"I think they're way too independent. They just shouldn't have this power," Paul, a longtime Fed critic, said in an interview with Reuters. "Up until recently it has been modest but now it's totally out of control."
We NEED to know what Ohaha did with the trillions of stim and TARP.
A stimulus to fraud; How the feds' gravy train was robbed (giveaway rife w/ fraud and abuse)
By STEPHEN B. MEISTER, NY POST
Vast giveaway: Obama, Reid and Pelosi worked to pass bills that invited millions of dollars in fraud and abuse. On top of everything else, it turns out the stimulus was an invitation to tax fraud: J. Russell George, the Treasury's inspector general for tax administration, just reported that he'd identified more than 125,000 individuals who got $111.4 million in undeserved tax-credit refunds, thanks to the 2009 Recovery Act. George shows that the burden of processing these vast giveaways overwhelmed even the IRS's 100,000 employees and contractors, operating on a budget exceeding $12 billion this year.
We already knew that the stimulus failed to produce the miracles that President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had promised -- the unemployment numbers alone are proof of that. Much of the cash went to the states, to roll back welfare reform and to allow states to avoid cutting their spending. Now George's audit of the IRS's handling of the 16 new or increased "refundable" tax credits has exposed yet another mess:
* 10,581 people got $65.6 million in Homebuyer Credits they didn't qualify for. * 109,665 individuals got $29.7 million in Making Work Pay and Government Retiree credits they didn't qualify for. * 5,345 people wrongly received $15.6 million in Plug-in Vehicle credits. * 171 got $453,220 in erroneous Nonbusiness Energy Property credits. * 2,933 received more than $95.8 million in excessive Qualified Motor Vehicle Tax deductions.
Democrats rushed the massive "stimulus" package through Congress within a month of Obama's taking office. More than one in every three dollars of "stimulus" -- $252 billion worth -- took the form of "refundable tax credits" (many to "taxpayers" who paid no taxes). --SNIP--
SOURCE http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/stimulus_to_fraud_fllIY9KNNm8EG35CtoNMcI
more conniving below
$162 million in stimulus funds not disclosed (USA TODAY ANALYSIS) By James J. Lee, Military Times, 10/5/10
WASHINGTON — Recovery.gov promised transparency on how the government spends every dollar of stimulus money, but there's $162 million the website doesn't disclose. Recipients of 352 federal stimulus contracts, grants and loans have failed to report how they spent the money, the status of their projects or how many jobs were funded, according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Despite orders from the White House to crack down, enforcement is spotty.
The reports are important because they provide the most detailed disclosures of government spending, and are the keystone of government transparency efforts. Last Friday, the beginning of a new fiscal year, OMB expanded the use of recipient reporting, requiring it for the first time on non-stimulus spending. OMB controller Danny Werfel said those 352 are less than 1% of the more than 88,000 stimulus projects required to report — a big improvement over a year ago, when reporting started and about 8% of recipients didn't file. But as compliance goes up, repeat offenders stand out.
As of the last report, 32 recipients have missed two consecutive quarterly reports —and eight have missed three. They account for $7.4 million in awards. "Once you get to a second instance, you're sensing more of a pattern," Werfel said. "It's no longer a miscue or disconnect." In May, then-OMB director Peter Orszag instructed agencies to take action against repeat offenders within 20 days. That action could include investigations for fraud and suspensions from all future federal contracts. It's unclear whether that's happening. Werfel would not release OMB enforcement reports.
But a USA TODAY review of debarment actions — companies excluded from receiving federal contracts — found only one non-reporting recipient suspended. That company, International Trading CCT LLC of Livonia, Mich., wasn't suspended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which gave it $442,096 in stimulus money to rent equipment in Huron-Manistee National Forests in Michigan.
It was the Defense Logistics Agency that suspended the company, accusing it of delivering substandard construction materials for Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan and then forging documents to cover it up. The company owes the Defense Department $305,256, according to an agency memo. The company's phone is disconnected.
