Free Republic

According to Bloomberg.com the U.S. has committed $11.6 trillion to bailouts, stimulus packages, and other government programs that have mostly benefited the rich and politically connected. No one really knows for sure how much of that money has been wasted, lost, or stolen. Imagine what positive things could be done if that money were put in a charitable foundation where two laws apply: 1. the principal can never be touched 2. The foundation must use 5% of its earnings annually on philanthropic activities. Any earnings above the 5% can be used for administrative cost and/or to build the principal. Some...

Recent disclosure that the so-called “cash for clunkers” government program that paid new car buyers up to $4500 each for the trade-in of qualifying vehicles actually cost taxpayers an average of over $24,000 per trade-in due to government “red tape,” prompted a scathing response on the whitehouse.gov web site. “Quibbling over the cost to taxpayers is both untimely and unseemly,” wrote an anonymous White House staffer. “The important objective is to pump money into the economy. It wouldn’t have mattered if we simply threw currency from the windows of a moving car. In this case, the government employees who processed...

The current Mayor Daley behaves as if Chicago was located in Death Valley where every drop of water must be conserved and accounted for. I am not sure if Coleridge‘s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is the incumbent mayor’s favorite poem, but sometimes I think that it ought to be. “Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink…” Under the present, enlightened regime, public buildings are being refitted, at great material expense and union labor costs, with automatic plumbing fixtures that will scrupulously dole out water each time a visitor goes to rinse his or her hands. Toilets...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) said while the Democratic Leadership is concocting a second dose of federal spending to stimulate the economy, it won’t be called a “stimulus package.” “There’s been too much bad publicity for the first stimulus package,” Pelosi said. “People are mocking us because unemployment is now higher than what we said it would be if we didn’t pass the first stimulus package. People say we just made things worse. This is undermining faith in the government.” Pelosi downplayed criticisms that the first stimulus package served mainly to bailout blundering financial institutions, instigate corruption, and promote waste....

Government watchdogs are blasting taxpayer-funded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities that send college professors on free vacations and pay for programs on topics like the "cultural significance of the circus poster" -- just a few items on an eye-popping list of questionable NEH projects.

Michelle and Barack Obama sat one table over from J. Lo and Marc Anthony, and all four of them were rocking in their seats as Sheila E. shook the house — well, really the tent. The latest installment of the White House music series was too big for the East Room, so a high-wattage assortment of Latin musicians sent pulsating, can't-help-but-bob-along rhythms tumbling out of a giant tent on the mansion's South Lawn. As it happens, music of all sorts — rock, jazz, country, classical — has been busting out of the White House all year long. Presidents have long...

Senate Finance Committee members have been notified that the committee's health reform bill was filed today. S. 1796 weighs in at 1,502 pages, according to a Senate Republican leadership source. It's still not up yet on the Finance Committee website or Thomas.gov. We'll post a link as soon as we get one.

The Congressional Pig Book is Citizens Against Government Waste's annual compilation of the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget. The 2009 Pig Book identified 10,160 projects at a cost of $19.6 billion in the 12 Appropriations Acts for fiscal 2009...Search all 10,160 projects by keyword, member, state, party or appropriations bill.

Some critics call the $250 million dollar city project "outrageous" and a bad investment. It's the giant unfinished CTA "superstation" in the Block 37 development across from Daley Plaza. . **SNIP** . When the project was abandoned last year for an indefinite period, an estimated $250 million had been spent on it. Of that, an estimated $100 million came from cost overruns. Another $50 million was for mothball costs.

The Democrats are at it again. Just one day we find out that America's Deficit is at a record $1.4 trillion dollars the President's party is looking at fixing a problem the only way they know how, throw some money at it. With unemployment inching its way toward 10% the democratic party leadership is working on the next porkulus package. This time instead of doing it as one big package they will pass it in pieces without calling it a stimulus package, as to avoid a fight, a stealthy porkulus package.

DETROIT — Scuffles erupted as several thousand Detroit residents jockeyed, pushed and shoved Wednesday to get free money being offered to only 3,500 of the city's recently or soon to be homeless.

