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  • How the Government Pays More for Office Supplies Than You Do

    How the Government Pays More for Office Supplies Than You Do
    2026/06/07
    Episode 37 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast dives into the absurd world of government procurement: why a simple box of paper clips can cost the federal government five times what you'd pay at an office supply store. Lucas and Luna trace the problem from the 1930s Buy American Act through complex bidding rules, procurement officers who fear auditors more than waste, and the perverse incentives that drive public-sector purchasing. They focus on a 2025 Government Accountability Office report that found a single agency was paying $87 for a $15 office chair, and a small pilot program in Tennessee that cut costs by 30 percent by simply requiring staff to use a commercial credit card. Listeners come away understanding one concrete reason government is expensive—and a fix that actually works, with no new legislation required. #GovernmentProcurement #BuyAmericanAct #PublicSpending #GAO #OfficeSupplies #Waste #TennesseePilot #Economics #FiscalPolicy #FexingoBusinessPodcast #LucasAndLuna #GovernmentWaste #ProcurementReform #TaxpayerDollars #SupplyChain #Audit #Efficiency #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    10 分
  • How One State Audit Found 6,000 Ghost Employees on the Payroll

    How One State Audit Found 6,000 Ghost Employees on the Payroll
    2026/06/07
    When California's state auditor ran a computer match of employee IDs against payroll records in 2025, the result was stunning: over 6,000 people were receiving paychecks even though they hadn't logged into a state system in more than a year. Some hadn't worked a day in three years. This episode walks through how the audit worked, why the overpayments went undetected for so long, and what other governments can learn from the fix — including a new real-time cross-check system that saved $42 million in the first six months. Lucas and Luna also discuss the broader pattern: governments are terrible at finding their own mistakes because the incentives to look are weak. A rare case where sunlight actually cut waste. #GhostEmployees #GovernmentAudit #California #PayrollFraud #PublicSpending #Waste #StateBudget #AuditorGeneral #PayrollSystem #GovernmentEfficiency #TaxDollars #FiscalPolicy #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Podcast #LucasAndLuna #FiscalPolicyPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    9 分
  • Why Governments Borrow Trillions at Auction Like Clockwork

    Why Governments Borrow Trillions at Auction Like Clockwork
    2026/06/06
    Episode 35 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast dives into the machinery of government debt auctions. Lucas and Luna explain how the U.S. Treasury sells over $5 trillion in securities every year, why it uses a single-price auction format, and what happens when a bidder tries to bid a penny. They walk through a real example: the October 2024 10-year note reopening that had a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.6. Luna challenges whether the process is rigged for big banks, and Lucas breaks down the role of primary dealers, the Treasury's parallel offering schedule, and why the system hasn't changed since the 1990s. A focused episode for anyone who's ever wondered where the money comes from when the government issues debt. #TreasuryAuctions #GovernmentDebt #FiscalPolicy #SinglePriceAuction #PrimaryDealers #BidToCoverRatio #USTreasury #DebtManagement #FOMC #LiquidityFutures #PublicDebt #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #LucasAndLuna #AuctionMechanics #FiscalPolicyPodcast #SovereignDebt Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    8 分
  • Why Government Off-Balance-Sheet Entities Hide a Trillion-Dollar Problem

    Why Government Off-Balance-Sheet Entities Hide a Trillion-Dollar Problem
    2026/06/06
    Episode 34 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo takes you inside the shadowy world of government off-balance-sheet entities — the public corporations, special-purpose vehicles, and quasi-autonomous agencies that let governments borrow without reporting the debt. Lucas and Luna drill into a single concrete case: the UK's Network Rail, which was classified as a private company for a decade despite being entirely state-backed, allowing the British government to keep £30 billion off its books. They explain the mechanics of how these entities work, why the IMF and investors are increasingly calling for transparency, and what it means for your tax bill. The episode closes with a look at how the U.S. Federal Financing Bank and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have played similar games, and why the next financial crisis might start in a government's off-balance-sheet garage. If walking through the economy with us has made something click, listener support at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo keeps this show free and independent. #OffBalanceSheet #HiddenDebt #GovernmentAccounting #NetworkRail #PublicFinance #FiscalPolicy #IMF #FederalFinancingBank #FannieMae #FreddieMac #SovereignDebt #Transparency #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #GovernmentSpending #FiscalTransparency #SpecialPurposeVehicles Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分
  • Why Governments Keep Borrowing at the Short End