A USA TODAY analysis of missing reports shows the Department of Agriculture has the biggest problem: 100 recipients receiving $103 million have failed to submit reports. Agriculture spokeswoman Stephanie Chan said 98% of recipients have reported. For those who haven't, the department "has worked aggressively on a case-by-case basis to achieve compliance." One recipient, a Fort Morgan, Colo., ranch that received $56,286 for irrigation improvements and has missed three quarterly reporting deadlines, has received little more than form letters.
Ranches Inc. has received three reminder letters from USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Earl Devaney, chairman of the agency that runs Recovery.gov, told Congress last year he supports even harsher penalties for not reporting — something Congress didn't do in the Recovery Act. "Even if criminal penalties are not practical, the fact that some would willfully not file is distressing and must be addressed," he said.
Awards not yet reported: Recipients of more than $162 million in federal stimulus spending haven't reported to the government what they've done with the money. Table at web site.
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ABC NEWS, Nov 18, 2009----Stimulus grants: Why Was The White House Website Riddled With Errors?
Officials tell ABC News so far, they found 700 mistaken Congressional districts out of more than 130,000 stimulus grants. On Monday night, ABC reported on errors found on the website set up by the White House to track the number of jobs created or saved by the economic stimulus program. The website was riddled with reports of jobs in places that didn't even exist. That report prompted anger on Capitol Hill, and defensiveness at the White House. On Tuesday night's broadcast, ABC's Chief Congressional Correspondent Jon Karl took another look at the stimulus confusion (link)
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/11/why-was-white-house-website-riddled-with-errors.html
LINK---Jon Karl: White House Vows to Correct Stimulus Reports Officials Tell ABC News So Far, They Found 700 Mistaken Congressional Districts Out of More Than 130,000 Stimulus Grants
ABC NEWS' JONATHAN KARL, Chief Congressional Correspondent, REPORTS, Nov. 17, 2009
When it comes to stimulus spending, could the wheels of government bureaucracy be grinding too quickly for once? Responding to more inaccuracies discovered in the reporting of spending and job creation from the administration's economic stimulus plan, the top White House official charged with overseeing the program vowed today to go through the reports with a fine-toothed comb and to correct the mistakes.
The promise came after ABC News found that Recovery.gov, the government Web site created to track the expenditures, had many job creation and stimulus spending figures that were attributed to congressional districts that do not exist, or that were incorrectly identified.
"The first time out, we knew there were going to be problems," said Edward DeSeve, special advisor to the president on the stimulus bill. "We don't think there are a lot of them. There are less than 1 percent in terms of the recent concern about congressional districts of the overall reports. And we've got a good commitment from the recovery board to work with us to fix them."
Officials tell ABC News, so far, they have found 700 mistakenly credited congressional districts out of more than 130,000 stimulus grants. The White House's Web site claims that more than 640,000 jobs have already been saved and created by the " $787 billion stimulus program. The reports used to come up with that number are riddled with errors.
In addition to the jobs in non-existent congressional districts reported Monday by ABC News, in real congressional districts, there are also problems, lots of them.
Moore's Shoes in Campbellsville, Ky., claims nine jobs were created from an $890 grant for nine pairs of work boots for the Army Corps of Engineers. Head Start of Augusta, Ga., claimed 317 jobs with a $790,000 grant, but it was really just a one-time raise to its 317 employees.
Chris Whitley is a fiscal officer for Central Savannah River Area Economic Opportunity Authority, which administers the Head Start program in Augusta. He says it was the administration's stimulus help line that advised them to claim 317 jobs. "It wasn't illegal, immoral or unethical. And they told me to do it, so I did it," said Whitley.
The mistakes have prompted anger on Capitol Hill. Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, was outraged that one sewer project in his district was listed as creating 100 jobs. The real number is five. When asked what he thought when he saw the mistakes in his district, Obey said, "I wanted to strangle somebody."
Obey is demanding the administration fix the mistakes. "Fix the problem, the blessed problem, so that we're getting accurate information. I don't care what people's bureaucratic niceties are, or how hard it is to do it. I mean, they've got to fix the problem, so the American people can understand what the realities are.
