How We Waste Money

[Gerry Clinchy]

http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=b69a6ebd-7ebe-41b7-bb03-c25a5e194365

This is Tom Coburn's annual "Wastebook" report.

It's long ... it would be laughable if it weren't so sad to know how much good this money would do if used in the right way.

The IRS allowed over $1 billion in energy home improvements to people who didn't deserve to get them ... because they didn't own homes! like prisoners and children.

The Fed govt continues millions in payments to DEAD Fed workers EVERY YEAR! One fellow continued to cash his dead father's checks for ... 37 YEARS! The fraud was only revealed when the son died. None of the $ was recovered.

And, of course, we all want to know how a chimp's communication skills correlate with its feces-throwing behavior, don't we?

[Jason Glavich]

The part about people in jail getting the credits is so crazy. when I bought my house I got the new home buyers credit. It was taking for ever for them to process my claim, months went buy and they would request new info, then again new info, 10 months went buy with me calling every week. Turns out they were requesting all this paperwork because they paid out somewhere around 9,000 claims to people in jail, sometimes even 100 different people for the same house. And let's see 9000x8000=72,000,000 paid because the IRS is that stupid.

[Brent Ray]

The year 2011 will be remembered as a period of unrest as outraged Americans of all political stripes—tea party patriots on the right and Occupy Wall Street activists on the left—took to the streets in anger and disgust with the direction of our nation. As you look at these examples,
regardless of your personal political persuasion, ask yourself: Would you agree with Washington these represent national priorities or would you agree these reflect the wasteful spending habits that threaten to bankrupt the future of the American Dream?
Tom Coburn. US Sen Okla.

I feel like Clark Griswold trying to stick bubblegum in the Hoover Dam.

Amanda

[Gerry Clinchy]

Jason, I wonder how much more money has been "lost" by the complex rules of our Tax Code.

Then there is the multiple payments to non-existent providers in Medicare.

Even worse, how much of this waste and fraud could have actually done some good for some people's health or making bridges safe?

We were told that the banks were too big to fail ... yet govt (even on the state levels) is so big that it is failing every day to be accountable for all the funds pouring into the coffers.