actual service provided. They break down the specific case of the U.S. passport application fee, which has risen from $65 in 2000 to $165 in 2026, while processing times have doubled. They explore how fees are used as a hidden t
Why Government Monopsonies Drive Up Drug Prices
The federal government is the largest buyer of prescription drugs in the United States, but it pays more than almost any other developed country. This episode explains the paradox of monopsony power: why being the single biggest customer doesn't always lead to lower prices. Lucas and Luna examine the specific case of Medicare Part D, where a legal ban on direct price negotiation costs taxpayers an
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