Thursday, April 10, 2008

Our Tax Dollars at Work

Federal Credit Cards Misused - washingtonpost.com: "Federal employees used government credit cards to pay for lingerie, gambling, iPods, Internet dating services, and a $13,000 steak-and-liquor dinner, according to a new audit from the Government Accountability Office, which found widespread abuses in a purchasing program meant to improve bureaucratic efficiency.

The study, released by Senate lawmakers yesterday, found that nearly half the 'purchase card' transactions it examined were improper, either because they were not authorized correctly or because they did not meet requirements for the cards' use. The overall rate of problems 'is unacceptably high,' the audit found."

Update: I recommend this scary slideshow.

7 comments:

Todd Mason said...

Of course, these are government employees under the Bush Admin, who simply take their cues from the political leadership...somehow, even a multi-hundred dollar dinner bill doesn't quite rate in comparison to multi-millions/billions to Halliburton/KBR, absolutely none of which finds it way back to our Veep, of course.

And the companionship...well, civil servants can get just as lonely as a governor or two. I've been told that the prostitutes in DC include some of the best-looking in the world...I refer, of course, to the actual pros, rather than the elected officials, Beltway Bandits and lobbyists, who tend less pretty.

Todd Mason said...

And, dig how the slideshow manages to slip, say, oil company incentives in with "science" (which of course already includes too much Lockheed Martin, etc., graft).

Unknown said...

It's all pretty depressing.

Todd Mason said...

"Enjoyed," btw, isn't quite the right word for my reaction to today's reports of the testimony of rape survivors at KBR facilities in Iraq...and how KBR and the military tried to keep them quiet.

Unknown said...

That's truly depressing.

Doc Quatermass said...

Monday in the therapy pool I was talking to two ex-career GI's who were talking about how they had to bust their balls to spend the monthly budget allotments. I said yeah this has always been the case. If you have money left over then your budget would be slashed. I heard stories about the local welfare department when I was a social worker back in the late '70s early 80s. No wonder the practice is now on steroids with Bush outspending LBJ and refusing to tax his rich buddies.

Canzler Tree Services said...

Thank God this happened under a fiscally-responsible Republican administration! Had it been a bunch of Demo-rats, they probably would've just thrown that money away!