Government Waste
Defense Dept. can’t account for $8.7 billion
The Defense Department is unable to account for $8.7 billion of the $9.1 billion in Development Fund for Iraq monies in received for reconstruction in Iraq. This according to a study published today by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
Read the whole story at FederalNewsRadio
Goldman Sachs Reveals Where Bailout Money Went — Overseas Banks (Tax Payer Money At Work)
Goldman Sachs sent $4.3 billion in federal tax money to 32 entities, including many overseas banks, hedge funds and pensions, according to information made public Friday night.
Read the whole story at USA Today
Outrage of the Day: Congress Spent $604,000 on Bottled Water
Yes, 604 thousand dollars. That is what your congress spent on bottle water alone. This does not include the amount spent on food. According to AOl, Democrats spend more than GOP.
Continue reading at AOL.com
Labor Deparment Estimates $7.1 Billion in Overpayments to Unemployed
While many Americans are feeling the pain of expired unemployment benefits, some have gotten a good chunk more than they were legally eligible for.
Congress will not extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed.
Preliminary estimates released by the U.S. Department of Labor find that, in 2009, states made more than $7.1 billion in overpayments in unemployment […]
Obama to agencies: Don’t pay dead people
WASHINGTON (AP) — Here’s an idea, Uncle Sam: Stop writing checks to dead people.
The government sent benefit checks to 20,000 departed Americans over three years, totaling more than $180 million — a remarkable number that provoked the Obama administration to create a government-wide “do not pay” list as part of its brainstorming for ways to […]
Arizona Cancels $1.25M Bridge for 250 Squirrels
Arizona abruptly canceled plans today to spend $1.25 million to build bridges for a colony of 250 squirrels so they would not have to cross a rural road and could avoid becoming road kill.
John Halikowski, director of Arizona’s Department of Transportation, halted the bridge project that was being paid for with federal highway funds.
“ADOT will […]
Poll: 80% of Americans Don’t Trust The Government
Nearly 80 percent of Americans say they can’t and they have little faith that the massive federal bureaucracy can solve the nation’s ills, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center that shows public confidence in the federal government at one of the lowest points in a half-century.
The poll released Sunday illustrates the ominous […]
Government Waste:Stimulus provided $85 billion boost to California (Where is the money?)
California entered 2010 burdened with a dismal unemployment rate (12 percent) and facing a discouragingly large state budget deficit ($19.9 billion).FDR Memorial, Washington DC We’re still in the worst recession to hit the West Coast since the Great Depression. It’s hard to imagine how the economic news could be worse.
But the independent California Budget […]
Four Hawaii Phantom Districts Receive $45,639,408 Million in Stimulus Funds for 3.4 Jobs (
Hawaii received $2,284,000 million of federal stimulus funds for the 11the Congressional district, $40,903,941 million for the 15th Congressional district, $1,651,811 for the “00” Congressional district, and $799,656 in the 99th congressional district creating a combined “3.4” jobs or $13,423,355 per job, according to the federal government’s transparency web site for stimulus funds, http://www.Recovery.gov/.However, Hawaii […]
Government Waste:Improper government payments hit 98 billion dollars
Improper payments by the U.S. government to people, firms and contractors rose sharply to $98 billion in fiscal 2009 and President Barack Obama plans new rules to clamp down, the White House said Tuesday.
Over half the mistakes were made in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and although some of the deterioration reflected stricter measurement, it […]
Obama Tour Asia with 71 Car Motorcade (Who cares about carbon footprint)
71: The number of cars in President Barack Obama’s motorcade as he travels from the Beijing airport (including Chinese greeting vehicles). (via CNN’s Ed Henry )
After a flurry of stimulus spending, questionable projects pile up
The $787 billion stimulus bill was passed in February and was promised as a job saver and economy booster. Here is where some of the money went:
- $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.
- $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for […]
Congeressional Budget Office: Public option premiums higher than private plans
The public insurance option would typically charge higher premiums than private plans available in the exchange, according to the Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House bill.
That surprising conclusion raises doubts about Democratic promises that a government-run insurance plan would provide a lower-cost alternative to consumers. At the same time, it calls into question Republican charges […]
What Causes $1.2 Trillion Of Healthcare Waste?
We all know there’s plenty of waste in American health care, but does $1.2 trillion — more than half of annual spending — really go down the drain? Looks that way.
A new report from consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers identifies how the $1.2 trillion in annual waste breaks down. CNNMoney.com identifies six areas totaling nearly $500 billion that […]
PAYOFF: Stimulus Spending Goes Overwhelmingly to Areas that Supported Obama
Billions of dollars in federal aid delivered directly to the local level to help revive the economy have gone overwhelmingly to places that supported President Obama in last year’s presidential election.
That aid — about $17 billion — is the first piece of the administration’s massive stimulus package that can be tracked locally. Much of it […]
ABC News: $18M Being Spent to Redesign Recovery.gov Web Site (May God help us all)
ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: For those concerned about stimulus spending, the General Services Administration sends word tonight that $18 million in additional funds are being spent to redesign the Recovery.gov Web site.The new Web site promises to give taxpayers more information about where their money is going than the current version of the site.
“Recovery.gov […]