So just how much left over cash does the treasury have just lying around ?

[SteelChip]

First we go through the Bank bailouts, then GM gets some cash and a big chunk of the company turned over to the unions, the solar and wind cartels got buckets full of taxpayer cash and then Puerto Rico goes belly up with both hands out begging for mo money.

All this is just a precursor for any number of cities and even States that can't meet their financial obligations in the coming years. I guess that since it's been done before, it's now past practice to bail out whomever falls into troubled times.

Enter the next candidate for your hard earned, confiscated mullah..........

The Left’s Not-So-Secret Agenda for Bailing Out Union Pensions
http://click.heritage.org/HM0030K0rpBYDTP1erH004s

The administration and congressional Democrats are teaming up to force a taxpayer bailout of private unions’ underfunded and over-promised pension benefits.

On May 6, the Treasury Department rejected a plan by the Central State Teamsters trucking union to reduce some of its pension benefits to prevent the plan from going belly up within a decade. And on May 25, Senate Democrats sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calling for Congress to “protect” the United Mine Workers of America’s health and pension benefits by passing the Miners Protection Act (S.1714), and to “address” troubled union plans like Central State’s.

“Protect” and “address” are code for bailout.

These proposals would bail out select, and politically influential, private-sector union pension plans. Half a billion a year for the United Mine Workers of America or even a couple billion a year for Central State may not seem all that significant, but it would open the bailout floodgates to more than $600 billion in unfunded pension promises across private union plans.

Lawmakers and taxpayers should not be fooled by the fact that those taxpayer dollars would first funnel through the abandoned mine land reclamation fund in hopes of erasing the appearance of a taxpayer bailout.

Unions—not Congress or taxpayers—made promises that they cannot keep and the unions—not taxpayers—must be held accountable for those promises.

 

[JMM]

I'd almost guarantee at some point they will be raiding the retirement funds of those who saved and planned their entire adult lives for retirement and give it to those who did not plan for retirement. They need to be able to retire with dignity too and those who saved for themselves need to stop being so greedy will be the call...

 

[SteelChip]

I'd almost guarantee at some point they will be raiding the retirement funds of those who saved and planned their entire adult lives for retirement and give it to those who did not plan for retirement. They need to be able to retire with dignity too and those who saved for themselves need to stop being so greedy will be the call...

 

[SteelChip]

OK jinz don't care about bailout dollars, how 'bout welfare dollars. ?

The Right Way to Fight Poverty (and Why Paul Ryan’s Plan Misses the Mark)

Reforming the massive welfare system, which includes 80 programs at a cost of $1 trillion annually, must be a top policy priority for conservatives in Congress. The 1996 reform and policy lessons since show how to overcome dependence and promote greater self-sufficiency.

While the anti-poverty plan released by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., lauds the two-decade old reform, it fails to apply its lessons today. A serious conservative strategy for real welfare reform must:

Require work of able-bodied adults
Correctly measure incomes, welfare, and poverty
Reduce marriage penalties in welfare
Increase work incentives in the earned income tax credit
Eliminate fraud
Restrict excessive and wasteful benefits
Prevent illegal immigrants from accessing welfare
Convert certain current spending to pay-for-outcome
Move toward real federalism in welfare

But Ryan’s white paper does only one of these things (work requirements), and it does that only part way. While the emphasis on work requirements is to be commended, much more is needed.

The Ryan plan argues that states should have more “flexibility” in spending. The federal government pays nearly 90 percent of the costs of cash, food, and housing programs. Federalism does not mean collecting hundreds of billions in taxes at the federal level and dumping the money on state bureaucracies to spend as they will.

I guess that federal spending is my priority and I will stump speak it 'till the cows come home. I'm prayin' Trump will jump aboard too.

 

[SteelChip]

How 'bout just dollars.

Feds spend nearly $20,000 to settle every refugee

Federal taxpayers are on the hook for nearly $20,000 just to settle each refugee and asylum seeker, who are then immediately eligible for cash welfare, food stamps, housing and medical aid, according to a new report on the "refugee industry."

The report provided federal budget figures showing that the government spends $19,884 on each refugee the U.S. takes in.

And that number is set to jump if President Obama gets his way and brings in an additional 10,000 Syrian refugees in this year.