S.F. Schools Head Uses District Credit As Own Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, October 4, 2009 As San Francisco schools have cut budgets to the bone, the city's school board president used her district-issued credit card to charge thousands of dollars for personal items and thousands more at city restaurants and cafes, according to a Chronicle analysis of financial records. Board President Kim-Shree Maufas charged $4,300 on the district's Diners Club card for a wide range of personal purchases. They included more than $2,000 for a cultural exchange trip to China, $196 for tickets to the Florida Epcot theme...

Only One Problem: Washington D.C. Doesn’t Have Any Forests!

Employee misconduct investigations, often involving workers accessing pornography from their government computers, grew sixfold last year inside the taxpayer-funded foundation that doles out billions of dollars of scientific research grants, according to budget documents and other records obtained by The Washington Times. The problems at the National Science Foundation (NSF) were so pervasive they swamped the agency's inspector general and forced the internal watchdog to cut back on its primary mission of investigating grant fraud and recovering misspent tax dollars. (snip) For instance, one senior executive spent at least 331 days looking at pornography on his government computer and chatting...

Chicago State University is at risk of losing its accreditation because of "remarkably poor" graduation and retention rates, as well as tumultuous leadership and finances, according to the region's accrediting agency. The university also has a meeting with Higher Learning Commission representatives on Thursday, the day incoming President Wayne Watson is scheduled to begin. Watson was expected to start Aug. 1 but a snafu over his state pension delayed his service two months, creating a void of leadership just after the university learned its accreditation was in jeopardy. Students and faculty have protested Watson's selection as president, and almost the...

The Washington Post reported today that an audit turned up waste in several Green Projects that are run by the Energy Department. While this is unsurprising, this is the same agency that is being tasked with determining where billions of dollars of the Stimulus Bill are going to be spent. Even more troubling is that the initiatives that are being determined as wasteful are the exact types of projects that the funding from the stimulus bill are dedicated towards. As Robert O'Harrow Jr. wrote: "The initiatives are hallmarks of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act approved by Congress...

9/14/2009 Remarks by the President on Financial Rescue and Reform at Federal Hall

Camp David's woodsy confines lure him to 10th visit WASHINGTON - -- Why hasn't President Barack Obama kept his pledge to make Chicago's South Side his "Kennebunkport"? Two words: Camp David. The ultra-private, presidential mountain retreat -- a half-hour from the White House by helicopter -- has quickly found fans within the First Family. Their stay for Labor Day weekend was Obama's 10th visit.... ...With Obama's return Sunday, he has logged all or part of 26 days at Camp David, White House officials say.

The government announced today that unemployment hit 9.7 % a 26-year high. Although the White House will tell us that the rate of job loss is shrinking signaling the start of a economic comeback, that belies an understand of how companies lay people off. Usually the first layoffs are lower level employees, they make less money so companies have to lay off many of them to have a bottom line effect. As more layoffs are needed a company will start to get rid of the bigger salaries or else no one will be left to do the work. So even...

One day after the Herald reported some surprised Bay State inmates - including murderers and rapists - were cashing in $250 stimulus checks, federal officials revealed the same behind-bars bonus was mailed to nearly 4,000 cons nationwide. A federal watchdog is now probing how the cons were cut the checks. The same cash also may have been sent to fugitive felons, people kicked out of the country and even individuals now deceased. It’s all part of the massive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - and what is becoming an accounting nightmare for red-faced feds. “President Obama’s $787 billion...

REMEMBER “peak oil”? It’s the theory that geological scarcity will at some point make it impossible for global petroleum production to avoid falling, heralding the end of the oil age and, potentially, economic catastrophe. Well, just when we thought that the collapse in oil prices since last summer had put an end to such talk, along comes Fatih Birol, the top economist at the International Energy Agency, to insist that we’ll reach the peak moment in 10 years, a decade sooner than most previous predictions (although a few ardent pessimists believe the moment of no return has already come and...

