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

Fexingo

Lucas and Luna dissect the machinery of public finance — how governments borrow, spend, and tax — without the political theater. Each episode examines a single fiscal lever: a stimulus check's ripple through consumer debt, the bond market's reaction to a budget deficit, or the real cost of infrastructure spending. Lucas traces the Treasury's cash flows with a fountain pen across an abstract budget breakdown, while Luna presses on the human outcomes: which households actually benefit from a child tax credit, why a state's pension gap widens, or how procurement rules inflate the price of a new highway. The show serves economists, policy analysts, and investors who need to understand fiscal reality as it unfolds — not as campaign slogans. Expect granular case studies, from Japan's lost-decade stimulus to the U.S. inflation reduction act's supply-chain effects, with both hosts citing specific CBO scores, IMF working papers, and Federal Reserve research. They never forecast without data, never moralize, and never reduce a trillion-dollar decision to a soundbite. By the end, you'll know why the yield curve inverted — and why it matters for the next round of municipal bonds you're holding. #FiscalPolicy #GovernmentBudget #PublicSpending #Stimulus #NationalDebt #TaxPolicy #MonetaryPolicy #FederalReserve #TreasuryBonds #Infrastructure #DeficitSpending #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Business #Macroeconomics #FiscalMultiplier #CBO Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

  1. 21h ago

    Why the Government Pays 50 Percent More for Construction Than Private Firms

    The federal government spends over $200 billion annually on construction projects, but a 2025 Government Accountability Office report found that public building projects cost 50 percent more per square foot than comparable private-sector developments. Lucas and Luna drill into one specific case: the $6 billion renovation of the FBI headquarters, which has been delayed for over a decade and is now projected to cost 70 percent more than initial estimates. They examine the root cause: the Davis-Bacon Act, passed in 1931, which requires contractors on federal projects to pay 'prevailing wages'—wages that are often set using flawed surveys and union-dominated data. The result is a system where government construction costs are systematically inflated, yet few politicians dare to touch a law that labor unions fiercely defend. Listeners learn how a Depression-era rule, intended to protect local workers, now adds billions to the federal deficit every year. #DavisBaconAct #PrevailingWage #FBIHeadquarters #ConstructionCosts #GovernmentSpending #FederalBudget #GovernmentEfficiency #LaborUnions #PublicWorks #InfrastructureSpending #GaoReport #WageLaws #Economics #FiscalPolicy #GovernmentWaste #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #PublicFinance Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

  2. 1d ago

    How the Government Spends 60 Billion a Year on Unused Software Licenses

    Every year, federal agencies collectively spend an estimated $60 billion on software licenses that nobody uses. In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack a 2025 Government Accountability Office report that found the Department of Defense alone pays for 4.2 million unused licenses across Adobe, Microsoft, and Salesforce products. They trace the problem back to a simple procurement rule called 'enterprise licensing,' which encourages agencies to buy site-wide access rather than track actual usage. The hosts contrast this with how private-sector companies like Capital One and Walmart manage software spend through usage-based models. The episode closes with a concrete reform idea: requiring federal agencies to publish annual software utilization data, just as they do for real estate. #SoftwareLicenses #GovernmentWaste #GAOReport #EnterpriseLicensing #DepartmentOfDefense #Microsoft #Adobe #Salesforce #CapitalOne #Walmart #Procurement #TaxpayerDollars #ITSpending #PublicFinance #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #FiscalPolicy Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

