There seems to be an epidemic of wasteful spending. Apparently these people have no respect for the taxpayers or our veterans. This is just one agency, too, and there are so many who treat our taxes as a slush fund, it disgusts me. http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2015/0...tes-billions-of-dollars-in-illegal-purchases/
It concerns me also the easy attitude the government has towards our tax money. Its hard to see money spent on stuff and thrown out like it was free and the government is standing on top of you with fines and audits that you can not pay but they are throwing money out the window in stupid purchases or sending money to people that hate the United States.
i always say that if our politicians would just put their mind to it, they could slash spending and not cut a single service - just by going after the fraud that seems to be running rampant in the government. I've read several different reports, from different sources, who all agree that about 25% of medicare spending is fraudulent - most of it is where they continue to pay benefits once someone dies. The relatives don't let the SSA know that granny has died, and they continue to collect and cash her checks. It would be such an easy thing to fix - when someone dies, simply require all medical examiners and hospitals to input their information and assimilate that info to government agencies, like social security. Every agency in the federal government has fraud, and a lot of it would be easy to fix. But no one in politics seems to want to address it. Instead, they talk about social security "reform" and they want to change benefits and eligibility requirements. if they would just get rid of the fraud, they could save 25%. It's frustrating. If I, with no formal education, can figure this out, why can't they??
That is what galls me too. Nearly every cent that our government spends is accompanied by an enormous amount of waste. Domestically, when the government is paying for something, the costs are astronomical, and that problem becomes greater according to the level of government. Municipal governments waste money. A larger percentage of state government spending is wasted, and a much larger percentage of federal government spending is wasted. At the federal level, in particular, we spend more money on things that harm our nation than we do on things that might serve a useful purpose. Overseas, we fund our enemies, and even provide them with weapons and training. Then we spend even more money going to war against them. Lately, we never actually win wars anymore; rather, they simply go on and on. After bombing a country, we pay for them to rebuild. We build elaborate military installations overseas, then we pull out for a while, leaving our weaponry and technology behind for our enemies to use against us later. We gift money to nearly every country on the planet, nearly the only exception being Australia, for some reason. We borrow money from China and then give it back to them as economic aid. We invite people who are the least likely to be of use to us here to come and live in the United States, even to the point of paying to fly illegal aliens here from South America, funding them, and giving them preferential treatment when they arrive. Domestically, everything that our government buys is at a greatly inflated costs, and it all comes with useless baggage. When I worked for a small city in Texas, the city had gotten a block grant from the federal government for the purpose of building an ambulance and fire station. What we needed was a pretty simple affair; other than some bunking area in the EMS station, what we needed was basically a large garage. Since it was partially federally funded, a $200,000 study was first required, which pretty much told us that what we needed was a large garage, and that the best place to put it was on property that the city had already bought for that purpose in the center of town. Since these building was going to be very high, in order to accommodate the fire apparatus, I wanted to have a storage and training area above the ambulance portion of the garage, to make better use of the space, since ambulances are not nearly as high as fire trucks. Since it was partially federally funded, the entire station needed to be handicapped accessible despite the fact that handicapped people do not work on ambulances. In order to have a storage area upstairs, we would have to put in an elevator as well as an alternative means of access, which was cost prohibitive. The actual construction had to be done by approved contractors who, due to the very fact that they were on the federal government's approved contractors list, charged far more than any other contracting company would charge. What we ended up with was a building that wasn't worth a quarter of what the government paid for it. For that matter, a large percentage of what federal money is spend on domestically is on projects that are unwanted by the people who are most affected them. Seldom is a community better off after having gained the attention of the federal government. Did you know, by the way, that it is an established fact that several U.S. government agencies have paid for Facebook like and for fake Twitter followers? Did you know that illegal aliens can qualify for Social Security and disability benefits without having to prove that they have actually even worked one day in this country? Yeah, that's a good use of our money. Yet, the political argument are always about whether people should be able to collect on the Social Security benefits (that they have been paying on all their working lives) if the government deems that they don't need the money, or on new and inventive ways to save Social Security, usually by changing the rules that those who have actually been paying into the system are able to collect less of it. We always hear about how Social Security is going to run out of money, yet no one ever talks about running out of money for welfare or any of the other things we spend it on. While I also feel some irritation at those who are abusing the system, the amount of unwarranted money that legitimate U.S, citizens might be collecting in disability, for those who are not actually disabled, or on food stamps or free health care, is such a small percentage of the total amount of money wasted by our city, state and federal governments that it's hard to get too worked up over it.
Yes, yes, and yes. I agree with everything said here, so I'm not going to re-type it, because it's already been said, and eloquently. I'd love to see people who truly care about challenging the existing problem of waste get elected, and enact some real change. I know the chances of that happening are pretty slim. I worked for a while in a city job, for about 12 years as a federal contractor in 2 different positions, and also have worked with those receiving benefits. I've seen how entrenched the attitudes of entitlement are, whether they be welfare-type benefits, or special opportunities given to others, such as student loan forgiveness to certain workers, on top of already good salaries and benefits, while others not working in the public sector struggle to maintain homes and pay their bills. That's not even addressing those at the upper levels who feel free to waste our money, whether through high tech equipment that they're intrigued by, but isn't really needed, or as Ken said, tools, weapons, and other items left behind in foreign countries that will later be used against us. I wish I felt more confident that positive change would come.
Stars and Stripes has a story of a $36 Million building that we built in Afghanistan, knowing in advance that it would never be used - and it hasn't.
I saw a VA doctor quoted earlier about odds of certain women getting cancer, and how it's impossible to afford to test every one of them. Yeah, because they're busy playing with their slush funds at the taxpayers' and veterans' expenses.
We Veterans, enlisted as well as those who were drafted, put our life on the line for our Great Country, and now we see less and less benefits every year. I am a Viet Nam era vet which places me in the "good guys" club. Yet, I am not able to use a Thai hospital in lieu of a VA facility, even though the cost would be a small fraction of the cost of an American Veteran Hospital. For example, I had a kidney procedure in October that cost me about US$3500. I think the cost of the same procedure in the States would be about $25,000. The closest VA hospital to me is in the Philippines which is about a three hour hop, but even there I can not use the facilities! I rarely use foul language, but I am pretty close when I think about this!
I'm sorry to hear that, Richard. It sure seems they could make a policy for those circumstances, especially since it would save some taxpayer funds, but apparently that's never been a huge concern for them. I don't know your circumstances, and you shouldn't have to do it, but have you considered creating a page on one of the contribution sites? I can never remember the names, and there seem to be many, for different purposes, but basically I mean a Kickstarter-type page for health-related costs? I'm sure Ken or someone else here is probably more familiar with them, but, being that the government/country you served is unwilling to help you, I think you have a compelling story that would get some notice, and you not only could get some financial assistance, but if the story is picked up, you could actually help effect change for other veterans.
I know a retired officer i served with in Nam who's lived in Bangkok since 76. ill have to ask him about med care there. that's a great place to live. and if it all goes to hell here, wife and I are long gone