Government Waste

In this time of real austerity for a huge percentage of American citizens and Sequester cuts for government, how is the government holding up its end of the bargain.  Lets look at a few examples which suggest it is not doing so well.

1.  Our first item considers findings from the "Government Accountability Office's (GAO) annual report highlighting just some of the waste and redundant programs still funded by our tax dollars."  The linked article highlights 3 spending programs totalled $4,096,000,000 which are likely representative of a multitude of other unecessary government spending of critical taxpayer dollars.

http://townhall.com/columnists/timphillips/2013/04/19/wasteful-programs-that-make-you-want-to-pull-your-hair-out-n1573235?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

 

2.  This one is kind of hard to believe.  Some communities who received federal stimulus money actually spent at least some of it "to educate Americans about obesity and tobacco."  And, they "potentially violated federal law by using the funds to lobby for higher taxes and new local laws."  Our tax money was put to good use, don't you think?  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/21/report-communities-used-federal-stimulus-money-to-lobby-for-higher-taxes/?cmpid=NL_FNTopHeadlines#ixzz2REp9bm00

 

3.  Amnesty for illegal aliens is a hot topic these days.  Here is an item that should make you hot as to how illegals have for some years been knowingly taking us taxpaying citizens for a ride.  An investigative report found that "hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants were fraudulently obtaining the Additional Child Tax Credit, listing as relatives people who actually lived outside the United States, south of the border.  Some $4.2 billion per year in U.S. tax dollars are going to illegals as refunds under this credit."  And they think they deserve amnesty?  Both our President and a large percentage of our Congress agree with them.  It is obvious that our elected leaders feel the need to look after the interests of law breaking illegals rather than the law abiding citizens  paying the bills. Check out this link.  http://www.newswithviews.com/Emord/jonathan296.htm

 

4.  The next item notes that while "Federal employees are facing unpaid days off and salary cuts due to the Sequester, but several contract workers inside the Energy Department are still raking in the cash.  Ten individuals at the department's operations in Oak Ridge, Tenn., are set to make an extra $3.5 million above and beyond their normal pay, according to an Energy Department inspector general investigation that exposed a lavish bonus system."  No matter how good these contractors are it is not possible to justify giving them huge bonuses while taxpayers footing the bill are struggling.  See this link.

http://www.washingtonguardian.com/bonus-bonanza

 

5.  Consider this.  "It's estimated that there is $48 billion in Medicare fraud out there - that's more than 10% of the total amount spent ($447 billion in FY 2010). For crooks, the ease with which they steal from the taxpayer is negligence on the part of Congress and HHS."  Now ask yourselves is this the kind of performance we expect from our government?  If those passing the laws and providing oversight and those spending the money can do no better than this how well do you think they will do with a much, much more expensive Obamacare program?  Check this link for more on Medicare fraud.   http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/12/medicare_fraud_on_a_grand_scale.html

 

6.  There's lots more.  For those who are curious, this link provides 50 more examples. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/10/50-examples-of-government-waste 

 

After perusing these examples of our government's handling of our nation's fiscal resources, I ask you do they deserve another dime from us?  Our President and former House Speaker Pelosi have publicly assured us that the government does not have a spending problem (and one can presume they also think they are spending our money wisely and are providing excellent oversight of all expenditures).  Instead of spending being the problem, their claim is that they have a "resource" problem (meaning that we are not paying enough taxes.).  Anyone who thinks the President and Pelosi are right, needs to do some serious rethinking of that thought.  I say, until they demonstrate fiscal competence (and they won't), they do not deserve another dime in taxes from anyone.       

 

  George Burns