    Why Governments Keep Borrowing at the Short End
    2026/06/05
    Episode 33 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast explores why government treasuries overwhelmingly borrow short-term debt despite decades of warnings. Lucas and Luna walk through the specific mechanics of how the US Treasury issues bills, notes, and bonds, and why the average maturity of federal debt has fallen from about 70 months in 2001 to under 50 months today. They dig into the trade-off: short-term debt is cheaper but exposes taxpayers to refinancing risk — as the UK learned in the 2022 gilt crisis when a sudden jump in rates forced the Bank of England to intervene. They also look at a case from Japan, where decades of low rates have made short-term borrowing seem costless, but the real risk is locked in. By the end, you'll understand why your government's debt management desk may be the most consequential finance shop you've never heard of. #USDebtManagement #TreasuryBonds #ShortTermDebt #FiscalPolicy #GovernmentDebt #RefinancingRisk #GiltCrisis #BankOfEngland #JapanDebt #MaturityStructure #DebtManagementOffice #TreasuryBills #FiscalPolicyPodcast #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Economics #GovernmentFinance #PublicSpending Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    10 分
  • Why Government IT Projects Cost Ten Times More Than Planned

    Why Government IT Projects Cost Ten Times More Than Planned
    2026/06/05
    Why do government IT projects routinely blow past their budgets by 10x or more? In this episode, Lucas and Luna drill into the specific case of California's MyCalPAYS system—a $9 million payroll project that ballooned to over $1 billion before being abandoned. They explore the root causes: optimistic cost estimates, vendor lock-in, changing requirements, and the lack of accountability when projects are funded by taxpayer money. Lucas cites a 2023 study by the Institute for Government that found 70% of large government IT projects in the U.S. exceed their original budgets by an average of 45%. Luna brings up the UK's National Health Service's £10 billion IT modernization failure as a parallel. The conversation connects these failures to broader issues in public procurement and suggests why the problem persists despite decades of reform efforts. This episode will change how you think about government efficiency. #GovernmentIT #PublicProcurement #MyCalPAYS #California #NHS #ITFailures #TaxpayerMoney #CostOverruns #BudgetBlowout #ProjectManagement #VendorLockIn #EconomicPolicy #FiscalPolicy #GovernmentSpending #Politics #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分
  • Why Governments Pay Two Different Prices for the Same Drug

    Why Governments Pay Two Different Prices for the Same Drug
    2026/06/04
    In this episode of The Fiscal Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna uncover a bizarre quirk in government healthcare spending: federal programs like Medicare and the VA can pay wildly different prices for the exact same prescription drug. Using a concrete example—a common cholesterol-lowering statin that costs the VA $12 per month but Medicare Part D $95—they explore how fragmented purchasing power, legal restrictions on price negotiation, and administrative silos create this inefficiency. The conversation digs into the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act's 'non-interference' clause, the VA's centralized formulary system, and the estimated $15 billion in annual savings if all federal programs paid the VA's prices. Lucas and Luna question why Congress hasn't closed this gap and what it says about the government's ability to get a good deal for taxpayers. A sharp, specific look at an overlooked fiscal waste. #FiscalPolicy #GovernmentSpending #DrugPricing #Medicare #VA #PrescriptionDrugs #HealthcareEconomy #TaxpayerWaste #PriceNegotiation #Congress #PharmaceuticalIndustry #Statins #PartD #FederalBudget #Economics #PublicFinance #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    8 分
  • Why Government Health Programs Pay Double for Generic Drugs

    Why Government Health Programs Pay Double for Generic Drugs
    2026/06/04
    Episode 30 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast investigates a strange but costly inefficiency: government health programs in the US often pay far more for the exact same generic drugs than private insurers do. Lucas breaks down a 2025 Government Accountability Office report finding that Medicare Part D paid an average of 2.3 times more than commercial plans for 40 common generics in 2023 — costing taxpayers an extra $1.8 billion a year. He explains the structural reasons: opaque pharmacy benefit manager rebates, statutory pricing floors, and a reimbursement formula that was originally designed for brand-name drugs. Luna pushes back on the assumption that government procurement is always wasteful, noting that the VA and Department of Defense negotiate much better prices through a centralized formulary. The episode ends with a real-world reform proposal from the bipartisan Senate Generic Drug Pricing Act, introduced March 2026, which would cap Medicare Part D generic reimbursements at 150% of the national average commercial price. #GenericDrugs #MedicarePartD #GovernmentWaste #DrugPricing #PharmacyBenefitManagers #GAO #SenateGenericDrugPricingAct #FiscalPolicy #TaxpayerDollars #PublicSpending #Economics #LucasAndLuna #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #HealthEconomics #Procurement #BipartisanReform #Episode30 Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分