Posted on 09/24/2011 10:52:23 AM PDT by John Semmens
The revelation that the U.S. Department of Justice has been paying exorbitant prices for food and drink ($16 apiece for muffins and $8 a cup for coffee) at official functions sparked a heated exchange between Congressional critics and Administration officials.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) labeled the outlays “extravagant and wasteful. We’re in a recession. The budget is in a big hole. Families have to scrimp and save. What kind of a message does this sort of ‘lord of the manor’ attitude toward federal spending send?”
Representative Frank Wolf (R-Va), who chairs the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department, also condemned the expenditures as inappropriate. “How can we tolerate splurging on snacks at a time when taxpayers are forced to tighten their belts?”
Presidential Press Secretary Jay Carney called the criticisms “off-base” and “incredibly wrongheaded.” “Economists all agree that the remedy for recession is higher spending,” Carney maintained. “Quibbling over the prices paid is, at best, nonsensical nitpicking. As Keynes pointed out long ago, spending the money is what counts. Whether anything of value in the tradition sense is obtained in exchange is irrelevant.”
“The speed at which money can be pumped into the economy is crucial,” Carney continued. “From this perspective, paying $16 for a muffin is far more effective than laying out the more typical $2 that the average person might pay for such an item. That the government has the wherewithal and the sense to do this is something we should all be thankful for.”
read more...
http://azconserv1.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/president-too-nice-to-his-enemies-congresswoman-says/
Hey, I was just down at our local Fred Meyer store. A dozen muffins for $7. And they looked good! ;-)
Hahaha!!!!
“Sometimes a muffin is just a muffin.” ~ Sigmund Freud :)
Oh my, so close to reality. Thank John for the ping.
If I had to pay 16 bucks for a muffin, that muffin better be dam sure it taste hell of good.
The “something else” is politicians paying back the unions and other supporters.
It's good of you to keep the theme of satire alive in this thread.
I was expecting the part about Bachmann attacking Perry for supporting $16 muffins — for 12 year old little girls.
Why are you so concerned?
That’s what stimulating the economy is all about!
[ Paul’s foreign policy views are toxic and would destroy our nation. ]
I disagree..
The U.S. has no business with military in Turkey, Korea, Japan, Germany and its time to get out of Iraq...
And for God sake get rid of any aid to Americas enemies .. Like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia..
The federal government scope should be reduced by at least 70 %... maybe 80 %...
I agree with about 99.9% of RP.
It's that .1% is a cyaninde tab of isolationism.
Thanks to jug ear jesus, and get along George, the stinky little hitler of iran is gonna have a bomb soon!
Burying our head in the sand is what got US here!
Nobodys perfect... except Romney who has never done anything WroNG...
Hey! Satire you can sink your teeth into! Another good one, John!
Their overspending ideology can only be tolerated with other peoples money.
By-the-way, how long has it been since Dumbo The Flying Marxist gave an actual press conference?
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