New Voter / Taxpayer Guide for Government Programs

Based on the factual history of the actual costs of government programs, there is a new guide that should be used, albeit even this may be very conservative. Almost without exception government programs cost multiples of what they originally say that they will...even when the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) gives a cost estimate. There have been thousands of examples of this throughout the years with big and small programs.

The "mixing bowl" highway interchange project in Springfield, Virginia for instance. It was estimated to cost $241 million, it ended up costing $676 million.

The Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project of the 1970's involving nuclear fission was estimated by the Atomic Energy Commission to cost $400 million. Throughout the decade its cost estimates steadily increased to $4 billion. Eventually the program was scrapped, but not before taxpayers dished out $1.7 billion.

The infamous "Big Dig", the Central Artery/Tunnel Project project in Boston was originally estimated at $ 2.8 billion and will end up somewhere near $22 billion, with very questionable accounting at that.

Overrun costs of military aircraft and other military vehicles and weapons have been enormous and there have been many of them. Cost overruns have been out of sight vs. original estimates. This appears to be accepted as a way of life on government military contracts.
Overruns in Social Security are legendary. When it was established in 1935, its financing required only a one percent of wages contribution from the employee and a matching one percent from the employer. Over the years, reform has eventually raised those contribution levels to 6.2 percent respectively. Today, the outlook is even more dismal for Social Security. We are faced with an estimated $45 trillion in future unfunded liabilities!

When Medicare Part A was passed in 1965, government experts projected costs to rise to $9 billion by 1990. Total costs actually reached $67 billion. In 1987, Medicaid added a special hospital subsidy to its coverage which was projected to cost $100 million. By 1992, costs stood at $11 billion per year.

Need we go on? It is proven, based on history and factual evidence, that anything that our government estimates, on any program or project, will cost multiples of what they say that it will.

The NEW TAXPAYER / VOTER GUIDE to federal programs or projects is to MULTIPLY THE ESTIMATE BY 3. This is a very, very conservative approach and will at least give the American people a much better estimate of what to really expect. For example, our federal government said that national healthcare would cost close to $1 trillion. Multiply that by 3.....a very conservative estimate and more reliable number is $3 trillion.

This should be the new guide for all taxpayers and voters...multiply by 3.