Your tax dollars at work

We all know that our government is not the most efficient entity on the planet. In fact, it sets the classic example on how to waste money without even trying.

Recently, there was an article that I read written by Emily Goff who is a researcher at The Heritage Foundation. She entitled her article, “10 ways the federal government has wasted your money”. Her ten are good examples but I added 2 more that will take the cake.

We know that our politicians negotiate over how much to spend on government operations or the government’s borrowing limit. We always hear that there is absolutely no room to cut federal spending.

Let’s see – millions were spent on the Bridge to Nowhere. Then, competing with the “Theater of the Absurd”, the federal government spent millions of dollars promoting the eating of caviar. Who in their right mind would even consider eating Russian fish eggs? Ugh!

Despite the government wasting our tax dollars like that, it doesn’t even come close to the following:

>> In 2010, the IRS (Incredible Retard Service) spent $4.1 million on a conference for over 2,600 employees who received payoffs worth $64,000 in free meals, cocktails, and hotel suite upgrades what to speak of the $50,000 spent on line-dancing.

>> Our beloved government spends $800,000 a year just to keep almost 14,000 empty bank accounts open. That breaks down to roughly $65 per year, per account.

>> The National Science Foundation spent $500,000 on developing a video game that simulates a high school prom. I guess that will make it so that kids that do not attend a prom can just make believe in the comfort of their homes.

>>While a good wine or a painting done by a renowned and past away artist will increase in value over time, unused TSA equipment does not. The TSA left 5,700 pieces of security equipment, such as baggage screening machines, sitting idle in a warehouse for months, and in some cases, years to the tune of $3.5 million a year to lease and manage the facility.

>>Even though the TSA spends $1.8 million a year to lease 440,000 square feet of storage space in three warehouses in Texas, it left 72,074 square feet unused. That’s more square footage than a football field.

>>Oh yeah, the amount spent to encourage caviar consumption in 2012 was $300,000. I wonder what it cost to clean up the diarrhea?

>>Amtrak, the federally subsidized passenger rail service, only earned 44 cents on the dollar for the food and beverages it offers on long-distance routes. Those routes are also money losers, which poses an interesting question: would McDonald’s or Starbucks sustain such losses and stay in business?

>>Poor oversight resulted in 1,000 prisoners in Pennsylvania collecting weekly unemployment benefits over a four-month period to the tune of $7 million.

>>The Department of Health and Human Services awarded $340 million in loans to Freelancer’s Insurance Co. to establish health care co-ops. Regulators ranked the company dead last among New York’s insurance companies.

>>The Office of Navel Research spent $450,00 on a study that concluded that unintelligent robots cannot keep a baby’s attention. Why couldn’t they put that money toward sustaining current defense capabilities and modernizing the military?

Compared to the country’s $16.7 trillion debt, these waste examples may seem like petty cash. But cutting waste would build momentum for reforming Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, which are programs that make up the lion’s share of the federal budget and drive the nation’s spending.

Take a look at the Washington politicians. They do not contribute to social security, they receive free medical care after retirement, their retirement pay is at least $250,000 a year, and the live happily ever after. Imagine the savings to us and the country if they, like the rest of us, collected social security when they were done with politics, collected what they contributed to a pension plan, and had to enroll with Medicare and Medicaid?

In a government of, for, and by the people, when politicians are elected to serve, it is still a job. Why can’t it be treated as such?

In the months ahead, these “hookers’ will have multiple opportunities to debate over government spending as to whether increase or decrease government spending and have the opportunity to scale back government spending on both small and big-ticket items.

Inaction would only mean that more debt would be piled onto the shoulders of our kids and grandkids.

Isn’t it about time for them to get their s**t together, pass on the lip service, and give up on the same ol’ tired excuses?

I can’t resist adding this classic: In Hawaii we thought we got rid of shithole of a Governor, Neil Abercrombie, who served for years as one of our Representatives (ha ha ha) in Washington. He did nothing in Washington and less in Hawaii and was booted out after serving one term. He was the first guy in Hawaii’s history to get the bounce after one term.

Enter David Ige (pronounced e gay), the mild-mannered reporter from the Daily Planet.

He was a Hawaii State Representative for eons. Soft spoken, unassuming, and as close to Jimmy Dolittle as you can get. It turns out that three of the people Jimmy picked to head major state agencies were registered lobbyists for companies, organizations or clients whose interests likely will intersect with the departments they were nominated to oversee.

Last but not least is Hawaii’s rail system. The choices were Maglev at $65 million a mile or Steel-On-Steel at $500 million a mile. Guess what the picked? Yup, the $500 mill one. Gee, how did that happen?

Honolulu has a Councilman affectionately known as “Pinocchio” Anderson. He achieved that name by the following: In a hearing, a year before Hawaii signed the Federal agreement for funding of the project, “Pinocchio” said that the Feds would take their money back if we changed their venue. Yes, but that would only happen after we signed the agreement. Why didn’t he say that? Why didn’t he inform the people of that so they could vote on a venue change? Easy – In God we trust. All others pay cash!

I’m sure he would love to hear from everyone – ianderson@honolulu.gov

Sometimes payback can be a real bitch!

Aloha!

Sources:
www.heritage.org
www.dailysignal.com
www.thefiscaltimes.com