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  • Why Government Procurement Costs You More

    Why Government Procurement Costs You More
    2026/06/08
    Episode 39 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo digs into government procurement — why public agencies routinely pay two to three times more than private companies for identical goods. Lucas and Luna walk through a concrete example: how the US Department of Defense was paying over $1,000 for a single coffee maker while commercial buyers paid $50. They explore the root causes: outdated regulations, risk-averse contracting officers, and the absence of market incentives. The episode also highlights a little-known reform — the Commercial Products exception in the Federal Acquisition Regulation — that has saved billions but is underused. Finally, they ask whether AI-driven procurement tools could finally crack the inefficiency code, and share how listener support at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo helps keep the show ad-free. #GovernmentProcurement #PublicSpending #FederalAcquisitionRegulation #FAR #DefenseSpending #DoD #WastefulSpending #ProcurementReform #CommercialProducts #AIinGovernment #FiscalPolicy #Economics #BudgetEfficiency #TaxDollars #PublicSector #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #LucasAndLuna Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    8 分
  • How Argentina Broke Its Inflation Addiction in 18 Months

    How Argentina Broke Its Inflation Addiction in 18 Months
    2026/06/08
    Argentina was the world's most stubborn inflation story — annual price growth above 200 percent, a currency that lost half its value every year, and a public that had learned to treat the peso like a hot potato. Then Javier Milei took office and did what economists said was impossible: he crushed inflation without a full dollarization. This episode walks through the specific mechanism — how the central bank stopped printing to finance the deficit, how the Treasury switched to peso-denominated debt that investors actually trusted, and how a country that had suffered hyperinflation since the 1940s finally broke the cycle. Lucas and Luna unpack the numbers, the political calculus, and whether this is a genuine turnaround or just another Argentine false dawn. Plus, a listener-supported segment on why covering fiscal policy without ads matters. #Argentina #JavierMilei #Inflation #CentralBank #FiscalPolicy #MonetaryPolicy #Deficit #Peso #Hyperinflation #EconomicReform #Treasury #DebtMarkets #Economics #GovernmentSpending #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #FiscalPolicyPodcast #Macroeconomics Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    13 分
  • 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