You see it happen all the time in small towns or large cities alike. A good example is road projects. Generally there are only a few big companies that can seriously bid on the job. They need to widen a section of road through town. They take the only serious bid pay a few of engineers to figure the cost of the project the big goes in as taking 6 months at he cost of 2 million tax payer dollars. Then every time like clockwork due to "unforeseeable delays and unforeseeable interruptions" the job ends up costing 10 million and two years. Somehow the developer is a few million wealthier in capital assets not tangible money that can be traced, a politician or two have a campaign war chest stocked up for the next run. When are we going to ever get a hold on these issues? To me it’s all about political corruption rotten to the core. And they completely thumb there noses at the system and at the people who actually pay their paycheck. Am I over reacting here?
I completely agree with you. Last years transportation budget had 24 billion of pure pork in it. It's out of hand. And both sides are doing it. Kind of pisses me off. That money could do so much more then it is.
Either that or a few billion missing here and there from the federal budget is chump change. It's trillions they're spending, and that's a lot of money. I'm sure you've heard of the $800 hammer and the $10,000 toilet seat.
The NASA fiasco from the 80's they said they were going to crack down then. We need to either Fine the piss out of these guys when they are caught or have our own version of the French Revolution.
They didn't, they won't, and they never will. It's not their money they're spending. They don't have to pay it back when they borrow either. I think politicians should be thrown in jail for budget deficits, but that won't happen, because no politician would vote that law into effect.
So the answer is with the fourth branch of government. Real, honest, full discloser, of who, what, when, and where the money went. A properly educated public will make a properly educated correct decision most of the time.
It would take a full time cable network running 25 channels just to keep track of the budget. The government is just too big to monitor that effectively. That's where special interest groups and big business come into it. I think big business and government should be worst enemies, but instead they've all crawled into bed with each other. It's rediculous.
That and the other thing is who would be policing the police? In other words I would not trust them to properly investigate and disclose what is truly going on. I would expect them to simply use investigative reporting as a tool to take down those who they disagree with. While at the same time giving the ones they do agree with leeway to do wtf they want or need to hold power. ..... Hold on that’s what they do now. :shock:
What kind of scorpions did Aesop know of? I've heard of bees that lose their stinger and die after attacking, but a scorpion?!?
Boortz.com The scam known as "The Big Dig," that is the burying of Interstate I-93 and part of I-90 underneath Boston, continues to be exposed. In light of the tragic accident involving the falling ceiling tiles that crushed and killed a 38-year-old woman on Monday, the spotlight is on the Big Dig. And what a mess it has been. But this is what you get when you put government in charge of something. Originally budgeted at $2.5 billion in 1985, the current price tag is more than $15 billion...and rising. Where did the money come from? Yup...you guessed it. More than half of it came from you and me...the federal taxpayer. Labor unions, local politicians, crooked public officials and shady contractors all tapped the Big Dig kitty and ripped off the government. What's worse...as we are now finding out...they used shoddy building practices. Everything from inferior concrete to now some 240 bad ceiling bolts holding up concrete ceiling panels that weighed tons...and may not have even been necessary. Some reports are saying they were primarily for aesthetics. Nice. So who's fault is all this? Most of the blame lies squarely on the Democratic politicians that were in office throughout the Big Dig. Teddy Kennedy...John Kerry...etc. Every time there was a cost overrun, they were there to squeeze more money out of the American taxpayer. And now somebody has died. Tragic. The worst part? That woman didn't have to die. Turns out in a 1998 report, the state Office of the Inspector General reported that the system of bolts and glue used were not up to par. The bolts were too short and the epoxy wasn't strong enough. And here's an interesting fact: guess who vetoed the funding for the Big Dig, way back in 1987. Ronald Reagan. But the Democratic Congress overrode his veto.