It focused on the industry created to accept the $1.8 billion in federal support to help refugees settle and sign up for further cash awards from Uncle Sam. The refugee agencies get a small portion, or about $1,875 per refugee they help. The rest goes to the United Nations, which helps to determine eligible refugees, and state agencies.

The State Department spends about $1.28 billion, and Health and Human Services another $609 million.

We keep adding money we don't have to the debt and a whole lot of it is avoidable and just wasted.

 

[Troglodyte]

I'd almost guarantee at some point they will be raiding the retirement funds of those who saved and planned their entire adult lives for retirement and give it to those who did not plan for retirement.

Yep. I think it will come in the form of means-based social security.

I have a sister-in-law, husband, four kids, season Pens ticket holder, annual week long vacations to Disney, new cars every four years, etc. Not a ******* dime in retirement savings.

 

[SteelChip]

I'd almost guarantee at some point they will be raiding the retirement funds of those who saved and planned their entire adult lives for retirement and give it to those who did not plan for retirement. They need to be able to retire with dignity too and those who saved for themselves need to stop being so greedy will be the call...

That started to become an active plan for the Obama administration back in '09.

This didn’t just happen over night. The move to make this reality has been going on for quite some time. The first time it was mentioned publicly in any official capacity was at a 2010 Congressional hearing:

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee heard from hand-picked witnesses advocating the infamous “Guaranteed Retirement Account” (GRA) authored by Theresa Guilarducci.

In a nutshell, under the GRA system government would seize private 401(k) accounts, setting up an additional 5% mandatory payroll tax to dole out a “fair” pension to everyone using that confiscated money coupled with the mandated contributions. This would, of course, be a sister government ponzi scheme working in tandem with Social Security, the primary purpose being to give big government politicians additional taxpayer funds to raid to pay for their out-of-control spending.

You’d think that such an idea would be immediately dismissed by the American public, but it has only gained steam since, as evidenced by a 2012 hearing held at the U.S. Labor Department:

The hearing, held in the Labor Department’s main auditorium, was monitored by NSC staff and featured a line up of left-wing activists including one representative of the AFL-CIO who advocated for more government regulation over private retirement accounts and even the establishment of government-sponsored annuities that would take the place of 401k plans.

“This hearing was set up to explore why Americans are not saving as much for their retirement as they could,” explains National Seniors Council National Director Robert Crone, “However, it is clear that this is the first step towards a government takeover. It feels just like the beginning of the debate over health care and we all know how that ended up.”

A few years ago the government of the United States of America nationalized nearly 1/6th of our economy when they took over the health care system with forced mandates. In the process they essentially took control of $1.6 trillion in yearly industry revenues.

But that’s nothing compared to private savings. The total amount of retirement assets in America, including 401k, IRA and savings accounts is around $21 trillion. With our national debt coincidentally approaching the same, the government sees big money and potentially a way out of our country’s fiscal disaster.

All they need now is a trigger.

And that trigger will likely come in the form of another stock market collapse.

 

[Coach]

I have heard some corporations such as Apple have more cash on hand than the USA government.

Politics becomes worse with each passing decade. There's too much foreign money pumped into some candidates. This should be illegal. Letting foreign nations buy our politicians. Bad idea. Hilary Clinton welcomes it.

USA laws need to allow our corporations to bring in money overseas to the USA at a lower tax rate, this will encourage them to invest more in the USA and create more jobs here.

 

[SteelChip]

On to the next wasteful event.....remember the..what was it, $5B we were holding of Iran's that we gave back in the nuclear deal ? Evidently that wasn't enough for Obama. We needed to give them some taxpayer money too.

U.S. Taxpayers Are Funding Iran's Military Expansion
http://www.bloomberg.com/view/artic...xpayers-are-funding-iran-s-military-expansion

One of the unexpected results of President Barack Obama's new opening to Iran is that U.S. taxpayers are now funding both sides of the Middle East's arms race. The U.S. is deliberately subsidizing defense spending for allies like Egypt and Israel. Now the U.S. is inadvertently paying for some of Iran's military expenditures as well.