Emil Jones is probably the most famous former sewer worker since the late Art Carney portrayed Ed Norton on “The Honeymooners” television program. According to his peers, Jones is, arguably, half as smart as Ralph Kramden‘s boon companion. Jones reciprocated Watson‘s worshipful toadying. While in public office, Jones served as a reliable conduit for the funding of public colleges and universities serving predominantly black student populations, such as Chicago State University and the City Colleges. Not surprisingly, in recent years, both institutions have been loudly criticized for operating as patronage hiring halls that specialize in wasting tax dollars. During his...

When 10 members of Congress wanted to study climate change, they did more than just dip their toes into the subject,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “They went diving and snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. They also rode a cable car through the Australian rain forest, visited a penguin rookery and flew to the South Pole. “The 11-day trip — with six spouses traveling along as well — took place over New Year’s 2008,” the paper says. Cost: About half-a-million dollars. Some went scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef; Sanchez preferred to snorkel, the Journal said. Global warming?...

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford should be impeached for allegedly not seeking the lowest airfares while conducting state business, a lawmaker says. Republican state Sen. David Thomas has accused Sanford of abusing his position of authority during two trips taken to London and China, charging $13,700 to the state could have been avoided if he had sought the most economical airfares as required by state law, CNN reported Tuesday. Sanford, 49, is already under fire for disappearing for nearly a week in June. The married governor eventually admitted he was visiting a mistress in Argentina. "The two flights by Gov....

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 stand out as issues to be dealt with in the health care reform debate: Too many tests -- $210 billion a year wasted Inefficient claim processing -- $210 billion Using the ER as a clinic -- $14 billion Medical errors -- $17 billion Discharged...

Over the past five years, taxpayers have paid about $8 million to 117 administrators who either returned to the faculty or left the university. In 24 cases, the payouts were for $100,000 or more. A News & Observer review found that these agreements, along with other transitional payments, offered sizable sums of money with few or no strings attached, in at least three cases violated UNC system policies and in some cases rewarded administrators with as much as a year's salary for a job poorly done.

Economists can argue back and forth in the media about the effect of big government programs such as the stimulus package and Obamacare but few things have illustrated government waste as effectively as this disturbing YouTube video in which a well running Volvo engine was destroyed as part of the Cash for Clunkers program. This video is currently going viral on the Web and has sparked outraged comments from many people whom I suspect have previously remained somewhat uninterested in the often elusive topic of economics. However, the wasteful destruction of this car seems to have awakened an economic sense...

The latest tally of stimulus spending can be found here. Go to the link and on the upper right will be a listing: *American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Report* The link will be an excel sheet that can be sorted once saved on your computer. Updated as of 7/31/2009

HOUSE....FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 314.( 239 Dems, 59 Rep vote yes). Click to find your Congressman. Source, House of Representatives.) News article( Seattle Times )story listing Senators and their votes on this pig of a program.

It's been in the headlines everywhere. The Cash for Clunkers program has been wildly successful. So much so that in 4 days the American people blew through a billion dollars. Just like that. Talk about your stimulus. But hey, when we are talking about giving free money to people that can already probably afford a new vehicle, the smoke and mirrors of this "success" seem to drift away and crack rather quickly. Immediately the House seized upon this "crisis" to demonstrate to the American public that they really care and almost immediately approved another 2 billion dollars for the program....

Speaking of the $100 million one Citigroup trader might receive from his company which received $45 billion in taxpayer bailout funds here comes some Orszagulous news: the administration has proposed $100 million in spending cuts. Ninety-eight days ago, at President Obama's first Cabinet meeting on April 20, the president asked his Cabinet to come up with $100 million in spending cuts within 90 days. Today the administration made that list public, with $102 million in cuts that would be realized in FY 2009. "In a memo that Cabinet Secretary Chris Lu and I sent to the President,Office of Management and...

The Science and Public Policy Institute announces the publication of Climate Money, a study by Joanne Nova revealing that the federal Government has a near-monopsony on climate science funding. This distorts the science towards self-serving alarmism. Key findings: Ø The US Government has spent more than $79 billion of taxpayers’ money since 1989 on policies related to climate change, including science and technology research, administration, propaganda campaigns, foreign aid, and tax breaks. Most of this spending was unnecessary. Ø Despite the billions wasted, audits of the science are left to unpaid volunteers. A dedicated but largely uncoordinated grassroots movement of...