  3. 1d ago

    How the Federal Government Pays Twice for the Same Software

    Episode 128 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast uncovers a staggering inefficiency: the federal government often pays twice for the same software licenses due to fragmented procurement and a lack of enterprise agreements. Lucas and Luna break down how agencies like the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs separately license identical Microsoft and Adobe products, costing billions in redundant spending. They explore a 2023 Government Accountability Office report that found over $1.2 billion in duplicative software costs across just five agencies, and discuss how a simple cross-agency licensing portal could save taxpayers hundreds of millions annually. With examples from the US Navy's redundant Oracle databases to the Department of Agriculture's duplicate Salesforce licenses, this episode reveals why the world's largest buyer of technology can't coordinate a single software purchase. No more paying twice for the same Excel spreadsheet. #GovernmentSoftwareLicensing #FederalProcurement #SoftwareWaste #GAOReport #TaxpayerWaste #SoftwareDuplication #EnterpriseLicensing #DepartmentOfDefense #DepartmentOfVeteransAffairs #MicrosoftLicensing #AdobeLicensing #OracleDatabases #SalesforceLicenses #ProcurementReform #ITSpending #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

  4. 2d ago

    How Government Auditors Miss Billions in Medicare Fraud

    Every year, the U.S. government loses an estimated $60 billion to Medicare fraud — and most of it is never recovered. Lucas and Luna unpack one specific case: a Miami durable medical equipment ring that billed for thousands of back braces for dead patients. They trace how the fraud works, why routine audits catch only about four percent of improper payments, and what a few state-level pilot programs are doing differently. The episode zooms in on a single number — $2.1 billion in 'unknown' overpayments flagged by a 2024 HHS OIG report — and follows the money from fake prescriptions to a shell company in a strip mall. No generalities. One concrete mechanism, one failure point, one emerging fix. #MedicareFraud #GovernmentWaste #HealthcareEconomics #OIG #DurableMedicalEquipment #AuditFailure #PublicSpending #FiscalPolicy #Economics #BusinessPodcast #FexingoBusiness #LucasAndLuna #FraudDetection #MedicareImproperPayments #RecoveryAuditContractors #PredictiveAnalytics #MiamiFraud #TaxpayerDollars Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

  5. 2d ago

    How Government Subsidies Create Billion-Dollar Drug Shortages

    In this episode of The Fiscal Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna examine how government pricing policies and subsidy structures inadvertently cause chronic drug shortages in the US. Using the case of generic injectable chemotherapy drugs—where a 400% price increase for one supplier led to a 30% shortage rate nationwide—they trace the problem to Medicare reimbursement rules that tie payments to average sales price, creating a race to the bottom. They discuss the Inflation Reduction Act's impact on drug pricing and why manufacturers abandon low-margin essential drugs, leading to a billion-dollar cycle of scarcity. The episode also explores alternative procurement models used by the Defense Department that could be adapted. If you find this analysis useful, listener support at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo keeps the show ad-free. #DrugShortages #GovernmentSubsidies #Medicare #GenericDrugs #PharmaceuticalPolicy #InflationReductionAct #HealthcareEconomics #SupplyChain #Chemotherapy #PublicHealth #Procurement #PriceControls #FiscalPolicy #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #LucasAndLuna #BudgetBreakdown Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

  6. 3d ago

    How Government Subsidies Create Billion-Dollar Drug Shortages

    This episode of The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo examines how the U.S. government's own subsidy programs inadvertently cause chronic shortages of critical generic drugs. Lucas and Luna dive into the 2024-2025 shortage of generic chemotherapy drugs, tracing the root cause to a combination of Medicare reimbursement caps and FDA orphan drug incentives that push manufacturers away from low-margin generics toward high-margin specialty drugs. They zero in on the case of cisplatin and carboplatin — two cheap, essential cancer drugs that suddenly became scarce in 2024 despite decades of stable supply. The hosts explain how a 2022 law intended to boost domestic manufacturing actually made things worse by subsidizing factory construction without guaranteeing purchase commitments. By July 2026, the Government Accountability Office estimates that 70 percent of generic drug shortages involve products where federal subsidies indirectly reduced competition. Specific numbers: 15 generic drug factories closed between 2023 and 2025, and the average price of a course of cisplatin rose from $15 to $350 during the shortage. Lucas and Luna argue that the core problem is misaligned incentives — the government pays for production capacity but doesn't ensure the drugs are actually made. #DrugShortages #GenericDrugs #Medicare #FDA #OrphanDrugIncentives #Cisplatin #Carboplatin #Chemotherapy #GovernmentSubsidies #PharmaceuticalPolicy #GAO #ManufacturingIncentives #FiscalPolicy #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #PublicSpending #HealthcarePolicy Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

