More Outrages in Government Waste

Jacqueline Leo

Mon, Dec 7, 2015, 3:30 PM

How would you feel if half the tax dollars you paid the federal government each year were thrown away? That's essentially what happens when approximately $750 billion (or more) is spent every year on waste, fraud and abuse. The number includes taxes that aren't collected--and should be--to September spending sprees by federal agencies that are desperate to spend their full budgets before the end of their fiscal year.

Just imagine what the country could do with just half of that money every year:

Slide Show: 25 NEW Outrageous Examples of Government Waste

State of the art infrastructure and facilities
Excellent education and pre-K
Top health care
Innovative technology
All leading to economic growth

Overspending on poorly negotiated federal contracts is also part of the problem, since the federal workforce largely depends on private contractors. One of the most egregious examples is the Defense Department, which has never been audited. The military is good at fighting wars, but it sucks at managing money.

The DOD's convolulted bookkeeping system is their excuse. (Haven't they heard of Quick Books?) As a result, the Pentagon hasn't accounted for more than $8.5 trillion taxpayer dollars doled out by Congress since 1996. Yet they still want more money added to their nearly $600 billion budget.

Anyway, you get the picture. Waste not, want not.

The following chart is from 2013. The government hasn't done much--if anything--to reduce these numbers.

Click here to see slide show: 25 New Outrageous Examples of Government Waste

Agency	Project	Amount	Time Spent
Department of Agriculture	Smuttynose brewery - 3 brew tanks	750,970	1 Year
Department of Agriculture	Improper payments to farm producers	16,000,000	1 Year
Department of Agriculture	Improper loans	208,000,000	1 Year
Department of Agriculture	Alabama Watermelon Queen Tour	25,000	1 Year
Department of Defense	Soccer Field in Guantanamo	750,000	1 Year
Department of Education	Student Aid Scams	1,400,000,000	1 Year
Department of Energy	Initiative for Proliferation Prevention (A Cold War Program)	15,000,000	1 Year
Department Of Justice	Conferences	58,000,000	1 Year
Department of Labor	Dropouts from Underperforming Job Programs	118,000,000	1 Year
Department of Labor	Overpayments	148,000,000	1 Year
Department of Labor	Consumer Fraud	14,000,000,000	1 Year
Department of Transportation	Contract Mismanagement	157,000,000	1 Year
Economic Dev. Agency	Fake Cyber Threat Purge	3,000,000	1 Year
FAA	Oklahoma Empty Airport	450,000	1 Year
Federal Grant	Book Vending Machine	35,000	1 Year
Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services	Star Wars Event	365	1 Year
General Accounting Office	Overlapping Programs	95,000,000,000	1 Year
General Accounting Office	Bank Fees for Empty Accounts	890,000	1 Year
Health and Human Services	Medicare Fraud and Abuse	115,300,000,000	1 Year
Health and Human Services	Medicare Drug Cost Alignment	3,140,000,000	1 Year
House of Representatives	Snacks	30,000	3 Months
Housing and Urban Dev.	Pet Toothpaste & Shampoo	505,000	1 Year
Inspector General Handbook	Multiple, Across Agencies	67,000,000,000	1 Year
Internal Revenue Service	Employee Fraud	250,000	1 Year
Internal Revenue Service	Employee Fraud	30,000	1 Year
Internal Revenue Service	Blackberry/AirCard	4,800,000	5 Years
Internal Revenue Service	Refund Errors	829,000,000	1 Year
Internal Revenue Service	Meetings	50,000,000	1 Year
Internal Revenue Service	Video Production	60,000	1 Year
Internal Revenue Service	Agency Retreat	4,000,000	1 Year
Internal Revenue Service	Bonuses	70,000,000	1 Year
Internal Revenue Service	Improper Software Contract	500,000,000	1 Year
Internal Revenue Service	Annual Tax Gap (~ $500 billion) $3 collected for every $1 in additional enforcement	300,000,000,000	1 Year
Internal Revenue Service	Improper Use of Credit Cards	2,500	1 Year
National Science Foundation	Robo Squirrel	325,000	1 Year
National Endowment for the Arts	Circus Classes	20,000	1 Year
Pentagon	Rebuilding Iraq	60,000,000,000	10 Years
Pentagon	Abrams Tanks	436,000,000	1 Year
Pentagon	64,000sqft Building that the Military Knew would not be occupied	34,000,000	Unknown
Pentagon	Roll-up beef jerky development	639,884	1 Year
Pentagon/Afghanistan	Afghanistan tax bill	1,000,000,000	1 Year
Pentagon/Afghanistan	USAID Power Project	53,000,000	Unknown
Pentagon/Afghanistan	Training Police and Security - Considered Ineffective	50,000,000	Ongoing
Pentagon/Afghanistan	Construction used as chicken coop	26,000,000	Unknown
Pentagon/Afghanistan	Contract money ending up in Taliban hands	360,000,000	Ongoing
Pentagon/Afghanistan	USAID	100,000,000,000	Ongoing
Pentagon/Afghanistan	Equipment Left Behind	7,000,000,000	1 Year
State Department	Facebook "Likes"	630,000	2 Years
Tom Coburn Waste Book	Minus the 12 Items Above	18,855,248,781	1 Year
U.S. Forest Service	Smokey the Bear Balloons	49,447	1 Year
U.S. Park Police	Missing hundreds of Military-style weapons	?	?
USAID	Moroccan Pottery Classes	27,000,000	1 Year
Vice President Biden	One Night in Paris	585,000	1 Night
TOTAL: 788,595,076,947

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