[Vision2020] Fw: This could be big

Fri Apr 22 06:06:26 PDT 2011

>From http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/10/50-examples-of-government-waste

A few specific examples would be:

  1.. The federal government made at least $72 billion in improper payments in 2008.[1] 
  2.. Washington spends $92 billion on corporate welfare (excluding TARP) versus $71 billion on homeland security.[2] 
  3.. Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.[3] 
  4.. Government auditors spent the past five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them -- costing taxpayers a total of $123 billion annually -- fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve.[4] 
  5.. The Congressional Budget Office published a "Budget Options" series identifying more than $100 billion in potential spending cuts.[5] 
  6.. Examples from multiple Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs.[6] 
  7.. Washington will spend $2.6 million training Chinese prostitutes to drink more responsibly on the job.[7] 
  8.. A GAO audit classified nearly half of all purchases on government credit cards as improper, fraudulent, or embezzled. Examples of taxpayer-funded purchases include gambling, mortgage payments, liquor, lingerie, iPods, Xboxes, jewelry, Internet dating services, and Hawaiian vacations. In one extraordinary example, the Postal Service spent $13,500 on one dinner at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, including "over 200 appetizers and over $3,000 of alcohol, including more than 40 bottles of wine costing more than $50 each and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold." The 81 guests consumed an average of $167 worth of food and drink apiece.[8] 
  9.. Federal agencies are delinquent on nearly 20 percent of employee travel charge cards, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.[9] 
  10.. The Securities and Exchange Commission spent $3.9 million rearranging desks and offices at its Washington, D.C., headquarters.[10] 
  11.. The Pentagon recently spent $998,798 shipping two 19-cent washers from South Carolina to Texas and $293,451 sending an 89-cent washer from South Carolina to Florida.[11] 
  12.. Over half of all farm subsidies go to commercial farms, which report average household incomes of $200,000.[12] 
  13.. Health care fraud is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $60 billion annually.[13] 
  14.. A GAO audit found that 95 Pentagon weapons systems suffered from a combined $295 billion in cost overruns.[14] 
  15.. The refusal of many federal employees to fly coach costs taxpayers $146 million annually in flight upgrades.[15] 
  16.. Washington will spend $126 million in 2009 to enhance the Kennedy family legacy in Massachusetts. Additionally, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) diverted $20 million from the 2010 defense budget to subsidize a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute.[16] 
  17.. Federal investigators have launched more than 20 criminal fraud investigations related to the TARP financial bailout.[17] 
  18.. Despite trillion-dollar deficits, last year's 10,160 earmarks included $200,000 for a tattoo removal program in Mission Hills, California; $190,000 for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming; and $75,000 for the Totally Teen Zone in Albany, Georgia.[18] 
  19.. The federal government owns more than 50,000 vacant homes.[19] 
  20.. The Federal Communications Commission spent $350,000 to sponsor NASCAR driver David Gilliland.[20] 
  21.. Members of Congress have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars supplying their offices with popcorn machines, plasma televisions, DVD equipment, ionic air fresheners, camcorders, and signature machines -- plus $24,730 leasing a Lexus, $1,434 on a digital camera, and $84,000 on personalized calendars.[21] 
  22.. More than $13 billion in Iraq aid has been classified as wasted or stolen. Another $7.8 billion cannot be accounted for.[22] 
  23.. Fraud related to Hurricane Katrina spending is estimated to top $2 billion. In addition, debit cards provided to hurricane victims were used to pay for Caribbean vacations, NFL tickets, Dom Perignon champagne, "Girls Gone Wild" videos, and at least one sex change operation.[23] 
  24.. Auditors discovered that 900,000 of the 2.5 million recipients of emergency Katrina assistance provided false names, addresses, or Social Security numbers or submitted multiple applications.[24] 
  25.. Congress recently gave Alaska Airlines $500,000 to paint a Chinook salmon on a Boeing 737.[25] 
  26.. The Transportation Department will subsidize up to $2,000 per flight for direct flights between Washington, D.C., and the small hometown of Congressman Hal Rogers (R-KY) -- but only on Monday mornings and Friday evenings, when lawmakers, staff, and lobbyists usually fly. Rogers is a member of the Appropriations Committee, which writes the Transportation Department's budget.[26] 
  27.. Washington has spent $3 billion re-sanding beaches -- even as this new sand washes back into the ocean.[27] 
  28.. A Department of Agriculture report concedes that much of the $2.5 billion in "stimulus" funding for broadband Internet will be wasted.[28] 
  29.. The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were refundable.[29] 
  30.. Washington spends $60,000 per hour shooting Air Force One photo-ops in front of national landmarks.[30] 
  31.. Over one recent 18-month period, Air Force and Navy personnel used government-funded credit cards to charge at least $102,400 on admission to entertainment events, $48,250 on gambling, $69,300 on cruises, and $73,950 on exotic dance clubs and prostitutes.[31] 
  32.. Members of Congress are set to pay themselves $90 million to increase their franked mailings for the 2010 election year.[32] 
  33.. Congress has ignored efficiency recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services that would save $9 billion annually.[33] 
  34.. Taxpayers are funding paintings of high-ranking government officials at a cost of up to $50,000 apiece.[34] 
  35.. The state of Washington sent $1 food stamp checks to 250,000 households in order to raise state caseload figures and trigger $43 million in additional federal funds.[35] 
  36.. Suburban families are receiving large farm subsidies for the grass in their backyards -- subsidies that many of these families never requested and do not want. [36] 
  37.. Congress appropriated $20 million for "commemoration of success" celebrations related to Iraq and Afghanistan.[37] 
  38.. Homeland Security employee purchases include 63-inch plasma TVs, iPods, and $230 for a beer brewing kit.[38] 
  39.. Two drafting errors in the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act resulted in a $2 billion taxpayer cost.[39] 
  40.. North Ridgeville, Ohio, received $800,000 in "stimulus" funds for a project that its mayor described as "a long way from the top priority."[40] 
  41.. The National Institutes of Health spends $1.3 million per month to rent a lab that it cannot use.[41] 
  42.. Congress recently spent $2.4 billion on 10 new jets that the Pentagon insists it does not need and will not use.[42] 
  43.. Lawmakers diverted $13 million from Hurricane Katrina relief spending to build a museum celebrating the Army Corps of Engineers -- the agency partially responsible for the failed levees that flooded New Orleans.[43] 
  44.. Medicare officials recently mailed $50 million in erroneous refunds to 230,000 Medicare recipients.[44] 
  45.. Audits showed $34 billion worth of Department of Homeland Security contracts contained significant waste, fraud, and abuse.[45] 
  46.. Washington recently spent $1.8 million to help build a private golf course in Atlanta, Georgia.[46] 
  47.. The Advanced Technology Program spends $150 million annually subsidizing private businesses; 40 percent of this funding goes to Fortune 500 companies.[47] 
  48.. Congressional investigators were able to receive $55,000 in federal student loan funding for a fictional college they created to test the Department of Education.[48] 
  49.. The Conservation Reserve program pays farmers $2 billion annually not to farm their land.[49] 
  50.. The Commerce Department has lost 1,137 computers since 2001, many containing Americans' personal data.[50] 
These are mere drop in the bucket examples. Left up to me, entire departments would be eliminated starting with commerce, agriculture, and yes, education. 