It all starts with $1.7 billion the U.S. Treasury transferred to Iran's Central Bank in January, during a delicate prisoner swap and the implementation of last summer's nuclear deal to resolve a long-standing dispute about Iran's arms purchases before the revolution of 1979. ( more like a ransom payment because it coincided with the release of five Americans detained in Iran.)

For months it was unclear what Iran's government would do with this money. But last month the mystery was solved when Iran's Guardian Council approved the government's 2017 budget that instructed Iran's Central Bank to transfer the $1.7 billion to the military.

According to a letter from the State Department to Representative Mike Pompeo, a Republican who has called for an investigation into the January payment, that money came out of something known as the Judgment Fund, which is "a source of funding to pay judgments and claims against the United States when there is no other source of funding."

 

[SteelChip]

Onward..today is back to bailouts. Will it ever end? Doesn't seem likely.

Senators Seek to Stop $2.5 Billion Taxpayer-Funded Obamacare Bailout
http://freebeacon.us4.list-manage2....1bb9bfafcbd472bee2&id=07b1d2a9b9&e=1b60289474

A delegation of leading senators are seeking to stop the Obama administration from providing some health insurers with a $2.5 billion taxpayer-funded bailout under a provision in the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. The senators are seeking to get language in the fiscal year 2017 budget that would ensure that the risk corridor program remains budget neutral amid attempts by the Obama administration to use some $2.5 billion in taxpayer funds to bailout insurers.

GOP leaders have been battling the risk corridor program for the past two years, since the provision sparked anger among opponents of the Affordable Care Act.

I'll take odds on them stopping anything expensive, it's not in their DNA to save taxpayer money. They couldn't raise taxes if they didn't spend all the money and then some.

 

[SteelChip]

Just once I would like to see one of these headlines say...It passed.

Senators Ready Bill to Stop DOJ From Bankrolling Liberal Groups
http://click.heritage.org/x0M0000I3Xr1erH0zsPpYTK

“As an example, in one occasion the Department of Justice directed $30 million from a banking settlement to go toward left-leaning nonprofit groups,” Lankford’s office wrote in a press release, “like the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and Neighbor Works America.”

“When the Department of Justice agrees to settlements on behalf of the U.S. government that includes financial penalties,” Lankford said, “it is not their job to force penalty money to be paid in the form of donations to third parties of their choice.” In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, banks found guilty for their role in inflating the mortgage bubble paid millions in penalties. In some cases the Justice Department would allow donations to third parties to be counted twice toward their fine.

While collecting billions, the Justice Department is able to collect a fee of up to a 3 percent to pay for processing debt litigation. A majority staff report commissioned by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., revealed that the Justice Department had collected $575.7 million in fees from JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Citigroup.

“The Department of Justice is supposed to work for all Americans, not just whichever special interests are favored by whoever is currently in this White House,” Lee said in the release.

Here's what we can expect from this proposed legislation.........

Goodlatte introduced a similar measure as an amendment to last year’s omnibus spending package. It was stripped out of the bill when it advanced to the Senate.

As a stand-alone piece of legislation, though, it’s unclear whether Lankford’s bill could reach the 60 votes necessary to achieve what’s known in the Senate as cloture and advance for a vote.

So we fine the big banks for corrupt practices, the fines are collected by the DOJ, who then collect their share to spend on finding more culprits, then they use those fines to promote liberal groups, while allowing the banks a discount rate if they do it.

What a Country.

 

[SteelChip]

This is so minuscule that I almost hate to report it but it's Sunday and we all need a little amusement on the way to church.

Funding Climate Change Alarmist Video Game: $5.2 million

As polls show climate change is dead last on the Americans’ list of priorities, the NSF felt the need to help “spur climate change activism.” They paid Columbia University to develop a video game entitled “Future Coast,” where rising seas cause mass chaos and weather calamities of epic proportions. The story is set to a bunch of voicemails from the future describing the anarchy.

“One caller claims “neo-luddites” are out to kill anyone with scientific knowledge, 496 and another paints a cryptic image of a zombie apocalypse saying that ‘when you see them, you will know what to do.’”

While I tried to find the idiot that sponsored this lunacy, all I could find was this.

The White House and other advocates have touted games and interactive media as a way to enhance understanding of climate change.

