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Rand Paul's Festivus Airing Of Grievances Against Government Waste
U.S. Senator Rand Paul today released a special ‘Festivus: Airing of Grievances for 2015’ edition of ‘The Waste Report,’ which is an ongoing project cataloguing egregious examples of waste within the U.S. government.
The ‘Festivus: Airing of Grievances for 2015’ edition highlights over 30 examples of wasteful spending, misplaced priorities, and bad management in the federal government that have cost the taxpayer more than one billion dollars.
Of the 31 examples amassed from the past year, a few high-points of the ‘The Waste Report’ include:
- an $850,000 foreign made-for-TV cricket league in Afghanistan,
- a $150,000 federal government agency yoga classes,
- a $450,000 climate change video game,
- a $250,000 trip for Pakistani children to attend Space Camp and Dollywood in the U.S., and
- a $104 million subsidization for millionaires to live in public housing.
Full Grievance Report below...
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Wow. One billion! In a trillion + economy yet. what a fool.
Those paying taxes to be wasted by scumbag politicians.......well, there are the fools.
The climate change video game I've heard rumors is more popular than Fallout 4, so maybe that one can come off the list. I'm sure most others are just as justifiable.
/s
OT: For all you young'uns who think everything we argue about on ZH is somehow new. It's not. Not even close. I present you a FIFTY year old cartoon that rings as true today as it did way back when I was a mere pup:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_se8c-wN35M
Yeah, you need more than a 30 second attention span to watch that, but it's worth it if you have a couple minutes to burn.
Rand Paul did a nice job but let's face it: he fell way way WAY short.
The entirety of Medicare and Medicaid must be ELIMINATED. Obamacare: Must be ELIMINATED.
Entire cabinet departments must be ELIMINATED: Commerce, Education, HEW, Veterans Affairs (its a nice idea but 100% total waste and fraud), and maybe half a dozen others.
80% of defense procurement: ELIMINATED.
That isn't all of it, but it's a good start.
oh, yeah: MERRY CHRISTMAS ZH'ERS!
Buckaroo Banzai did a nice job but let's face it: he fell way way WAY short.
The biggest destructor of the economy ... End the Fed.
His "elf on the shelf" and the NSA went over my head because I don't have little kids.
But the elf rats out the kids if they do anything wrong, he spies on them.
awful cute Rand...
Wake me up when somebody publishes a report showing how much of the federal budget is unconstitutional and how much more would not be necessary if we ceased to be unilaterally aggressive in the application of military power. I think we'd be down to about half the DoD, some of Treasury, some of DoJ, half of State, about a quarter of Transportation and a few other odds and ends. Suits me fine.
I agree. I don't think the bread and circus is what really drags the econ down....it's what the bread and circus is being used to distract us from, said unconstitutional aggressive military action, that does.
I wish I lived in Russia.
They skipped modernism.
Russian Police sing Jingle Bells
awful cute
http://sputniknews.com/videoclub/20151225/1032298672/russia-christmas-so...
Beat me to it. Yeah... ELIMINATE the Fed. Period.
Chump change compared to Cost Plus military contracts!
If you hit to close to the mark, you become the mark.
sorry rand, too little too late. During your quest to become accepted by the mindless morons who make up most of the republican base and your pandering to the neocons you have lost your fathers supporters. this nonsense about a billion dollars is a joke right?
How about "Iraq War - 2 trillion AND COUNTING."
But you won't, becuase unlike your father, you are too chicken shit and have no real principles you won't give up for a few illusory points in the polls
Anyone ever hear of Medicaid Cab? It's ObamaCar and it's already here. Basically you're paying foreigners with your tax dollars to drive the low income folks around. There isn't any oversight so people invariably abuse the shit out of it. All one needs to do is Google for some sort of medical facility near their actual destination and call a cab. They never check if the person actually had an appointment. Why would they? Everyone wins in this situation but the taxpayer.
All hail the Empire! The Dark Side has won! Time to build the Death Star!
Welcome to the New Rome! All hail the Imperium! Bread and circuses!
"The Spice must flow!"
Merry Christmas.
Whining and very limited finger pointing.
Show us someone who actually takes some action beyond that.
At least he voted against the Omnibus Spending Bill.... Only he and 17 others. The rest of the RINOs Carry Democrat Water
commie - Those were just some examples Edith. The actual list would be longer than War and Peace.
There is exactly 1 important issue in the US today, that is 9/11. Nothing can be solved until the criminals who did 9/11 FF are out of power. We can't have peace, we can't deal with corruption, we can't end $ in the political system.
We can't select even an adequate presidentical candidate until we fix the 9/11 corruption of power, and hang the treasonous Israeli-Neocon bastards that did it. We can't clean out our deep state until we do all this.
This is the year they begin losing power. I was impressed with the Bollyn presentations and the intelligent and rational and knowledgable discussion from the audience of ordinary people.
A billion wasted? That is peanuts compared to $6000 billion wasted in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention millions of lives wasted and untold maimed and injured. By comparison, the Vietnam war cost only $738 billion in 2011 dollars.
The neocons and their endless wars will bankrupt the US.
US Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq to Cost $6 trillionhttp://www.globalresearch.ca/us-wars-in-afghanistan-iraq-to-cost-6-trill...
The Pentagon pays an average of $400 to put a gallon of fuel into a combat vehicle or aircraft in Afghanistan.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/63407-400gallon-gas-another-cost-of-war-in-afghanistan-
No more fucking wars and no more killing and maiming of innocents. Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas. I vote that you and PavewayIV (I'm missing a couple of others but my booze-addled cortex is not cooperating right now) have both been exceptionally brilliant contributors to the ZH forum this year. THANK YOU for all your effots mate. Hope you're having a great one.
Thanks. There are quite a few who contribute very effectively at Zero Hedge.
Doing my share for a more peaceful, happier, fairer, kinder world with goodwill towards all and malice towards only the warmongers and the enemies of humanity.
Wishing all at ZH the best of the best for 2016. Merry Christmas.
It is the 'look after the pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves' bullshit which is a manifestation of the 'let the dollars flood up so a few pennies will trickle down' bs.
Look after the dollars and the pennies will take care of themselves.
Edit: Just checked - it is Rand Paul not Ron Paul - so the bs is explained.
Last one outta this shit show turn off the lights please. The fork has been placed in the Turkey waiting for carving.....This bird's cooked y'all.
I may be cooked rare but I ain't done yet.
See your back Tyler's,,,, Hope your Christmas was great and thanks for dedicating some of your time today posting some good reads. I wasn't expecting it as EVERYONE deserves to be home on this day.
Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays and a great New Year.
+100
WTF? It's the winter solstice. Science! Astronomy.
Sorry, but this is just a billion. You could cut all of this and the U.S. would drop its annual budget deficit from $600 billion to $599 billion. And with Medicare and Social Security reaching the 'more paid out than collected' stage, this will only get worse. I would love to see this spending crap cut but we have to start snipping at entitlements and we have to switch defense spending from "Hitler-esque Wonder Weapons" to keeping what we have well supplied and operational.
Trump, Cruz, and Rand are the only ones that could cut this stuff.
'Trump, Cruz, and Rand are the only ones that could cut this stuff."
I doubt that very much. One guy as the chief executive has far less input than you think. If they vary too much from the plan they will have a timely accident, heart failure, or media exposure of some dastardly deed.
The only way to slow or stop the juggernaut is to not contribute to the fuel.
Cruz SUCKS
Cruz is an Israel firster.
Isn't Lincoln Steffens the guy who believed that the Soviet Union was the great white hope of the world? "I have been over into the future and it works." That guy is your avatar?
So what's the problem with a huge oppressive government over here? Why would you want to starve it of anything?
I think there are many things to do t ooppose them, 9/11 is the weak spot : plenty of evidence of the highest scientific validation, peer-reviewed papers. The gov doesn't have anything that good.
Israel and Netanyahu are weaknesses.
We have been doing diagnosis, gaining undersanding. Now time to start thinking about all of the ways to resist, to oppose, to harass.
The Lobbyist's distribute a $billion among the parasitic scum politicians who then vote unwittingly, some wittingly , on policies written up by Goldman & Friends netting them $100 billion of tax-payer hard earned.
PUKE
Randy Do your Job... Elite tax code bribery corporate fascist.. Need help you know where to find me... Get the teachers to help you... http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/christmas-2015-why-there-is-no-peace-on-earth/
time for gloves to come off....
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/double-irish-with-a-dutch-sandwich.asp
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/scotus/
http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/wew/articles/95/Constitutional-Corruption.htm
If these are the worst examples of wasteful spending that Paul could find, then our government is incrediby efficient..
Before you excuse it as minimal:
$1,000,000,000 in waste means:
66,666 American taxpayers, that pay $15,000 a year each in taxes, worked every Monday for this waste ($75,000 income at 20% tax). But who cares?
Wow, what a tiny amount.
Paul's staff worked very hard on this list, but worked even harder to AVOID the waste they like.
Whatever money the US govt doesn't waste is used VERY EFFICIENTLY against its own citizens and other people around the globe trying to mind their own business. But hey, anyone up for a nice round of space golf?
Penny-ante stuff. Let's talk about the high-pressure push for airstrikes in Syria. Or about the Joint Strike Fighter. Until you're ready to attack the real boondoggles and monetary black holes, lists like this are just politics-as-usual.
40% of each dollar in Fedearl taxes go to pay the Federal Reserve...until you fix this type of rape of the American tax payer everythign else is just fluff.
A lot of fucking knobs commenting on how a billion dollars is irrelevant? Rand is making a point that a billion is wasted with almost no tangible benefit. I know that you know that Rand would take a hatchet to wasteful spending starting with wasteful military spending. So stop being such fucking knobs. Oh and Merry Christmas.
Lists like these are a massive misdirect. Politicans use attacks on waste for the amounts of "$40,000" or "$7,000" to posture on how great THEY will be at cutting wasteful spending. All the while, these same politicans rubber-stamping programs that blow $10-$20 billion a year in giveaways.
