More wasteful spending

[GPK]

Color me shocked

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...y.html?hpid=z1

[DaTruth]

Originally Posted by GPK

Color me shocked

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...y.html?hpid=z1

A clown? I didn't know Harry Reid had another job on the side.

The chief of the General Services Administration resigned, two of her top deputies were fired and four managers were placed on leave Monday amid reports of lavish spending at a conference off the Las Vegas Strip that featured a clown, a mind reader and a $31,208 reception

[Danzig]

well, she said ethics was one of her issues-she was right!


'Among the “excessive, wasteful and in some cases impermissable” spending the inspector general documented: $5,600 for three semi-private catered in-room parties and $44 per person daily breakfasts; $75,000 for a “team-building” exercise — the goal was to build a bicycle; $146,000 on catered food and drinks; and $6,325 on commemorative coins in velvet boxes to reward all participants for their work on stimulus projects. The $31,208 “networking” reception featured a $19-per-person artisanal cheese display and $7,000 of sushi. At the conference’s closing-night dinner, employees received “yearbooks” with their pictures, at a cost of $8,130.

The GSA also failed to follow regulations on the use of contractors for the conference, promising, for example, the hotel an additional $41,480 in catering charges in exchange for the hotel lowering its lodging cost to honor the government’s limit on room prices.

The report also found “redundant and wasteful” practices that included hiring outside event planners when the agency already had an event planning staff.'


irony in giving out expensive coins for stimulus projects....and why do they have an event planning staff?

[GenuineRisk]

At least the responsible parties got fired. Now, if the gov't had done the same thing with Halliburton during the Iraq war, that would have saved even more money:

<<WASHINGTON - Halliburton Inc. paid high-priced bills for common items, such as soda, laundry and hotels, in Iraq and Kuwait and then passed the inflated costs along to taxpayers, according to several former Halliburton employees and a Pentagon internal audit.

Democrats in the House of Representatives, who are feuding with House Republicans over whether the spending should be publicly aired at a hearing on Tuesday, released signed statements Monday by five ex-Halliburton employees recounting the lavish spending.

Those former employees contend that the politically connected firm:

-Lodged 100 workers at a five-star hotel in Kuwait for a total of $10,000 a day while the Pentagon wanted them to stay in tents, like soldiers, at $139 a night.

-Abandoned $85,000 trucks because of flat tires and minor problems.

-Paid $100 to have a 15-pound bag of laundry cleaned as part of a million-dollar laundry contract in peaceful Kuwait. The price for cleaning the same amount of laundry in war-torn Iraq was $28.

-Spent $1.50 a can to buy 37,200 cans of soda in Kuwait, about 24 times higher than the contract price.

-Knowingly paid subcontractors twice for the same bill.

Halliburton is already under fire for allegations of overcharging the Pentagon for fuel and soldiers' meals. The latest accusations center on whether Halliburton properly keeps track of its bills from smaller subcontractors, Pentagon auditors said in a month-old report released Monday by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.>>

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0615-05.htm

(Not excusing the GSA idiot, mind you. Just glad that in this case, the responsible party and her minions were booted)

[Clip-Clop]

Originally Posted by Danzig

well, she said ethics was one of her issues-she was right!


'Among the “excessive, wasteful and in some cases impermissable” spending the inspector general documented: $5,600 for three semi-private catered in-room parties and $44 per person daily breakfasts; $75,000 for a “team-building” exercise — the goal was to build a bicycle; $146,000 on catered food and drinks; and $6,325 on commemorative coins in velvet boxes to reward all participants for their work on stimulus projects. The $31,208 “networking” reception featured a $19-per-person artisanal cheese display and $7,000 of sushi. At the conference’s closing-night dinner, employees received “yearbooks” with their pictures, at a cost of $8,130.

The GSA also failed to follow regulations on the use of contractors for the conference, promising, for example, the hotel an additional $41,480 in catering charges in exchange for the hotel lowering its lodging cost to honor the government’s limit on room prices.