“The pioneering techniques proposed for this project will advance science education of [global climate change],” according to an abstract of the grant proposal. “It also will deliver new research for instructional technologists and serious game developers regarding effective interface and usability design of intermedia narrative gaming-simulations for education.”

The game is not without detractors though...

Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) is taking issue with the federal grant for a low-budget video game aimed at teaching climate change science to high schoolers.

Paul, highlighted the 2013 National Science Foundation grant as part of his ongoing “Waste Report,” in which he draws attention to government spending that he finds unnecessary.

“Here’s a prediction: the real science behind this game is psychology and political science,” Paul’s office wrote.

 

[SteelChip]

Monday morning and all over the news is the attack in Orlando. This has to play right into Trumps hands about the unchecked Muslim immigration problem...but no, Barry gotta get his gun control message out there before anything else.

Well, I'm talkin' money here so lets look at the money involved in Muslim immigration.

Obama Administration Surge Agenda Threatening U.S. With 100 Syrian Refugees Per Day
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2016...-threatening-u-s-100-syrian-refugees-per-day/

More than 1,000 were admitted in May. The rate of those admitted has sky-rocketed when compared to the 3,755 accepted in fiscal year 2016.

The “vetting” process, already questioned by leaders in the country, has been fast-tracked from 18-24 months to just three months. The “refugee mill” can now go through thousands of applications every month.

As reported by Breitbart News, admitting 10,000 refugees into the United States “presents a net lifetime cost to taxpayers of $6.5 billion, meaning that under the current plan to admit 85,000 refugees this fiscal year, taxpayers will be on the hook for $55 billion,” he said.

This just in..........

Donald Trump Calls On Obama To Resign Over Orlando Shooting

“In his remarks today, President Obama disgracefully refused to even say the words ‘Radical Islam’. For that reason alone, he should step down. If Hillary Clinton, after this attack, still cannot say the two words ‘Radical Islam’ she should get out of this race for the Presidency,” Trump said in a statement released by his campaign.

Trump’s campaign said he would be delivering a “major speech” in New Hampshire on Monday that would address “this terrorist attack, immigration, and national security.“

 

[SteelChip]

Lost money

Today, let us look at our military industrial complex a minute and especially our involvement in Afghanistan.

For some background information, Afghani’s have an average income of about $600 a year and their total economy is about $20b / yr.

Enter the US military in a quest to find and kill Osama Bin Laden. The US moved in spending $100b / yr, 5 times the Afghan GDP. Our military spent billions on base construction, supply convoys, local guards, local reconstruction projects, roads, dams, schools, etc..etc.

Subsidies for Afghan gov’t to pay for army, police, judges and even toilet paper ran close to a billion a year. So much money that the police jobs were said to be offered by local politicians for a $10k bribe, police chief jobs were $25/30k and commissioner went for $50k and up. Where that money came from….you’ll see (if ya already haven’t guessed)

Meanwhile billions of this reconstruction money was siphoned off to bank accounts in Dubai and Lebanon. “Why bother to rebuild properly, when you leave, we’ll just have to destroy it anyway.”

So the Afghani’s can continue to keep living on $2/day or get on the gravy train. If they have to pay bribes to do it, they will and a lot of it sneaks back into the Taliban’s hands. For instance, the contractors we hired bribed the Taliban not to attack them, so we end up paying for both sides of the war.

While we are on the subject of contractors, for better or worse, the military decided to ‘farm’ out a significant amount of work to civilians, the idea being that there would be more soldiers available to fight.

Those contractors came in two basic categories. Ex-military were hired to do the bomb dog training and stuff but at a cost. Some of those jobs were $150k/yr, 3x what they made to do the same job while in the military and no MCOJ, no brig ( most offenses were hand slaps) no uniforms and a lot better hours. In other words, expensive.!

The other contractors were hired from the Philippines, Malaysia and even Africa. They were the cooks, waiters, barbers and anything else that needed cleaned or hauled away. These jobs didn’t pay near as well but the living conditions were better. You could call this, the basic old school colonial occupation concept, “browns taking care of whites killing browns”. Sad but true even in the 21st century.

