Posted on 06/10/2011 10:04:37 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
A surprising new government report shows that taxpayers have been footing the bill for retiree benefits not just for federal workers, but for independent freelance contractors who do work for the government as well.
And no one is watching the store to see if your tax dollars are being wasted.
Taxpayers for years have been covering private contractors' retiree costs for things like pensions and health care, even though these workers are not on the federal payroll.
Taxpayers also cover these retiree costs for contractors' spouses, too, and in some cases if contractors want to retire early (at age 50), just like regular federal workers, many can then get taxpayer-funded coverage, says an official at the Government Accountability office.
For the Department of Energy alone, overall this coverage cost taxpayers $6.8 billion over the last 10 years, according to the new GAO report recently sent to Congress. Nine out of ten dollars spent on the DOE's annual budget goes towards contracts, including contractor retiree benefits.
The problem is, the GAO tells FOX Business it only knows about this problem at the DOE -- no one in government knows, or is tracking with regular, transparent reports to Congress, the tax money going out the door for these costs at other agencies, like the Pentagon, Homeland Security, the National Institutes of Health, or NASA.
The lion's share of the DOE’s workforce is private contractors, most of whom work in the nuclear energy sector. DOE has the largest private contractor workforce in the federal government.
“We can't speak for other contractors, but what we found at DOE is that these numbers were not transparent to Congress and recommended they be more transparent,” the GAO tells FOX Business.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
The private sector is being gang raped by government.
These must be awful “special” contractors. I worked eleven years as a contractor for the Air Force and got nothing like that. Oh yeah, they paid my company X amount of money, which a small part went to a hospitalization plan as long as I worked, and my company matched three percent of my salary to a 401K plan. Otherwise, I didn’t get this kind of deal they suggest.
If some government idiots rigged up a great contract for their buddies....then it ought to be investigated and laid out. The guys who signed for the government...should be let go or never allowed to participate in contracts again.
I have a 401(k) plan, which the company matches at 20%. But this sounds like something quite different.
“The private sector is being gang raped by government.”
Except for the private sector in bed with the government. This practice is most likely related to labor cartels. I smell another labor cartel fleecing of taxpayers.
Government accounting is either absent or deliberately deceptive. The corruption never ends.
It’s hard to believe we’re being driven into the ground by a group that’s so crude. But the nazi’s were surprised they ever gained power.
“What Good Fortune for the State that people do not think!”
Adolph Hitler - 1933
Right, except for hand picked certain contractors, cousins, good friends, family, insiders etc...
Bet the rent, if ya follow the money, these "contractors" no doubt are connected one way or another to someone in government.
squared, considering our population.
We call that the FBI jobs
Friends, Brothers and In Laws
>> These must be awful “special” contractors.
Agreed. Something stinks.
I’m a DoD contractor with a private company. My “retirement” is what I’ve contributed to my 401k. My company did some matching long ago,
but that was discontinued to hold the line on healthcare costs. The
government isn’t contributing squat to my retirement resources.
You bet!
20%, wow, must be gubn’mint related. My mother-in-law got a 100% match, then retired at 55. Her collections in the past three years already outweigh her 5 years of deposits including the taxpayer-funded 100% match.
Most companies match 1-6% in private sector companies in 401K’s.
The lion’s share of the DOE’s workforce is private contractors, most of whom work in the nuclear energy sector.
Well the choice is either get rid of all nuclear plants. That would save a bunch of money or pay these contractors a bit of money through medical benefits so they don’t go to the private sector where they will make a ton of money. You choice folks!
How do you get that conclusion from the statement you quoted? It says that the *taxpayers* are picking up the tab for the *contractors’ pensions and benefits. There are a lot of private sector workers who wouldn’t mind getting “gang raped” with some benefits and pensions, themselves.
Bet the rent, if ya follow the money, these “contractors” no doubt are connected one way or another to someone in government.
At who's expense?
Profits regardless of consequences, have all but left America dead on the floor.
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
there was nothing like these benefits even mentioned. just standard rates, which were good but nothing compared to the west coast at the time.
then again, i was sub contracting to SAIC. this article could mean the direct contractor, in my case SAIC, and their employee benefits package.
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