Government Waste

[chanel]

TRENTON — Hello? Anybody home?

The state is spending $3.2 million a year on nearly 20,000 unused landlines and mobile phones, according to a comptroller report released Wednesday. That means about one of every six government phone lines isn’t needed.

"Examples of government waste don’t get much clearer than that," Comptroller Matthew Boxer said.

He said after cutting employees, agencies did not disconnect their phone lines.

"In the meantime, the state is paying for it," Boxer said. "After years of this system not being closely monitored, we’ve ended up with thousands of lines that are not being used."

One mobile phone was funded for nearly six years after an employee resigned. That’s one of the thousands of lines agencies have begun disconnecting in response to the audit.

N.J. agencies begin disconnecting unused phones after audit exposing $3.2M waste | NJ.com

This particular issue should not just concern the taxpayers of NJ. Proponents of large government think this is the price of doing business. We need to cut spending; not raise taxes.

The president says there's $500 billion in waste and fraud in Medicare. Have they recovered the money yet?

A billion here; a billion there; and soon you are talking about a lot of money.

I posted a story yesterday about unemployment fraud in our state. Maybe we can keep this thread alive with other examples?

 

[Oddball]

Government Waste

Redundant.

 

[strollingbones]

a lot of state governments are closing unneeded programs.....programs that got funded in the past but are no longer needed...such a simple solution

 

[The Rabbi]

Every gov't program should have a sunset provision after 5 or 10 years and require a 2/3rds majority to re-appropriate.

 

[Mr Natural]

Anyone whos has ever worked on a government contract gets to see the waste right up close.

I was working for a company some time ago that had a $3 million contract to build 300 telemetry receivers for the Air Force. Between the inception of the contract and it's completion, the technology for the receivers became obsolete. Did they cancel the contract at that time? No. We had to design, test, and produce all 300 receivers which were taken to a warehouse where they probably sit to this day some 30 years later.

 

[editec]

It's good that this economic downturn if forcing government to review its operational inefficiencies.

It's a terrible way to get this sort of house cleaning done, but still...

 

[The Rabbi]

It's good that this economic downturn if forcing government to review its operational inefficiencies.

It's a terrible way to get this sort of house cleaning done, but still...

So you mean you see the truth of Ronald Reagan's approach, which was in fact to starve government so it had to become more efficient, right? So no more complaining about how cuts to govt programs will mean children going hungry and schools being shuttered.

 

[chanel]

What Congress Bought Itself With Your $1 Billion

July 21) -- Congress requires a lot of stuff to keep itself running. Like coffee. And plane tickets. And student loan payments.

That's the point underscored (and underscored again) by figures collated by the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit that uses technology to try to make government more transparent. In early June the organization released its latest massive data dump on the expenditures that House representatives make from their Members Representational Allowances, or MRAs. Separate from campaign accounts, which have to be filled through fundraising, these sums -- ranging from $1.3 million to $1.9 million in most cases -- come from taxpayers' dollars and are meant to cover a lawmaker's operating, rather than political, expenses. Paying for an attack ad with your MRA is a no-no, for instance.

The Other Congressional Spending: How the House Spent $1 Billion on Itself

I just threw up in my mouth. Spoiled pork can do that to a person.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Anyone whos has ever worked on a government contract gets to see the waste right up close.

I was working for a company some time ago that had a $3 million contract to build 300 telemetry receivers for the Air Force. Between the inception of the contract and it's completion, the technology for the receivers became obsolete. Did they cancel the contract at that time? No. We had to design, test, and produce all 300 receivers which were taken to a warehouse where they probably sit to this day some 30 years later.

Now that is fucking retarded.

 

[Greenbeard]

The president says there's $500 billion in waste and fraud in Medicare. Have they recovered the money yet?

The "waste" in Medicare refers mostly to extra payments to private insurers who handle Medicare Advantage plans. In shopping parts of Medicare out to the private sector in the late '90s, the government started paying roughly 14% more for each MA plan than its equivalent fee for service plan with very little value added (a few cents on the dollar). Those overpayments have been eliminated under the new law.

So you mean you see the truth of Ronald Reagan's approach, which was in fact to starve government so it had to become more efficient, right?

Starve the government with deficit spending? You must just adore Obama.

 

[Jarhead]

Government waste?

Sounds somewhat reduntant.

Its like saying "round ball"

 

[sealybobo]

Anyone whos has ever worked on a government contract gets to see the waste right up close.

I was working for a company some time ago that had a $3 million contract to build 300 telemetry receivers for the Air Force. Between the inception of the contract and it's completion, the technology for the receivers became obsolete. Did they cancel the contract at that time? No. We had to design, test, and produce all 300 receivers which were taken to a warehouse where they probably sit to this day some 30 years later.

Over the weekend, we learned Pruitt has an appetite for fancy pens, and reportedly spent $3,230 last August at a D.C. jewelry store on a dozen silver fountain pens and some personalized journals ― at taxpayer expense.