To make matters safer for the troops but more expensive, the US deployed thousands of drones to fight their enemies. Good concept but to find the enemy the military had to rely heavily on tactical intel supplied by bribing insurgents. This led to a lot of low and mid-level strikes to settle scores with one another…and we let them.

All along the CIA was sending cases of hundreds and 20’s every month that got handed out to friendly locals in turn for receipts that were nothing but smudged fingerprints…audits were impossible. I won't delve into the drug trade issues, let us just say it was a cluster and be done with-it.

Looking back we have to ask ourselves if our military could do a better job of handling the cost of war or does it really matter? Do we have a true cost in the end, or is it like financing anything, the initial number is only the beginning.

The new CRS report says the war in Iraq ended up costing $814.6 billion. Afghanistan has cost $685.6 billion.

Nation building is expensive! Some people would point to the roads and bridges we could have built or repaired right here in America with all that money and we wouldn’t even have to watch someone destroy them later…or would we? Was what we accomplished over there worth the cost or can we even put a cost on the war with the radical Jihadist ?

Let's ask our dear leader, I'll bet he knows.......

 

[SteelChip]

The latest news is not really news at all, at least for those of us that are getting used to the direction we are being pulled by the Obama regime.

The Price of Resettling Refugees in America
http://linkis.com/politicallyshort.com/eI1nE

The sovereignty of America is quietly being eroded as details have emerged surrounding the Obama administrations proposed budget for 2017 in regards to the resettlement of refugees and illegal aliens in our cities and towns. In early February of 2016 the Obama administration unveiled their plans under the innocuous sounding budget proposal for fiscal year 2017 (FY 2017) titled the Administration For Children and Families Refugee and Entrant Assistance program.

The Refugee and Entrant Assistance account, according to the proposal, helps refugees, asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, Survivors of torture, Special Immigrant Visa holders, and trafficking victims to become integrated and successful members of American society. The requested budget by the President for fiscal year 2017, which begins October 1, 2016, is $2,184,860,000. According to the White House over $2 billion in funds are needed in order to “support a total of 213,000 ‘humanitarian arrivals’ in Fiscal Year 2017, including 100,000 refugees, consistent with the administrations commitment to admit at least this number of refugees in 2017.”

Moreover, the account is also responsible for coordinating and implementing the care and placement of illegal aliens, which the administration refers to as “Unaccompanied Alien Children” (UC) who are apprehended by immigration authorities while their immigration cases are pending and referred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The FY 2017 request also includes $1,226,000,000 in base funding for the UC program, which is an increase of $278,000,000 from FY 2016 enacted level (of $948,000,000) and the same total resource level.

Anticipating that there will be more refugees and more “unaccompanied children” flowing across our southern border later this year, the Obama administration budget request creates a contingency fund that would trigger additional funding of another $400,000,000. In Obama speak, this basically means that this “contingency fund” will be drained.

Also, nine non-governmental organizations ( 350 subcontractors in 190 cities ) have been awarded over $4 billion in awards and grants since 2008 and represent an enormous threat to the sovereignty of our nation as they lobby congress to push for more refugees and in turn more money.

This is astounding given that the administration is now calling for a quarter of a million people to be admitted in 2017 while asking for over $2 billion in funds and if you think a Republican controlled congress would never dare to allocate such funds for this invasion, think again.

The sheer amount of money being allocated by congress to fund what is essentially an invasion of the third-world in the form of refugees and illegal aliens is outright treasonous in my opinion. For example, there is no way that congress has been aloof as funding for illegal immigrant children or “unaccompanied children” over the past five years alone has jumped from $267,211,000 in 2012 to $948,000,000 in 2016. Moreover, congress is also allowing this administration to ignore the national security implications of allowing hundreds of thousands of refugees, particularly from Syria, to flood our country even as the FBI has stated that they have no way of properly vetting the 2,500 Syrian refugees that we’ve already accepted.

 

[Spike]

Bernie is a leech


Taxpayers are still paying for Bernie Sanders' Secret Service detail

Even though Hillary Clinton is the party's presumptive nominee, Bernie Sanders has not suspended his campaign, and the Vermont senator's Secret Service protection continues to cost taxpayers.