See Drudge Headlines:SPENDING SCARED: WHITE HOUSE PUTS OFF RELEASE OF BUDGET UPDATE... RECOVERY.GOV // AWARDED: $2,531,600 FOR 'HAM, WATER ADDED, COOKED, FROZEN, SLICED, 2-LB'... RECOVERY.GOV // AWARDED: $1,191,200 FOR '2 POUND FROZEN HAM SLICED'... RECOVERY.GOV // AWARDED: $351,807 FOR 'REPLACE AND UPGRADE THE DUMBWAITER'... RECOVERY.GOV // AWARDED: $1,562,568 FOR 'MOZZARELLA CHEESE'... RECOVERY.GOV // AWARDED: $5,708,260 FOR 'PROCESS CHEESE'... RECOVERY.GOV // AWARDED: $16,784,272 FOR 'CANNED PORK'... RECOVERY.GOV // AWARDED: $1,444,100 FOR 'REPAIR DOOR BLDG 5112'... RECOVERY.GOV // AWARDED: $541,119 FOR 'INSTALL TRAFFIC SIGNAL'... Agriculture Sec. Vilsack: 'Purchased 760,000 Lbs of ham at cost of approximately $1.50 per pound'... FOOD LION: $.79...

SPENDING SCARED: WHITE HOUSE PUTS OFF RELEASE OF BUDGET RECOVERY.GOV // AWARDED: $2,531,600 FOR 'HAM, WATER ADDED, COOKED, FROZEN, SLICED, 2-LB'... RECOVERY.GOV // AWARDED: $1,191,200 FOR '2 POUND FROZEN HAM SLICED'... RECOVERY.GOV // AWARDED: $351,807 FOR 'REPLACE AND UPGRADE THE DUMBWAITER'... RECOVERY.GOV // AWARDED: $1,562,568 FOR 'MOZZARELLA CHEESE'... RECOVERY.GOV // AWARDED: $5,708,260 FOR 'PROCESS CHEESE'...

Looking to cut costs at a time the mass-transit agency is strapped for cash, CTA President Richard Rodriguez says he'll take away employees' free take-home cars. The agency has been providing 68 employees with "company cars" that they can take home, at no cost to them. » Click to enlarge image CTA cars are parked at agency headquarters at 567 W. Lake in June. Employees will lose free use of them by year's end. CTA President Richard Rodriguez (inset) is among those giving up the free cars. (Richard A. Chapman/Brian Jackso Those who have been getting the perk include 38...

$1.2 million dollars paid to Clougherty Packing, Inc, in Los Angeles for 2 lbs of frozen ham. CA-34 is Lucille Roybal-Allard's district (guess the political party!).

AS IF YOU NEEDED MORE EVIDENCE THAT GOVERNMENT IS TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL, HERE 'TIS! Humor In The Workplace Solicitation Number: RFI-BPD-09-0028 Agency: Department of the Treasury Office: Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) Location: Division of ProcurementPrintLink Copy or Bookmark this Page Copy the url below for a direct link to this page. Bookmark this page by right-clicking here and choosing "Add to Favorites" Notice DetailsPackagesInterested Vendors ListOpportunity History Original Synopsis Jul 09, 2009 11:28 am Solicitation Number: RFI-BPD-09-0028 Notice Type: Sources Sought Synopsis: Added: Jul 09, 2009 11:28 am This is a sources sought notice and not a...

Now that corporate conference travel has fallen off a cliff, federal bureaucrats are stepping into the vacuum, providing customers for a luxury hotel in Phoenix, to help each other feel better. ABC News' Political Blotter reports: Claiming they needed to learn how to reduce stress because of a growing number of death threats being made against them, nearly 700 executives from the Social Security Administration (SSA) gathered for a lavish three-day conference in Phoenix, AZ last week, costing taxpayers about $700,000. "We received threats against our employees by people who are in the American public," said SSA Regional Commissioner for...

