The Daily Dish

April 6th Edition

ICYMI: Friday’s jobs numbers revealed an economy that is showing signs of its lack of strength. The disappointing 126,000 jobs added was joined by revisions decreasing January’s and February’s numbers by a combined 69,000. Economists will be watching the labor market closely to see if this past month was an omen or an aberration.

If you received subsidies from Obamacare, then watch out for your tax returns. Over half of the people who got subsidies will have to pay some, if not all, of the money back to the federal government. On average, taxpayers will have to repay $530 to the federal government for not properly estimating their income for the year.

A new “Prime Cuts” report features 601 programs that could be cut to save taxpayers over $600 billion in wasteful spending. Published by Citizens Against Government Waste, the report includes projects such as reinstating the Recovery Audit Contractor program that had returned nearly $9 billion to Medicare.

Eakinomics: The Future of Yucca Mountain

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act amendments of 1987 designated the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository (Yucca Mountain) to be a repository for spent nuclear fuel and other high level radioactive waste. After years of research and billions spent in preparation, it was approved in 2002. This was a good step as the commercial nuclear power industry has accumulated more than 70,000 tons of radioactive spent fuel — and adds another 2,000 tons every year. 

Enter politics, in the form of not-in-my-backyard Senator (and Majority Leader) Harry Reid and feckless presidential candidate (and now president) Barack Obama. Despite nuclear power’s zero carbon footprint, the latter acceded to the former’s desire to stop Yucca Mountain. Federal funding was cut off in 2011. A recent review has shown that the site has no safety flaws and the Government Accountability Office concluded that its closure was pure politics

Now the politics have shifted yet again, as the imminent retirement of Senator Reid removes some of the staunchest opposition to Yucca Mountain. This hardly implies immediate revival of Yucca Mountain, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NCR) report endorses the need for a permanent solution to the waste problem — it is simply dangerous to keep waste in temporary, above-ground facilities — and emphasized the need to put the solution beyond the reach of politics. 

Agreed.

From the Forum

Week in Regulation by Sam Batkins, AAF Director of Regulatory Policy

U6-Fix by Douglas Holtz-Eakin, AAF President

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