Protecting a presidential candidate can cost taxpayers more than $38,000 a day, according to a report published Sunday in The Washington Post.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/taxpayers-are-still-paying-for-bernie-sanders-secret-service-detail/

 

[SteelChip]

I hate to 'pile on to ' this attack so frequently but the targets are so visible and vulnerable. "Waste not-want not" has evidently not bypassed the Clinton Cartel.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, as a New York State Senator now comes under this fancy "congressional retirement staffing plan" which means that if she never gets re-elected she STILL receives her Congressional salary until she dies

If Bill out-lives her, he then inherits HER salary until he dies. He is already getting his Presidential salary ($20,000 a month) until he dies.

If Hillary out-lives Bill, she also gets HIS salary until she dies,

Guess who pays for that? ...never mind.

Clinton's 20 Acre - $11 million mansion is common knowledge.
For her to establish NY residency, they purchased this mansion in upscale Chappaqua, New York....makes sense.
They are entitled to Secret Service protection for life. Still makes sense.
Here is where it becomes interesting. Their mortgage payments are around $10,000/month. But an extra residence had to be built by the government on the acreage to house the Secret Service Agents.

Any improvement to the property is owned by the property owners the Clinton's.

So....the Clinton's charge the federal government $10,000 monthly rent for the use of the extra residence to house the Secret Service staff which is just about equal to their mortgage payment.

He is the ONLY ex-president to use this loophole, thus earning the name 'Slick Willie'.

This means that we, the taxpayers, pay the Clinton's salary, their mortgage, transportation, safety and security as well as the salaries for their 12 man staff and it is all perfectly legal.

AND DON’T FORGET HIS GOVERNOR’S PENSION AND HER SECRETARY OF STATE PENSION…..

 

[SteelChip]

Today's spending is but a pittance in the grand scheme of things but the danger level is sky high.

Non-military federal agencies spend $1.48 billion on guns and ammo since 2006
http://freebeacon.us4.list-manage.c...1bb9bfafcbd472bee2&id=8adbf3ab7f&e=1b60289474

There are now more non-military government employees who carry guns than there are U.S. Marines, according to a new report.

Open the Books, a taxpayer watchdog group, released a study Wednesday that finds domestic government agencies continue to grow their stockpiles of military-style weapons, as Democrats sat on the House floor calling for more restrictions on what guns American citizens can buy.

The “Militarization of America” report found civilian agencies spent $1.48 billion on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment between 2006 and 2014. Examples include IRS agents with AR-15s, and EPA bureaucrats wearing camouflage. The IRS spent nearly $11 million on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment for its 2,316 special agents. The tax collecting agency has billed taxpayers for pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns, semi-automatic Smith & Wesson M&P15s, and Heckler & Koch H&K 416 rifles, which can be loaded with 30-round magazines.

The EPA spent $3.1 million on guns, ammo, and equipment, including drones, night vision, “camouflage and other deceptive equipment,” and body armor. When asked about the spending, and EPA spokesman said the report “cherry picks information and falsely misrepresents the work of two administrations whose job is to protect public health.”

The report also highlighted that the Department of Health and Human Services has “special agents” with “sophisticated military-style weapons.” Open the Books also found $42 million in gun and ammunition purchases that were incorrectly coded.

Open the Books said. “One could argue the federal government itself has become a gun show that never adjourns with dozens of agencies continually shopping for new firearms.”

Indeed and while the Bureaucrats are arming themselves to the teeth, our military sends messages out to their commanders to make sure "‘Commanders and soldiers will balance lactation support and readiness.’.

No, there is no feminizing of our military going on Just because a female is running West Point, a gay guy is Sec. of the Army and the military's breast feeding support is part of readiness....... look squirrel !

All the while we arm our bureaucrats to the teeth, we remain on a mission to weaken our military, disarm our populous and take God from the equation all together.

( Uniformed airmen grabbed and removed Oscar Rodriguez Jr. as he invoked God in a speech at a retirement ceremony at Travis Air Force Base
http://click.heritage.org/HM0030K0rpGY8TP1esH00Ds).

.

I wonder why ?

 

[SteelChip]

The idiotic waste never stops in Washington. I wonder if even Trump can put a lid on this lunacy.

