unbelievable gov't

J. T. Toad · #1 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 08:30 AM

makes that hammer from long ago seem benign. How does this happen today? Do we really not learn?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...MFI&refer=home

Ron61 · #2 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 08:33 AM

Bill,

How do you think they fund all the Covert operations? They can't appropriate money for something that doesn't officially exist so they pay $800 dollars for a hammer and etc. Heck, that sounds good even if I made it up.

Ron

J. T. Toad · #3 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 08:40 AM

I would respect, not condone but understand, THAT ideal of double booking for covering costs for covert costs... but this is idiocy.... 900K to ship some screws to TX? what the.... hey could I see it happening... sure.. ONCE!!!

Life never ceases to amaze me and then my taxes get raised.

wtm442 · #4 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J. T. Toad

How does this happen today?

Poor accounting practices. Thankfully they caught the thieves. This was an outright crime.

The super expensive hammer and toilet capers were caused by the procurement agency writing a purchase request that contradicted with all generally accepted product features/construction. In other words, the gov't got a super special 1 off item.

4RE KLR · #5 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 08:49 AM

Heck, I'd take a lot of vacations too.

Can you believe this?

427sharpe · #6 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 10:14 AM

I have heard a few times that people justify the $800 toilet seat by believing that it funds covert operations. Sorry, but it is not so. Covert operations both military and civilian are funded by line item disbursements in the budget that carry no description or backround in the process. Basically a lump sum paid to DHS, CIA, FBI or whatever for a specific purpose agreed to in closed committee. These funds are monitored extremely closely and every penny better be accounted for. No diversion requests here! A lot of times the $800 hammer and such are reporting errors caught by the GAO or outright fraud. This sounds like one of those, you guess which. I was surpeised by the low fine....750K??? Of course that is a lot of $ to come up with when the gov't has seized all of your assets for auction recovery! I think the Mrs. will be spending a LOT of time in the Greybar Hotel, hope she likes THAT vacation!

trularin · #7 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 11:28 AM

Isn't this out of some SciFi movie?

4RE KLR · #8 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 12:28 PM

More like out of the movie

"How to Fleece America"

Hey Tru,
Got any $2,758,874.34 1" trees you want to sell. I do realize that would not include priority shipping to Texas. Please feel free to add normal shipping cost of $1,985,354.21 as the standard usual charge. If there is a packaging fee for live timber I also understand that as well. I realize the crate will be an additional $4,378,923.78.

So if we are on the same page you will send us one (1) 1" tree (you select the species) and bill us "urgent" for a total of $9,123,152.33

Please be advised that the US Government is exempt from paying any taxes as we only collect taxes.

trularin · #9 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 01:02 PM

Send me the check first and I will send you two for the price of one at those prices.

4RE KLR · #10 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 05:04 PM

Sorry but the government doesn't work that way

product delivered first. We have to have some kind of control here.

wtm442 · #11 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 05:59 PM

Tru
I'll drag the tree behind my Cobra to Texas for 50% cut

4RE KLR · #12 (**permalink**) 08-17-2007, 06:25 PM

LOL, That is funny Warren

Ron61 · #13 (**permalink**) 08-18-2007, 05:03 AM

Steve,

Get the Govt. to buy them for you and that way they will go get them or have them shipped at 500 times the amount of the tree. Then you will have the only $7 million dollar tree in Texas that is actually worth maybe $200 dollars. And don't forget to deduct all this from your taxes . One tree should take care of a couple of years taxes.

427,

I made the remark about funding covert operations with tounge in cheek and I believe I even said I made it up. It was not meant to be true.

Ron

4RE KLR · #14 (**permalink**) 08-18-2007, 08:45 AM

I'll take two

NOT!

Silverback51 · #15 (**permalink**) 08-18-2007, 09:33 AM

I have worked on a few goverment projects and quite often they do it to themselves.

I will give you a quick example.

I'm an engineer, and work in the tool engineering department for a large aerospace firm. On the B2 program, if we needed 3 bushings of a particular size, we could only order 3 bushings. Well the suppliers only sell them in lots of 100. So we would end up paying the price of 100 bushings for those 3 bushings. And we could not order a spare. We might cheat the goverment after all. So if we lost one, or it collapsed when being installed we would order another one, once again paying the price of 100, for that one bushing.

That is part of the reason for the outragous prices you see on some things. The other was the MIL-SPEC's that controlled them. For the most part those have gone away, so that helps somewhat.

Believe me, as a tax payer it would really frustrate me at times to see the money wasted like I have discribed above.

BMK · #16 (**permalink**) 08-19-2007, 04:40 AM

Send it via Australia and I'll add Goods and Services Taxes - and my share..

Imagine if they did it only once or twice. They would possibly never had been found. Greed, gets them every time..

Wayne Maybury · #17 (**permalink**) 08-20-2007, 09:08 AM

I saw an interesting bit on "60 minutes" last night. I only caught part of it but it looks like the US Coast Guard has purchased some boats and some ships that are 100% worthless. Of course the cost was in the millions.

Someone else maybe able to add some of the details but I believe that a consortium was formed between Northrop and xxx (sorry I can't remember the partner) to oversee this project for the USCG. Guess who the consortium gave the contracts to? You guessed it Northrop and xxx. Each project was riddled with crap and corruption from start to finish.

8 patrol boats were built and delivered but are all sitting tied up to a dock as they are not sea worthy. Someone had the idea to give them to some South American countries to be used to fight the drug trade. However, they are of such poor quality that the Coast Guard doesn't even want to give them away free as they doubt that they are good enough to be used in rivers or lakes. It was even stated that the boats probably aren't capable of even making the trip to South America.

Wayne

will butterwort · #18 (**permalink**) 08-20-2007, 11:37 AM

public officials in alabama are in jail, as is in florida and other states, our former governor is in jail for corruption,scheming and taking bribes. Over the years we have fired many church folks for theft, hate to say it but churches are the sloppiest with money, and I am a church person, many years. Schools can spend badly, I see it everywhere. Right now, bribery, dishonesty is holding back the entire economy of Russia. Will-alabama

Wayne Maybury · #19 (**permalink**) 08-20-2007, 12:44 PM

Will

You forgot that little company............what was their name???.........let's see............seems to me like there was a little bit of creative accounting going on..........oh yes, it's coming to me now.......... ENRON.

Wayne

will butterwort · #20 (**permalink**) 08-20-2007, 02:25 PM

didn,t even go there, never have I seen so much white collar crime, federal gov. officials, new york stock exchange--chrman of the bd., sev. bd. members, health south bilked stock mkt. for millions and jury here in alabama let him off, the money was from new york--some of those jack-pot justice jurors you have heard of we have here, no idea that money was our pension funds, thinking was money was from yankees, so he deserves it.Enron, you mentioned, I use to try to keep up with all that ,but my little computer runs out of space.Boeing has changed ceo,s every year , on and on. Now it is criminal activity, ten pm news is referred to the rape, robbery, murder report.Body counts, ---I worry about us. Will-alabama