Millions of tax payer dollars stolen on Government credit cards

[AladainAF]

Millions wasted on government cards - Capitol Hill - MSNBC.com

I find this article amazing, especially because of things like this:

An Agriculture Department employee fraudulently wrote 180 convenience checks for more than $642,000 to a live-in boyfriend over a six-year period. The money was used for gambling, car and mortgage payments, dinners and retail purchases that went unnoticed until USDA's inspector general received a tip from a whistle-blower.

Why does anyone trust the government for anything? And some people think the government can run healthcare np? WTF? This is STEALING, there is no two ways about it - no black and white. Just one outcome - STEALING.

How in the FUCK do you NOT NOTICE $642,000 over 6 years (That would be $4,450 a month). I used to carry the pcard for a major corporation, and I had to account for every penny of where that went.

The government is just too fucking big for itself. Its crazy bloated, and needs to be fixed.

U.S. Postal Service workers separately billed more than $14,000 to government credit cards for Internet dating services and a dinner at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Orlando, Fla., for 81 people at a cost of $160 each for steaks and crab. The dinner bill also included more than 200 appetizers and more than $3,000 worth of wine and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold.

wut? Internet dating services ?

The expenses went unnoticed for more than a year even though he was under internal investigation for viewing pornography on a government computer. The postmaster was eventually told to repay the Internet charges but faced no disciplinary action.

Jesus christ. If you did this in any private corporation you'd be fucked. You would be fired that day, on the spot. What in the world is wrong with this picture?!

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who chairs the investigations subcommittee, agreed. "Although internal controls over government credit cards have improved, we still have a long way to go to stop the fraudulent use of these cards," he said.

No shit?

Let me try.

Step 1. Fire every single person that charged this crap.
Step 2. Fire their bosses.

[Banal]

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

[Quineloe]

wut? Internet dating services ?

yeah if you have that kind of money available, you don't need dating service :P

[Kevincheese]

Jesus christ. If you did this in any private corporation you'd be fucked. You would be fired that day, on the spot. What in the world is wrong with this picture?!

Lol not at Enron!

[Cybsled]

It's easy to miss misuse of tax payer dollars, considering we've been ignoring waste by Congress + The President for decades!

[AladainAF]

Originally Posted by Kevincheese

Lol not at Enron!

I'm pretty sure that even at Enron, if an underling was watching porn on the Enron computers, they would be fired.

[Soriak]

Any organization has a lot of waste or semi-legal spending. The higher up you are in the food chain, the less justifying you have to do. Reminds me of that "business lunch" a few investment bankers had at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant in London, for like $60,000. Got them fired though, but less extreme stuff is rarely punished.

[Regime]

Billions of dollars funneled and wasted and this is what is reported.

[vurt]

What we need is more government to keep an eye on these people.

[Millie]

Originally Posted by AladainAF

Jesus christ. If you did this in any private corporation you'd be fucked. You would be fired that day, on the spot. What in the world is wrong with this picture?!

I share your sense of outrage about these transgressions, but your logical leap (that this happens only in the public sector) is pretty unwarranted. Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, AIG, subprime mortgages, infamous hedge fund collapses (LTCM, etc.); the list goes on. History, both old and modern, is rife with tales of similar excesses and embezzlements in private companies. Hell, the recession we're in right now was started because of shady practices in the private sector, and has now put the federal government between a rock and a hard place.

If anything, I guarantee you that corporate embezzlement and fraud are many, many, many times more common in the private sector than they are in the public sector. Does our government's bureaucracy have its problems? Of course. But our government is hardly the monster and/or disaster that ultra right wingers like to claim it is.

[AladainAF]

I agree millie, but at the same time, corporations and those that own them are held accountable.

Who holds the employees of the government accountable, especially since no one appears to be getting fired for this stuff?

The only one - the $620k deal, appears to have anything done by it.

As for Enron, and Worldcom, etc - yes, they are bad deals too but they were all brought to justice -- companies collapsed and those responsible are sitting in jail or dead. Who is going to hold the guy who was busted for watching porn at work and wasting taxpayer dollars?

And to address the above who really is going to hold the government accountable to Iraq? Just remember whos responsible -- Democrats, AND Republicans. Whos really going to hold them responsible? The people? LOL.

I dont think the people care to be honest. I think in 3 weeks no one is going to care or even remember the waste of money on these cards.

[Convo]

There are a lot of stories of people buying things on a gov credit card. It used to happen a whole lot but over the years it's been less of a problem. People buying tv's, tires, furniture etc. They get caught eventually. I have not heard of a single case where the gov employee did not get fired. They all do in the end. This is not just an issue with the average government worker. It's the big dogs not wanting to sit coach so booking a first class seat. You're suppose to do what's in the best interest for the government not yourself. People never follow that rule tho. You actually have to take a course now before you get the Gov credit card. It's like a 30 min course than a test afterwards. Once you pass that they give you an app for the card.

[Mistii]

Waste and fraud like this has always been a huge, endemic problem. The larger the Federal Government's budget is, the more likely there is to be abuse and lack of oversight.

YouTube - SEN DORGAN: THE AMERICAN PEOPLE SHOULD NOT STAND FOR THIS!

In a few years, when news of the immense amount of money wasted in our little overseas adventures finally becomes known on the mainstream media, I am sure Bush, Cheney and others will have a field day denying any and all responsibility.

[Cynno]

"The War" is probably the biggest case of fraud and waste in the history of the United States and people still won't do anything about it. So I seriously doubt they will care much for 600k.

[Lyrical]

Originally Posted by Millie

I share your sense of outrage about these transgressions, but your logical leap (that this happens only in the public sector) is pretty unwarranted. Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, AIG, subprime mortgages, infamous hedge fund collapses (LTCM, etc.); the list goes on. History, both old and modern, is rife with tales of similar excesses and embezzlements in private companies. Hell, the recession we're in right now was started because of shady practices in the private sector, and has now put the federal government between a rock and a hard place.

If anything, I guarantee you that corporate embezzlement and fraud are many, many, many times more common in the private sector than they are in the public sector. Does our government's bureaucracy have its problems? Of course. But our government is hardly the monster and/or disaster that ultra right wingers like to claim it is.

I don't see why you made this as an argument as right wing versus left wing. You brought up two different issues. The first was government waste and the second was Enron, etc. When you look at Enron, the main problem was the off balance sheet accounting that at the time no one knew could be abused so bad. Enron was innovative in their cheating. They were at genius-level for cheating.

I saw the report on TV, and it was stated that alot of the abuses were on credit cards. That is intolerable. This is a very unsophisticated way to cheat. Take out your gov't credit card and use it for personal purchases. I have worked for two Fortune 200 companies and you couldn't get away with that. Auditing would catch you in 30 days, and if you did it TWICE your butt was fired. At times, I would make personal charges on the business card, and then pay it off when the bill came due. I still got in trouble, even though I paid it off. At one corporation I worked for, we had a zero tolerance rule. You couldn't put a cup of coffee on your business card. I used to do a ton of travel, and I'd get an earful about buying coffee (that wasn't attached to overnight travel). My manager would be on me within 30 days of the charge.

I find it hard to believe that the federal goverment doesn't have this level of monitoring on business cards. It is outrageous.