PHOENIX -- Members of Congress are giving the Social Security Administration just two days to turn over all records about a $700,000 management conference at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa. The call from Congress comes on the heels of an ABC15 investigation. ORIGINAL STORY: Social Security spends $700,000 on Phoenix conference Our hidden cameras captured hundreds of federal employees dancing in Phoenix on your dime, private dance recitals and paid motivational

Do you think LA should have paid for MJ's funeral? No 85% Yes 15%

Enjoy!

News report of a concerned patriot visiting a "free money" project.According to the new reporter it's supposedly the first stimulus project completed. Produced 45 temporary jobs (from a construction company in Kentucky), did not add any new capabilities to the facility. It just spent your money. The video is right here.

WASHINGTON—In a major step toward developing a state-of-the-art Recovery.gov website, a contract was awarded this week to Smartronix, Inc., a Maryland information technology firm. The company will build the new website for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, an independent agency that manages Recovery.gov and monitors spending under the $787 billion Recovery program. The initial outlay, $9,516,324, covers many facets: redesign and construction of a new website; installation of hardware and software infrastructure; hosting and operations for the website; more robust data storage; an enhanced content-management system; and contract labor support and other features. If the Recovery Board exercises options...

It was just a few months ago when insurance giant AIG sparked outrage after company executives walked away with millions of taxpayer-funded bonuses. Now, the Social Security Administration is treating its 700 managers to three days at the Arizona Biltmore Resort. But the Agency's Pete Spencer says his group is no AIG. "We get a regular appropriation, which includes money for training, and that's what we're using," says Spencer. The conference is being paid for by taxpayer dollars. Critics say the training session is too lavish and should be scaled down. But Spencer says the Arizona Biltmore was actually the...

$18 million USD to track government stimulus spending (recovery.gov) is... A Daily Poll

Well, Recovery.gov (or is it Recvoery.gov?) needs more than nifty diagrams of money that may or may not have already been spent, so the tech-savviest administration ever went looking for a vendor. It succeeded in getting one to redesign the site for a mere $18 million: 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 2.0 will use innovative and interactive technologies to help taxpayers see where their dollars are being spent,” James A. Williams, commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, says in a press...

I got to Staples Center some time after the parade of Ringling Bros. elephants and just before a bikini-clad woman who held aloft a sign that said, "Go Vegetarian for the Man in the Mirror." I suppose it goes without saying that not all memorial services draw the same crowd. Speaking of crowds, this one was way smaller than the city had planned for. There were hundreds of people on the street rather than hundreds of thousands, which means that a few million tax dollars were spent to have police officers stand around with their arms folded.... maybe the only...

America may be in the midst of a deep recession, and the nation may be facing unprecedented deficit spending and debt, but the White House will not reveal the cost to taxpayers of the European vacation that first lady Michelle Obama and the president’s two daughters, Malia and Sasha, took last month. Travel by an American first lady typically includes the military passenger jet that carries her and the children, Secret Service personnel to provide security, and a separate cargo plane to haul official vehicles. First Lady Michelle Obama’s tour of Paris with her children included a convoy of 20...

In San Luis Obispo County, a 20-year-old drug abuser who was the sole caretaker for his seriously disabled father provided such poor care that, according to the grand jury in that county, the father frequently had bedsores, he was not properly cleaned, adult protective services had to be called in and, ultimately, he died before he was 60 years old. Incredibly, the son was being paid by the state, through the In-Home Supportive Services Program, for this substandard care. Though this kind of abuse of taxpayer dollars is not rampant, we know it exists. So how could the Legislature in...

Does anyone believe the federal government is a model of efficiency? Oddly enough, superior government efficiency is a core argument offered by President Barack Obama and others pushing creation of a government-run health plan. Obama claims, “If the private insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it will keep them honest and it will help keep their prices down.” And who would keep government honest? Surely not the designated watchdogs, like the Inspectors-General personally fired by the President for catching a FOO (Friend of Obama) with his hand in the till. But back to the claim that government...