The report also found “redundant and wasteful” practices that included hiring outside event planners when the agency already had an event planning staff.'


irony in giving out expensive coins for stimulus projects....and why do they have an event planning staff?

Cheese and sushi?? These people have no taste or class. That is a violation of all things culinary.

[Riot]

Ditto on culinary classlessness, and ditto on the "at least they were found and fired" comment.

Ah, Halliburton ... we're still paying them! They went to Xe, now I don't know what they call the security force now over there?

Republican goal: privatize all government services so someone can make a profit rather than we taxpayers just paying cost for the things we need

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

At least the responsible parties got fired. Now, if the gov't had done the same thing with Halliburton during the Iraq war, that would have saved even more money:

<<WASHINGTON - Halliburton Inc. paid high-priced bills for common items, such as soda, laundry and hotels, in Iraq and Kuwait and then passed the inflated costs along to taxpayers, according to several former Halliburton employees and a Pentagon internal audit.

Democrats in the House of Representatives, who are feuding with House Republicans over whether the spending should be publicly aired at a hearing on Tuesday, released signed statements Monday by five ex-Halliburton employees recounting the lavish spending.

Those former employees contend that the politically connected firm:

-Lodged 100 workers at a five-star hotel in Kuwait for a total of $10,000 a day while the Pentagon wanted them to stay in tents, like soldiers, at $139 a night.

-Abandoned $85,000 trucks because of flat tires and minor problems.

-Paid $100 to have a 15-pound bag of laundry cleaned as part of a million-dollar laundry contract in peaceful Kuwait. The price for cleaning the same amount of laundry in war-torn Iraq was $28.

-Spent $1.50 a can to buy 37,200 cans of soda in Kuwait, about 24 times higher than the contract price.

-Knowingly paid subcontractors twice for the same bill.

Halliburton is already under fire for allegations of overcharging the Pentagon for fuel and soldiers' meals. The latest accusations center on whether Halliburton properly keeps track of its bills from smaller subcontractors, Pentagon auditors said in a month-old report released Monday by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.>>

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0615-05.htm

(Not excusing the GSA idiot, mind you. Just glad that in this case, the responsible party and her minions were booted)

and then there was the story about all the equipment being abandoned in iraq when we left, rather than go thru the trouble of arranging shipping. it's a disgrace. but it's always easier spending other peoples money, right? hell, it's just the taxpayers getting screwed.

Private contractors skyrocketing in Afghanistan under Obama's watch.

http://thinkprogress.org/security/20...rge/?mobile=nc

But lets keep that false left-right paradigm going, Riot. Lets just lie and disregard the facts. If this ass clown is going to falsely take credit for the rise in oil production stateside; then he must swallow the bad news as well.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Coach Pants

Private contractors skyrocketing in Afghanistan under Obama's watch.

Of course they are. Obama greatly expanded our presence in Afghanistan.

The whole military-industrial complex has been out of control for decades. It's why we can never get defense spending cuts. We literally have Congress, congressmen and senators in hearings and on the floor of the House and Senate, arguing in favor of spending massive amounts of money on private sales and construction of equipment, airplanes, etc. the military doesn't want, and which the military is literally fighting against being forced to accept by Congressmen pushing private corporation goals and lucrative contracts.

Originally Posted by Riot

Of course they are. Obama greatly expanded our presence in Afghanistan.

The whole military-industrial complex has been out of control for decades. It's why we can never get defense spending cuts. We literally have Congress, congressmen and senators in hearings and on the floor of the House and Senate, arguing in favor of spending massive amounts of money on private sales and construction of equipment, airplanes, etc. the military doesn't want, and which the military is literally fighting against being forced to accept by Congressmen pushing private corporation goals and lucrative contracts.

You implied it was a republican problem though. You give the democrats and Obama a pass in your post.

Stop being a democratic shill. It's pathetic.

[GPK]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...y.html?hpid=z2