I would go on but time is limited. Has this been adequately specific for you?

g

P.S. I'll throw in as a little can and did bonus for you the countless Obama white house parties, (think Paul McCartney comes cheap?) along with the current cross country campaign tour all paid for with the taxpayers credit card. Enjoy.

From: Joe Campbell 
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2011 2:23 AM
To: the lockshop 
Cc: Vision 2020 
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Fw: This could be big

What is the "big government" that you're talking about below, Gary? Tell me where the waste is and be specific. You can't and won't and that shows where the greater myth lies.

For God's sake, we've been waging a war in two now three different countries, putting the whole thing on our world "credit card." But you don't raise a peep about that. Education, health care, entitlements -- that is where the evil lies (according to you)! 

This is crap rhetoric and you know it. And the fact that you can't make a sensible response to this post, that all you'll do is throw insults and more crap rhetoric proves it even more.

And this isn't an insult. It is a CRITICISM. Maybe you are as unable to tell the difference as Roger.

On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 5:14 PM, the lockshop <lockshop at pull.twcbc.com> wrote:

  I feel fine, thank you for your concern. There is no ire to mitigate on my end and no need for rationalization required on yours. Corporations take advantage of tax laws put in place by Republican and Democrat lawmakers to return value to the shareholders as is their primary reason for existance. The fact that you and your family have been able to take advantage of this warms my heart. 

  The notion that corporations large or small should "pay a fair share" is a farce generated by big government (and it's friends and beneficiaries) to extract additional revenue from individuals. The burden falls on shareholders in the form of reduced return on investment and/or on customers in the form of higher price for products. Placing ever-increasing drains on a corporations revenue can only result in disaster. If return to investors is too low or the price of goods is to high the end result is the same. You have killed the goose and the attendant jobs, goods, and services (and yes, tax monies) that it generated.

  g
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Sue Hovey 
    To: the lockshop ; 'Vision 2020' 
    Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 12:13 PM
    Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Fw: This could be big

    True,  and we probably won’t be able to do them much longer, so perhaps that will help to mitigate your ire.  A few years ago I was behind one of the efforts to get PERSI to disinvest—a move that went nowhere, fast.  So I continue to take the dirty money and I’m going to be spending it on critical needs for our disabled adult daughter.  Feel better now?

    Sue  H  

    From: the lockshop 
    Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 11:56 AM
    To: Sue Hovey ; 'Vision 2020' 
    Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Fw: This could be big

    Interestingly enough, Exxon Mobile, Conoco Philips, General Electric and Goldman Sachs are among the ten largest holdings of several of the funds held by PERSI. These "dirty corporate freeloaders" are playing a large part in funding local retiree's trips to Hawaii! This must be brought to a halt immediately.

    g
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Sue Hovey 
      To: 'Vision 2020' 
      Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 7:58 PM
      Subject: [Vision2020] Fw: This could be big

      Sort of a down and dirty (for sure dirty) list of Corporate Freeloaders.  Thought it might be of interest to some of you.

      Sue 

      From: William Frye 
      Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 10:48 AM
      To: undisclosed recipients:
      Subject: Fw: This could be big

              A few weeks ago, Senator Bernie Sanders released a list of the 10 companies worst at paying their fair share in taxes. We liked it, and our designer Gabe quickly put it into chart form and put it up on our website.

              What happened next was exciting: Tens of thousands of people started sharing the chart on Facebook. Blogs started posting links to it. It began to really blow up—and that gave us an idea: What if we could get this popular chart in front of millions of people today as they're finishing their taxes? 

              So here we go: We're going to try to saturate Facebook with the chart below, so that everyone sees the shameful behavior of these 10 companies. Can you join in? All you have to do is click this button to share it: 

                          Share This on Facebook 

               Click here to share: Bernie Sanders' Guide to Corporate Freeloaders

              Thanks for all you do, 

              –Peter, Eli, Alicia, Jenine, Gabriel, and the whole MoveOn.org Civic Action team

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