If you vote or or endorse a politican because he complains long and hard about "waste" in a program that only costs $100,000 a year, YOU ARE BEING USED.
A billion dollars is still a massive amount of money. Most people that have not thought about it might not think so considering how modern media and politicians throw the "B" word around. A million is a large number so the magnitude or difference between billion and million is very important.
To put it in perspective think in terms of someone working every year from the age of 20 until they are 60 making $25,000 a year. Their total income over their life would be one million dollars. Below is an article that attempts to bring into focus the massive size of a billion dollars.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/10/an-ugly-math-primer-on-american-d...
I believe the list is supposed to be illustrative rather than inclusive. If every Senator were to apply themselves to finding a billion dollars in waste, we might start making progress.
Way to go, Rand.
PS-- love the space golfing thingy. I wonder who could have put that into the budget?
9/11 is the issue. Everything else is avoiding the issue.
More lame Rand Paul Bullshit about allegedly (mostly by interpretation) leaky faucets while missing thousands of hundred year floods. Yet there is not a mention of the military industrial, intelligence, security, prison complex.
Rand Paul: If it looks like a child, and acts like a child..., it must be a Libertarian Senator. Hmmm, there must be some way to work “Quack” into this.
The short list.
When you get out of the cities, 9/11 is much more discussed. Friend of mine was telling me about her area of the NW, small town. 9/11 is a topic on the radio a lot, she says.
Any politician could sweep everything by taking 9/11 FF as their campaign theme. They wouldn't want to do that and fly afterwards, or ever give another speech in a public place, but sacrifices are necessary.
IN 2015, you are a tool, a fool, or intentionally ignorant. We can fix intentionally ignorant : watch an Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth video.
Most people don't do that because they don't want to choose from the other alternatives, but it would be an absolutely winning campagin theme, MSM could not block you afterwards.
LoL! And nothing anyone says, believes or wants will change.
The financial serpent is poisonous, there is no anti venom. It will eventually have nothing to eat but other venomous snakes.
Then, that will be the end and we will all be spectators of the fall of Babylon II
At least one person is paying attention in an utterly hopeless situation. Batten the hatches mates, weather is going to get rough.
A billion what, fiat chicken bones? Who gives a shit - "Now you be a printer! Go get some ink, and start printin' some more of that shit!"
Merry Christmas all!
This dude lost all cred - with me anyway - when I heard he wouldn't give up his senate seat to run for POTUS. Your actions define you and Rand Paul defined himself as part of the politcal class. Too bad too as he was the least unappealing ideology-wise. No big loss tho they're ALL fungible corruptocrats.
You want to get rid of waste? Put an immediate end to the practice of attaching unrelated provisions to the bills you pass!
One bill...one "subject". It passes, or not, based on its own merits, but it passes or not ALONE. It should be ILLEGAL to have more than one 'subject' per bill, and anything IN the bill should be directly related to the subject. The next President should do this on day one, either with Congress, or by Executive order, but END this bullshit of stuffing bills like fucking clown cars prior to voting!
And every proposed bill should have the names of the sponsors prominently displayed, so we all know who is pushing what. You want yoga classes? Then put your fucking
NAME on that request, instead of sneaking it in anonymously! Anyone proposing spending taxpayer money on anything should have their name prominently displayed so everyone knows who is pushing this spending.
I am SO glad I'm off payroll...the idea of sending these jerkoffs any of my hard-earned money makes me physically ill.
You are talking about nothing less than the end of PORK and PORKULUS Bills?
That is true blasphemy to any politician, even TEA PARTY wankers.
Forgot $500,000,000 in military aid to banana-republic Ukraine.
My first impression as well - only 2 DOD infractions on the list? out of control beast that it is! Actually, I find Paul's list fairly inoffensive and cherry picked, all questionable no doubt and worth audit but what he is displaying represents a pittance of the waste, fraud, and abuse that is actually occuring - being a witness to it I have come to the conclusion that so much of our lost treasure goes up in smoke simply through lack of common sense policy & procedure - pretty much every single policy and procedure in every single Federal Agency needs to be ran through a Department of Common Sense imho, it really is disheartning to behold. And totally Bi-partisan in creation and maintenance. Federal Contract procedure would be one example of dozens if not hundreds of other examples where money is pissed away hand over fist.
My first impression as well - only 2 DOD infractions on the list? out of control beast that it is! Actually, I find Paul's list fairly inoffensive and cherry picked, all questionable no doubt and worth audit but what he is displaying represents a pittance of the waste, fraud, and abuse that is actually occuring - being a witness to it I have come to the conclusion that so much of our lost treasure goes up in smoke simply through lack of common sense policy & procedure - pretty much every single policy and procedure in every single Federal Agency needs to be ran through a Department of Common Sense imho, it really is disheartning to behold. And totally Bi-partisan in creation and maintenance. Federal Contract procedure would be one example of dozens if not hundreds of other examples where money is pissed away hand over fist.
Anybody got a handle on how much Ms. Obama's vacations have cost me over the past several years?
Do you have anything but lint in your pocket?
Hey can you send me $5? No? Because that's how much this cost per tax payer.