The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending

Episode 104 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo digs into a specific, underreported feature of US healthcare spending: the federal government sets reimbursement rates for doctors through Medicare and Medicaid that are often 20 to 30 percent below what private insurers pay. Lucas and Luna walk through why this gap exists, how it shifts costs onto private premiums, and what it means for patien...

The US federal government spends over $50 billion annually on software licensing and IT services, yet a 2024 GAO report found that agencies waste an estimated 30 percent of that on unused or underused licenses. This episode digs into why the world's largest buyer of software can't manage its subscriptions, how a single NASA project lost millions on Oracle licenses nobody used, and what a proposed...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna drill into the mechanics of the U.S. government's new power to negotiate drug prices for Medicare. Using the first ten drugs selected for negotiation in 2023 as a concrete case, they walk through the statutory framework: the binding inflation rebate, the 'maximum fair price' formula tied to average sales price, and the perverse incentive for manufacturers to delay g...

In this episode of The Fiscal Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna investigate how the U.S. Treasury's bond auction mechanism quietly redistributes wealth. They trace the history of the auction format, from the sealed-bid era to today's uniform-price system, and explain why a 2014 rule change—allowing non-competitive bidders to submit orders up to $10 million—shifted the playing field. The hosts break d...

Episode 100 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast examines why the US government pays roughly double the private-sector price for comparable technology. Lucas and Luna dig into a 2024 GAO report that found federal agencies spent $2.7 billion on custom software development that commercial alternatives could have delivered for $1.2 billion. They explore specific procurement rules—like the Competition in Cont...

Beyond the headlines about Social Security trust funds, the federal government has a massive unfunded pension liability for its own civilian and military retirees — an obligation that exceeds $2 trillion on an actuarial basis, yet doesn't appear on the balance sheet like corporate debt would. In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace how this liability accrued: starting with the 1984 shift to the Fede...

Lucas and Luna dig into the mechanics of government bond auctions — specifically how the primary dealer system and the single-price auction format systematically disadvantage individual investors while favoring large banks. They walk through how the Treasury sells $3 trillion in debt every year, the role of the 24 primary dealers, and the surprising fact that retail investors almost never get the...

Housing Choice Vouchers, commonly known as Section 8, are supposed to help low-income families afford decent housing. But in this episode, Lucas and Luna examine a paradox: by subsidising demand without increasing supply, vouchers can push rents higher for everyone. They dig into a 2025 study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia that found each new voucher in a tight market raises local r...

Lucas and Luna examine how the federal government indirectly subsidizes professional sports stadiums through tax-exempt municipal bonds, costing taxpayers billions. They break down the specific mechanism—how teams use tax-free bonds to finance private facilities—and trace the history from the 1986 Tax Reform Act to recent proposals to close the loophole. With concrete numbers on lost federal reven...

Episode 95 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast. Lucas and Luna break down the quiet crisis of the federal gas tax: set at 18.4 cents per gallon in 1993 and never indexed to inflation. By mid-2026, that tax has lost roughly 40 percent of its purchasing power. Congress hasn't raised the rate in over three decades, even as infrastructure costs have soared. The hosts walk through the mechanics of what this m...

In this episode of Fiscal Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna zoom in on a single municipal pension crisis: Chicago's $30 billion unfunded liability. They walk through how the city's annual required contribution has ballooned from $600 million to $1.9 billion in a decade, crowding out spending on schools and infrastructure. Lucas explains the 'mortality assumption' trick that made the hole worse, and L...

The U.S. government owns over 250,000 buildings and leases millions more square feet of space. But a 2024 Government Accountability Office report found that nearly 25% of federal office space is underused or vacant, costing taxpayers over $1.7 billion annually in rent alone. In this episode, Lucas and Luna drill into a specific example: the 1.4 million square feet of empty office space leased by t...

