Cleaning up Fraud and Inefficiencies = Better Government.

[Sallow]

Very interesting OpEd:

30 Steps to Better Government
By GENE L. DODARO
Published: February 15, 2011
CALLS for greater government efficiency are nothing new in Washington. But with President Obama and Congress now debating budgets for both the rest of this year and the next, with the economy yet to fully recover from the recent recession and with our government’s finances still on an unsustainable long-term path, the need to wring every dollar out of the federal budget and ensure that taxpayers are getting their money’s worth has never been greater. How, though, do you find these savings?

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Indeed, in 2008, the G.A.O. reported that the Interior Department had not conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the federal oil and gas revenue system in more than 25 years, despite significant changes in the oil and gas industry.

We have also pointed out that royalty collection relied too heavily on company-reported oil and gas production figures. In fiscal years 2006 and 2007 we found that much of the data reported by oil and gas companies appeared erroneous, resulting in millions in uncollected fees. And the proportion of revenues that the government collected for oil and gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a major study, was lower than for 93 of 104 other owners of such resources.

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For example, the Medicare and Medicaid programs need to add better detection and controls to curtail billions of dollars in improper payments.

In fiscal year 2010 alone, Medicare had estimated improper payments of almost $48 billion; this estimate did not include improper payments in its prescription drug benefit program, for which the agency has not yet determined a total amount.

o<snip

Billions more could flow to the Treasury through better enforcement of the tax laws and closing the gap between taxes owed and paid. Typically, about 84 percent of owed taxes are paid voluntarily and on time; in its most recent estimate, for 2001, the I.R.S. said the resulting net gap was $290 billion. Congress and the I.R.S. have taken innovative actions aimed at further improving tax compliance. The I.R.S. last year began putting in place regulations covering paid tax return preparers, an important step given the critical role they play in helping taxpayers meet their tax obligations. Congress also passed laws that require financial institutions to report information on foreign bank accounts, the cost basis of securities and merchants’ credit card receipts.

Greater attention also needs to be paid to how the Pentagon acquires weapon systems. Each year, investments totaling hundreds of billions of dollars too often produce military equipment that is over budget, behind schedule or unable to meet the needs of our troops. The Government Accountability Office has previously reported that the growth in projected costs on the Defense Department’s fiscal year 2008 portfolio of 96 defense acquisition programs was more than $303 billion (adjusted for inflation). In addition, the average delay in delivering initial capability was 22 months.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/opinion/16dodaro.html?pagewanted=2

 

[Avatar4321]

seems kind of obvious to me

 

[Truthmatters]

That is why oversite is so important.

the republican congress we had did vertually no oversite of anything

 

[Truthmatters]

When Congress Checks Out | Foreign Affairs

 

[Sallow]

seems kind of obvious to me

Unfortunately..the work just isn't getting done.

 

[Sallow]

we cant touch medicare, its a social progran and therefore a holy cow we cant slaughter.

This is sort of perplexing.

Eliminating fraud and inefficiencies would insure this program survives.