  7. 3d ago

    Why the Government Spends Billions on Idle Land

    The federal government is the largest landowner in America, holding nearly 640 million acres. But a 2025 Government Accountability Office report found that over 80,000 parcels are classified as 'excess' or 'underutilized' — meaning no agency needs them, yet they sit idle for years while the government pays maintenance, security, and environmental cleanup costs. In this episode, Lucas and Luna drill into one specific case: the 3,400-acre former Army depot in Alabama that has cost taxpayers $47 million in upkeep since 2010 with no buyer in sight. They examine why the disposal process is broken — requiring an act of Congress to sell anything worth more than $10 million, a rule from 1949 — and how this silent subsidy to no one adds up to an estimated $1.7 billion annually in carrying costs. A sharp look at the inefficiency hiding in plain sight on public land. #FederalLand #GovernmentWaste #ExcessProperty #PublicLand #GaoReport #ArmyDepot #Alabama #Congress #BudgetOversight #CarryingCosts #Inefficiency #TaxpayerDollars #Economics #GovernmentSpending #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #FiscalPolicy #LandManagement Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

  8. 4d ago

    Why the Government Sells Public Assets at a Loss

    Episode 123 of The Fiscal Policy Podcast dives into why the U.S. government routinely sells public assets—like land, buildings, and loan portfolios—for pennies on the dollar. Lucas and Luna examine the specific case of the Department of Energy's sale of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve's storage caverns in 2025, where a 50-year-old facility worth an estimated $800 million went for just $45 million. They trace the problem to a combination of Congressional budget rules, arcane accounting methods, and a perverse incentive structure where selling low makes the deficit look smaller in the short term. The hosts walk through the mechanics of the 'fire sale' dynamic, compare it to how private companies handle asset sales, and explore a recent reform proposal from the Government Accountability Office that could change the rules. A concrete look at one of the quieter ways the federal government leaves money on the table. #GovernmentAssetSales #StrategicPetroleumReserve #PublicAssetFireSale #BudgetGimmicks #FiscalPolicy #DepartmentOfEnergy #GAO #CongressionalBudgetOffice #Infrastructure #AssetValuation #FederalBudget #TaxpayerWaste #EconomicPolicy #Podcast #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #EconomicsPodcast #GovernmentWaste Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

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About

Lucas and Luna dissect the machinery of public finance — how governments borrow, spend, and tax — without the political theater. Each episode examines a single fiscal lever: a stimulus check's ripple through consumer debt, the bond market's reaction to a budget deficit, or the real cost of infrastructure spending. Lucas traces the Treasury's cash flows with a fountain pen across an abstract budget breakdown, while Luna presses on the human outcomes: which households actually benefit from a child tax credit, why a state's pension gap widens, or how procurement rules inflate the price of a new highway. The show serves economists, policy analysts, and investors who need to understand fiscal reality as it unfolds — not as campaign slogans. Expect granular case studies, from Japan's lost-decade stimulus to the U.S. inflation reduction act's supply-chain effects, with both hosts citing specific CBO scores, IMF working papers, and Federal Reserve research. They never forecast without data, never moralize, and never reduce a trillion-dollar decision to a soundbite. By the end, you'll know why the yield curve inverted — and why it matters for the next round of municipal bonds you're holding. #FiscalPolicy #GovernmentBudget #PublicSpending #Stimulus #NationalDebt #TaxPolicy #MonetaryPolicy #FederalReserve #TreasuryBonds #Infrastructure #DeficitSpending #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Business #Macroeconomics #FiscalMultiplier #CBO Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

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