Lucas and Luna dive into the strange economics of government bonds — specifically, why the US Treasury market is the deepest, most liquid financial market on earth, yet ordinary investors can't buy bonds at auction directly. They trace the problem back to 1917 and the Liberty Bond Act, walk through the role of primary dealers like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, and examine a 2023 Federal Reserve stud...

Episode 91 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast unpacks the hidden fiscal burden of unfunded mandates — federal laws that require state and local governments to spend their own money. Lucas and Luna trace the $1.5 trillion annual price tag through specific examples: the Real ID Act's $4 billion compliance cost, Clean Water Act upgrades that drained small-town budgets, and No Child Left Behind's testing re...

Episode 90 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast: Lucas and Luna dig into the IRS's $12 billion annual cost to process paper tax returns in 2026. They trace the history of e-file adoption, the persistence of physical forms, and the hidden costs of maintaining legacy infrastructure. With the IRS still relying on 1960s-era Cobol systems and a 2024 Government Accountability Office report finding that 38 milli...

The US government is the world's largest tenant, leasing hundreds of millions of square feet of office space. But a recent Government Accountability Office report reveals that federal agencies are paying rent on roughly 77 million square feet of space they don't actually use — costing taxpayers about $30 billion annually. Lucas and Luna dig into the specifics: how the General Services Administrati...

Episode 88 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast digs into a hidden drain on public budgets: how governments sell land. Lucas and Luna examine a concrete case from the UK's Homes England agency, which auctioned a prime development site in 2023 for 35 million pounds below its independent valuation. They trace the mechanics of sealed-bid land auctions, the incentive misalignment that drives lowball offers, a...

Episode 87 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast digs into a bizarre line item in the federal budget: roughly 5 billion dollars annually spent on rent, utilities, and maintenance for office buildings the government doesn't use. Lucas walks through a 2025 Government Accountability Office report that found the executive branch owns or leases over 23,000 buildings with combined vacancy rates of 25 percent. Lu...

Every year, federal agencies spend an estimated $7 billion on software licenses that nobody uses. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into a 2025 Government Accountability Office report that found nearly 40 percent of software seats across 24 major agencies were inactive or underutilized. They explore why this happens — from fragmented procurement systems to the fear of losing budget allocations —...

The US government is the largest tenant in the country, leasing over 370 million square feet of office and warehouse space. But nearly a quarter of that space sits empty — while taxpayers keep footing the bill. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down how the General Services Administration manages this portfolio, why agencies hold onto unused leases for years, and what a proposed reform — the '...

Episode 84 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast digs into a little-known but massive distortion in public budgets: how governments set the rent on their own properties—office buildings, courthouses, even land—using internal transfer payments that often bear no relation to market rates. Lucas and Luna examine the case of the UK's 'Nominal Rent' system, where agencies like HM Courts & Tribunals pay £1 per y...

Government pension funds manage trillions of dollars in assets, but their investment strategies often lag behind private sector peers due to political constraints and outdated mandates. This episode examines how the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest U.S. public pension fund, has underperformed by sticking to a rigid asset allocation that missed the tech boom of...

When a city runs out of money, it can't just shut down. Municipal bankruptcy — specifically Chapter 9 — is a rarely used but powerful legal tool that allows cities to restructure debt while continuing basic services. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down how Chapter 9 works using the case of Detroit's 2013 filing: the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. They walk through the process...

Episode 81 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast examines why government-funded job training programs often fail to deliver results. Lucas and Luna drill into a specific case: the $4 billion federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) program, which claims a 70% job placement rate but actually places fewer than 40% in jobs that last a year. They explore how metrics like 'entered employment' inf...

In Episode 80 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dive into the economics of subsidies for professional sports stadiums. They break down the real costs and benefits using the example of the Las Vegas Raiders' move to Allegiant Stadium, which cost Nevada taxpayers $750 million in public bonds. Lucas explains the promised economic impact—jobs, tax revenue, tourism—versus the ac...