SOURCE http://abcnews.go.com/WN/white-house-stimulus-website-riddled-errors/story?id=9110298
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$6.4 Billion Stimulus Goes to Phantom Districts
watchdog.org | November, 2009 | staff
FR Posted August 09, 2010 by bronxville
...Just how big is the stimulus package? Well for one, it has doubled the size of the House of Representatives, according to recovery.gov, which says that funds were distributed to 440 congressional districts that do not exist.
According to data retrieved from recovery.gov, nearly $6.4 billion was used to “create or save” just under 30,000 jobs in these phantom congressional districts–almost $225,000 per job. The web site operates on an $84 million budget and is tasked with monitoring the distribution of the $787 billion stimulus package passed by Congress–which, for the record, counts 435 members–in early 2009...
SOURCE http://watchdog.org/1530/6-4-billion-stimulus-goes-to-phantom-districts/
Here's how Obama "Stimulated" the Economy......by run-away spending
The US Treasury entry must be seen in this context. COS Rahm Emanuel took control of the US Treasury when he crept into our WH.
Behind The Real Size of the Wall Street Bailout (more like $14 trillion)
Mother Jones | Dec. 21, 2009 / FR Posted January 04, 2010 by E. Pluribus Unum
A guide to the abbreviations, acronyms, and obscure programs that make up the $14 trillion federal bailout of Wall Street.
The price tag for the Wall Street bailout is often put at $700 billion—the size of the Troubled Assets Relief Program. But TARP is just the best known program in an array of more than 30 overseen by Treasury Department and Federal Reserve that have paid out or put aside money to bail out financial firms and inject money into the markets. To get a sense of the size of the real $14 trillion bailout, see our chart here. Below, a guide to the pieces of the puzzle:
Treasury Department bailout programs (controlled by Rahm Emanuel)
Money Market Mutual Fund: In September 2008, the Treasury announced that it would insure the holdings of publicly offered money market mutual funds. According to the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), these guarantees could have potentially cost the federal government more than $3 trillion [PDF].
Public-Private Investment Fund: This joint Treasury-Federal Reserve program bought toxic assets from banks and brokerages—as much as $5 billion of assets per firm. According to SIGTARP, the government's potential exposure from the PPIF is between $500 million and $1 trillion [PDF].
TARP: As part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Treasury has made loans to or investments more than 750 banks and financial institutions. $650 billion has been paid out (not including HAMP; see below). As of December 21, 2009, $117.5 billion of that has been repaid. Government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) stock purchase: The Treasury has bought $200 million in preferred stock from Fannie Mae and another $200 million from Freddie Mac [PDF] to show that they "will remain viable entities critical to the functioning of the housing and mortgage markets." GSE mortgage-backed securities purchase: Under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the Treasury may buy mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to SIGTARP, these purchases could cost as much as $314 billion [PDF].
--SNIP--- long read
Federal Reserve bailout programs
Commercial Paper Funding Facility: With the support from the Treasury, the Fed established the CPFF in October 2008 to increase the availability of short-term debt (commercial paper) funding. Up to $1.8 trillion [PDF] was earmarked for the program.
Mortgage-backed securities purchase: In 2009, the Fed earmarked up to $1.25 trillion to buy investments based on home loans.
Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility: TALF provides financing to investors who are buying asset-backed securities. In February 2009, the Fed and Treasury announced an expansion of the program to generate up to $1 trillion in new lending.
Foreign Central Bank Currency Liquidity Swaps: The Fed has provided $755 billion [PDF] for currency liquidity swaps with foreign central banks.
--SNIP--- long read
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DID GANGSTER GOVERNMENT SCAM TRILLIONS USING THE MADOFF MO? Ponzi Madoff created a supersecret labyrinth of interrelated international funds, institutions and financial entities of almost unparalleled complexity and breadth......with assets and businesses in multiple places overseas that hid thievery, money launderering and tax evasion. "Professor" Obama surrounded himself with Wall Street shrewdies---like Chief Shrewdie Rahmn Emanuel. Wall Street knows how to make money disappear faster than a cream puff at a Weight Watcher weigh-in. Imagine the wasted trillions...... tick tock, tick tock.....