Posted on 03/06/2002 2:20:12 PM PST by Willie Green
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:50:01 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
WASHINGTON -- The assistant secretary of the Army, former Mississippi Rep. Mike Parker, was fired Wednesday after he criticized the Bush administration's proposed spending cuts for Army Corps of Engineers' water projects, members of Congress said.
The Defense Department issued a brief statement saying Parker had resigned.
"The department appreciates Mr. Parker's contributions and wishes him the best in his future endeavors," it said. The statement made no mention of the reason for Parker's departure.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Can you tell me when this type of stuff started, underlings acting like THEIR position is more important that the rest of the government? The "jobs" cut were probably all PORK anyway.
This sounds like something Mary Frances Berry would make.
Ain't no boats that can haul 1500 tons of coal down a highway either.
He certainly does sound like he thinks he's still a pompous congresscritter.
Nevertheless, I am concerned about the depth of the cuts. For all its warts and blemishes, the Corps of Engineers HAS produced many worthwhile and beneficial projects over the years.
The department appreciates Mr. Parker's contributions and wishes him the best in his future endeavors,"
Good luck porker, er Parker, and don't let the door knob hit your clymer on the way out.
Take out about 100,000 of these do nothing clymers and GW has a good start on balancing the budget! Anyone doubt that there are at least 100,000 porkers like this one who could be fired today and never missed!
Wrong. The government has termination for convenience clauses in its contracts. The contractor is paid for the work he did. The remainder of the money goes back into the coffers.
Then they will be contracted for the work again and get paid again. And of course all the studies that were done on the project will have to be done over too. This is called stuffing the pockets of government contractors and California is famous for it. Insiders get these contracts, you know, the ones who make the biggest donations to candidates and parties.
Wrong. The Corps of Engineers' typical construction contracts are awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. Sometimes they're bid at lump sum, sometimes on unit rates.
Nice try....
Depends on the cancellation. If it's "for the convenience of the government," there's usually some very hefty cancellation fees. If it's for contractor default, the government usually gets very aggressive in recovering monies already paid out.
Some 41 states are served by over 25,000 miles of navigable rivers and canals of which 12,000 miles are operated and maintained by the federal government as commercial waterways. Commercial carriers pay a special user tax of 20 cents per gallon on fuel consumed while operating on these waters. These taxes are deposited in a trust fund in the U.S. Treasury to help finance future improvements.
Locks and dams are constructed on most waterways to overcome the natural fall of the river from its headwaters to its mouth. The "slack water" pools formed by these structures help ensure more dependable channel conditions. Like much of the nations infrastructure, the 235 locks operating on the waterways are aging and are becoming outmoded. The average age of all the locks now exceeds 50 years.
Water transportation is the most efficient, less expensive, and most environmentally safe means of shipping large volumes of bulk-type commodities or heavy products long distances.
Compare Cargo Capacity:
One Barge
1, 500 Ton
52, 500 Bu
453, 600 Gal1 Rail Car
100 Ton
3, 500 Bu
6, 804, 000 Gal100 Car Train Unit
10, 000 Ton
350, 000 Bu
3, 024, 000 GalLarge Semi
26 Ton
910 Bu
7, 865 GalSource: Iowa Department of Transportation
Energy Efficiency:
(Number of miles one ton can be carried per gallon of fuel)
Source: U.S. DOT Maritime Admin.
or Environmental Quality:
(pounds of emission per ton-mile)
Mode
Hydrocarbons Carbon Monoxide Nitrous Oxide 0. 0009 0. 0020 0. 0053 0. 0046 0. 0064 0. 0183 0. 0063 0. 0190 0. 1017 Source: C. Jake Haulk Ph.D. - Inland Waterways as Vital National Infrastructure: Refuting "Corporate Welfare" Attacks
and Safety:
(per billion ton-miles)
Mode
Deaths Injuries 0.01 0.09 1.15 21.77 0.84 N/A Source: Haulk
Commerce and Jobs
Over 600 million tons of commerce are shipped on waterways each year. Water transportation accounts for more than 95 percent of all international trade, both exports and imports.Principal Commodities Shipped on Waterways
16% Other 28% Coal 7% Chemicals 24% Petrol 11% Aggregates 14% Food and Agriculture Cheaper water transportation:
- Helps attract new industries to a waterway region;
- Fosters plant expansion by increasing productivity of existing industries;
- Greatly expands markets for a region's resources and products, especially those of low values;
- New water related recreation and tourism activities as well as increased demands for services caused by induced industrial development generate more small business opportunities; and
- About 800,000 workers in parts of 24 states are employed by industries that are dependent on inland waterways.
Waterways are one of the few investments the federal government makes that return more benefits to the public for a period of more than 50 years. For every dollar spent, the U.S.Treasury receives about six dollars in revenue.
Other Waterway Benefits:
- Provides more protection against loss of life and property damages from floods;
- Enhances water quality by providing greater capacity to assimilate treated effluents; and
- Increases capacity and dependability of municipal and industrial water supplies.
Spoken like the democrat he really is. "Yeah, if the goobermint doesn't do it, the people will suffer. Everything should be done by the goobermint."
LOL... Willie's too busy posting who go laid off threads.... but then working for the corps may give him time to do just that.
So doing some quick math, $190M / 4500 headcount = average salary of $42k. But we know if benefits are factored in (say: $10,000 / per) the average salary of these "Projects" = $32k.
Hardly. I'm sure the mean average for engineering salaries is more like $50K +. But the bottomline here is that EVEN at the $42k figure, there's no money for anything other thean salaries on these "projects". Wheres the funding for capital equipment, supplies, construction, etc.
And that's the deal; the taxpayer gets NOTHING other than 4,500 gov't voters (er, servants) on the dole for their money.
Parket even admits it in his numbers.
Nope.
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