Even though stopping wasteful spending in the U.S. Government will never balance the budget, it would be a great start! Part of the frustration amongst taxpayers is not knowing where all the money is going. Year after year we hear about politicians misusing funds. Misusing taxpayer's hard earned money by either outright stealing or illegally funneling it to self serving interest groups. The endless cases of fraud by our elected officials turn into feelings of hopelessness about the government in general. Another huge part of the distrust also comes when spending breakdowns are released. This is never mainstream news because it shows total incompetence of the government and it's employees with your money. When a government gets as big and complex as the U.S. Government it stops being accountable to the people. There are so many agencies, foundations, bureaus and services funded by the U.S. Government that frugal spending is part of the distant past. In my opinion the wasted money isn't the worst part, the worst part is that no one is ever held accountable for the waste. The first step is awareness, American voters and taxpayers need to see the numbers. Below is a small list of great finance decisions made by the government with your tax dollars.
Taxpayers spend $146 million a year so federal employees can fly 1st class, simply because they refuse to fly coach.
The Securities and Exchange Commission spent $3.9 million rearranging desks and offices at its Washington D.C. headquarters.
Health care fraud is estimated to cast taxpayers $60 billion annually
The Federal Government owns 50,000 vacant homes
More than $13 billion in Iraq aid has been classified as wasted or stolen. Another $7.8 billion cannot be accounted for.
Washington has spent $3 billion re-sanding beaches, even as this new sand washes back into the ocean.
The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were refundable.
Washington spends $60,000 per hour shooting Air Force One photo-ops in front of national landmarks
This is just a fraction of the madness that goes on with our tax dollars, visit the link below for more.
- BDB
Source - (Google Images)
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/10/50-examples-of-government-waste
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