Billions Lost By Feds

New York Post ^ | May 28, 2002 | By John Crudele

[Beau Schott]

May 28, 2002 -- WASHINGTON complains about deceptive corporate accounting. But the government last year misplaced an incredible $17.3 billion because of shoddy bookkeeping, or worse.

Let me put that into numbers so you can fully appreciate the amount. It's $17,300,000,000 - the price of a few dozen urban renewal projects, a nice size fleet of warships or about half the tax cut that everyone made such a fuss about last summer.

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[Black Agnes]

bump

[FormerLurker]

Looks like the boys behind the curtain are getting a little extra greedy these days...

[FormerLurker]

FYI bump

[onedoug]

And dem dems just keep on taxin'.

[TomGuy]

Filler--used to pack the pork in the barrels Congress was sending to their home districts.

[mass55th]

Check the Clinton Library Fund account.

[Liberal Classic]

The difference being when a business is fraudulent, it goes out of business. The same cannot be said for government programs.

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

If there were 110% comprehensive and absolute disclosure by the government to the voters, there would be a revolution here quicker than Ted “The Swimmer” Kennedy could kill off an afternoon Martini.

The American people purr along fat dumb and happy only worried about what’s on TV, who’s screwing who on what soap opera or “who wun da pole”!!!

Actually, sometimes I believe that the average American, the average voter is just to damn stupid to care, let alone understand what is happening at the federal level.

TMMT

[VOA]

Let me put that into numbers so you can fully appreciate the amount. It's $17,300,000,000 -
the price of a few dozen urban renewal projects, a nice size fleet of warships or
about half the tax cut that everyone made such a fuss about last summer.

Among other things...this is something that has really displeased me: that the
Republicans haven't grabbed this issue, admitted they had some part in the mess so far,
and pledged to clean up this sort of slop.
I think I've seen articles about both the Department of Defense and Federal education
apparati and that both just can't quite find missing piles of $$$.

[xrp]

When the hell are we going to get some statesmen back in the government? Politicians just don't cut it...never have, never will.

I'm normally opposed to human cloning, but in this case, I think we should clone Thomas Jefferson so maybe he can bring our country back from the brink.

Either that or someone needs to grow some nerve and switch us from the horribly corrupted and impossible to understand income tax code to something incredibly simple such as a national sales tax. The USA wouldn't need the IRS then. A sales tax collects itself!

[folklore]

You gotta see this.

[Eva]

I have an idea, why don't we place some of those Enron and Arthur Anderson accountants to oversee the gov't agencies and show them where they went wrong in their book keeping methods. I bet that some of those execs would love a chance to point out the gov't criminals.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

$3,400,000,000,000 (Trillion) of Taxpayers' Money Is Missing, 1999 Wash. Times article re. 1998. Accountability is loonnnnggg overdue.

[caisson71]

Too damn much of my money in too many damn hands. What do we expect?

[Thud]

ping

[Senator Pardek]

"Will anyone be sued or go to jail?"

Pardek's Silly Question #127.

[sandydipper]

Government is Waaaaayyyy out of control.

[concerned about politics]

A tax increase is the only way to fix this. Throw more money at it.

Signed,
The DNC.