State Dept. to Spend $1.25m on Cartoon Series for Pakistan
http://truthrevolt.us7.list-manage....5483b30d67632292ac&id=d24acaf194&e=69be2ee732

The State Department is spending more than $1 million of taxpayer dollars on a cartoon that promotes “living a healthy, drug-free lifestyle” and “women’s empowerment” for kids in Pakistan.

The division of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) issued a grant for a two-season TV show that would “promote security and stability” in Pakistan.

“The series will incorporate social messaging that reinforces INL goals, such as counter narcotics, gender equality, the role of police in civil society, a fair criminal justice system, anti-corruption, religious tolerance, and other topics that promote security and stability in civil society,” the agency said.

One has to wonder if the sponsors of these bills would be as adamant about their validity if the money was coming out of their own pockets.

 

[SteelChip]

It's been awhile since you have been reminded but Gov't waste can't be totally ignored or it will fester into an even bigger problem.

Report: Cutting $2.6 Trillion of Waste in Government Would Balance Budget in One Year

The report, titled “Prime Cuts 2016,” outlines 618 recommendations to cut wasteful government spending that would not only balance the budget within one year but would save taxpayers $644.1 billion in the first year and $2.6 trillion over five years. The group finds wasteful spending in nearly every agency of the federal government including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Labor Department, the Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Justice Department, and the Department of Commerce.

At the Department of Health and Human Services, if Congress were to reduce improper Medicare payments by 50 percent in five years, the department could save taxpayers $4.3 billion in just one year.

“Medicare is plagued with the highest reported amount of improper payments of any federal program,” the report states. “Because of its chronic vulnerability to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, the [Government Accountability Office] has for 20 years designated the Medicare program as ‘high risk.’”

At the Department of Transportation, if Congress were to eliminate federal subsidies for Amtrak, taxpayers could save $1.4 billion in one year and $7.1 billion in five years. Amtrak has been in business for 45 years and has cost taxpayers more than $40 billion.

At the Environmental Protection Agency, if Congress were to eliminate the ENERGY STAR program, which is a labeling program to identify energy-efficient products, it could save taxpayers $52 million in just one year. According to the Government Accountability Office, an audit found that 20 phony products were submitted for certification, and of those, 15 were cleared.

“Other recommendations include privatizing the fiscally endangered United States Postal Service (USPS), which lost $5.1 billion last year; eliminating the Market Access Program, which would save $1 billion over five years; eliminating sugar, dairy, and peanut subsidies, which would save a combined $12 billion over five years; replacing the $1 bill with a $1 coin, which would save $730 million over five years; preventing the Federal Communications Commission from increasing regulations on the Internet; and, increasing the use of software asset management,” according to a press release from Citizens Against Government Waste.

Every year this report and others like it detail easy ways to cut waste fraud and abuse and every year our Gov't continues to not only ignore the problem, but in many ways compound it.

The one solution that stands out the most for me was " replacing the $1 bill with a $1 coin, which would save $730 million over five years. How simple could that be to implement yet we don't ever hear anything about it...amazing.

http://www.cagw.org/reporting/2016-prime-cuts

 

[Stryker]

I don't understand how minting coins is cheaper than printing paper. Eliminate the penny.

 

[SteelChip]

I don't understand how minting coins is cheaper than printing paper. Eliminate the penny.

Coins have a longer lifespan, bills constantly get taken out of circulation and burned as new bills are printed.

Denomination Estimated Lifespan*
$1 ................5.8 years

The approximate life span of a coin is 25 years.


I agree that the penny should have been eliminated years ago.

The US Mint says;

Are there any plans to remove the one-cent coin (more popularly known as "the "penny) from circulation?

We occasionally hear from people who believe that the Mint should stop producing one-cent coins and remove them from circulation. You may be interested to know that the penny is the most widely used denomination currently in circulation. There was a study conducted in 1976 of this and other suggestions regarding our coinage system. However, the idea of eliminating the penny received strong objections from an overwhelming majority of State revenue collection departments, retail firms, and commercial banks. Other objections voiced in later studies concerned the inflationary impact of such a proposal on prices and possible difficulties on collecting sales taxes.

http://www.usmint.gov/circulating_coins/#anchor6

So there you have it, can't be havin' difficulties collecting taxes now can we ?