The GSA scandal: Is it just the tip of the government-waste iceberg?
JenSemPa
2012/04/18 09:34:21
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Little story of just one example of how things are done. Many years ago I went to the "surplus property" sales warehouse at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. Among the hundreds of items there were eight large boxes, all alike, with a metal cased device on
top, looking somewhat like a large calculator of that period. The device weighed about
twenty pounds and all could be bought for six cents a pound, the value of "scrap metal" at the time. I asked what these things were, labeled as being from Hewlett Packard as I recall. The military man there said they were "computer guidance systems for ICBMs, which had been shipped to Ft. Leonard Wood "by mistake". A day or two later I thought, those things probably are worth a quarter million dollars each, I'll buy them and see what happens. They were "gone", repurchased by HP I was told, for six cents a pound, and shipped back to HP's assembly plant. Do I really th...
Little story of just one example of how things are done. Many years ago I went to the "surplus property" sales warehouse at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. Among the hundreds of items there were eight large boxes, all alike, with a metal cased device on
top, looking somewhat like a large calculator of that period. The device weighed about
twenty pounds and all could be bought for six cents a pound, the value of "scrap metal" at the time. I asked what these things were, labeled as being from Hewlett Packard as I recall. The military man there said they were "computer guidance systems for ICBMs, which had been shipped to Ft. Leonard Wood "by mistake". A day or two later I thought, those things probably are worth a quarter million dollars each, I'll buy them and see what happens. They were "gone", repurchased by HP I was told, for six cents a pound, and shipped back to HP's assembly plant. Do I really think the Govy paid twice for these items Oh yes, I do think that as I bought and sold several items such as welding machines still in the shipping cases and unused for "scrap value", pipe, wire, and other things, all just passing through a military base as the procurement system bought what was unwanted and unused and shipped it to any destination that came to mind.
No, I think they investigated as soon as all the vids and pics came out. Which was rather recently.
Besides, they do have other things to do too. Such as helping to unravel the economic mess that Obama has left us with.
What about the Senate? What about the White House? They have no responsibilty to probe these matters?
Sounds like your thought process here can be summed up thus: "Hey, the House is controlled by Republicans -- so let's blame them!"
Meanwhile, in your mind, any government branch controlled by Democrats gets to skate.
by the way libby the gop is the party of fiscal responsiblity. the libs are the party of spend spend spend spend. so tell me which party i will always blame for alowing 2 years of non-investigation into over spending. the gop never brought this up till now. again showing to me the gop is losing itself. you can go ahead and ignore the facts but i am not an ignorant lib so i can not no matter how hard i try.
And with a leadership void @ 1600 penn. well, when the cats away the mice place.
all these departments scrape off just a few dollars for theselves as the money passes to the next level, where they take a few dollars. so, like the dept of Ed. a dollar in, 15 cents winds up getting to the classroom. Might I add, there are some pretty nice vehicles in those parking lots
government in action, if there is money left, in the slush fund it goes. the choice in government is spend it or loose it
government gone wild.
http://www.coburn.senate.gov/...
USDA SPENDS OVER $90 MILLION
IN CONFERENCE COSTS
The first in a multi-part review
of how federal agencies have spent billions
of dollars on conferences over the last six years.
Federal agencies have come under scrutiny for their lavish spending on conferences and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) is no exception. The Department recently reported to Congress that it has almost tripled its conference expenditures since the year 2000, to $19.4 million in FY2006.
In 2006, one entity within USDA, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) sent 47 people (44 of whom were employees) to 10 conferences in Hawaii at a cost of $71,412.
USDA told a Senate oversight subcommittee that it had spent more than $90 million on
conferences from 2000-2006. Agency conference expenditures jumped more than $4
million, or 60 percent from 2001-2002, the first full fiscal year of the Bush Administration.
According to data submitted to a Senate oversight subcommittee, in just 2006 alone:
• 213 USDA employees attended approximately 94 separate conferences in Las Vegas at a cost of $254,755;
• 64 USDA employees (and 3 non-employees on USDA’s dime) traveled to Hawaii to ...
http://www.coburn.senate.gov/...
USDA SPENDS OVER $90 MILLION
IN CONFERENCE COSTS
The first in a multi-part review
of how federal agencies have spent billions
of dollars on conferences over the last six years.
Federal agencies have come under scrutiny for their lavish spending on conferences and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) is no exception. The Department recently reported to Congress that it has almost tripled its conference expenditures since the year 2000, to $19.4 million in FY2006.
In 2006, one entity within USDA, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) sent 47 people (44 of whom were employees) to 10 conferences in Hawaii at a cost of $71,412.
USDA told a Senate oversight subcommittee that it had spent more than $90 million on
conferences from 2000-2006. Agency conference expenditures jumped more than $4
million, or 60 percent from 2001-2002, the first full fiscal year of the Bush Administration.
According to data submitted to a Senate oversight subcommittee, in just 2006 alone:
• 213 USDA employees attended approximately 94 separate conferences in Las Vegas at a cost of $254,755;
• 64 USDA employees (and 3 non-employees on USDA’s dime) traveled to Hawaii to attend approximately 28 separate conferences for a total cost of $130,600;
• 713 USDA employees attended 235 Sacramento conferences, at a cost of $560,000;
• 144 USDA employees attended 38 San Francisco conferences, at a cost of $144,000;
• 270 USDA employees went to approximately 59 separate conferences in Orlando, Florida —home to Disney World — at a cost of $282,656;
• 112 employees went to 34 conferences in Anchorage, Alaska at a cost of $227,000;
• 247 employees went to approximately 89 conferences in Phoenix, Arizona at a cost of
$321,000;
• 141 employees went to approximately 46 conferences in Tucson, Arizona at a cost of
$132,700; and
• 20,959 employees went to 6,719 conferences and training activities across the
nation and around the world, at an unknown cost to taxpayers in lost
productivity.
http://usactionnews.com/2012/...
George W. Bush’s GSA chief Lurita Doan resigned in 2008 after a “tumultuous tenure in which she was accused of trying to award work to a friend and misusing her authority for political ends.” Second, bureaucrats have been wasting taxpayer money on conferences for years under the watch of both parties. For example, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) released a report in 2008 that found that federal agencies had spent over $2 billion on conferences from 2000-2006.
The Republican Americans REFUSED to support the Republican candidates because they were spending and easting too much.. THOSE Republican Candidates were acting like Democrats and in the elections of 2006,, the Congress was surrendered BACK to the Democrats..
SO.. WHAT are YOU Democrats going to do about this besides playing the Bart Simpson song???
That is,, BESIDES making excuses for what's going on NOW by bringing up other examples from the past??
THAT will NOT reduce the WASTE in Government..
My personal belief is that we will never be free of government as long as it exists. I think it is time to re-think how a free people can exist in the midst of crime, corruption, lies, and deceit within its own government. My wish is that we outlaw politicians, get a management company to provide for oversight of those things we give it the authorization to oversee, a company that works solely with the states, and which has no contact with individual citizens, and which can handle only the money we choose to pay them and spend on their work. All laws would come from from the states. Get rid of the behemoth in Washington DC - give us a breath of fresh air and get us out from under this giant money sucker we call GOVERNment.
and don't forget big Al Gore.