Government Officials Not Careful About How They Spend Your Money?
Shouldn't you expect government officials to be careful about how they spend your money?
Your money is the taxes you pay. The government collects it and spends it. But they're not always careful about how they spend it. Here's an example.
The Defense Department recently sent a report on China to Congress. It was one of 500 reports sent by the DOD to Congress each year. A Congressman complained that the report was "too short." I assume what he meant was that the report left out important facts.
So the Congressman goes to Defense Secretary Panetta and complains. Panetta points out that last year the DOD decided that reports to Congress should not exceed 15 pages. This report observed that new rule.
It turns out that an online version of the same report was 52 pages long, including footnotes and appendices. Some of the information that the Congressman said should have been in the report was included there. So the fact that the report was accessible online didn't satisfy the Congressman. In addition to being dissatisfied with this, the Congressman wants something else changed.
Apparently last year then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates decided that Pentagon officials should sign "non-disclosure" agreements in order to control leaks. The Congressman wants that practice changed. He feels that the DOD might not be forthcoming enough with Congress because of such agreements.
What's going on here? Why is all this back and forth taking up the time of this Congressman, his staff, DOD Secretary Panetta, his staff and various other officials at the Department of Defense? Is this another example of just how dysfunctional government can be?
The job of the military is to defend our country. If, in the pursuit of their objective of defending the country, the leaders of our armed forces need to discuss certain matters with Congress, then such discussions should be forthright and consistent with the military's obligation to defend the country. While I suspect the Congressman and the Defense Department officials wouldn't disagree with these statements, you have to wonder just how hard it is to accomplish these simple, yet important, objectives.
So why all these time-wasting exchanges?
Meanwhile your tax dollars pay for the salaries of these people. Your tax dollars support the activities I just described. Shouldn't these people be conscious of the fact that they're spending tax-payers money - which comes from your hard-earned dollars?
But wait, it gets worse.
Much of the money spent by government these days isn't just coming from the taxes you pay from your hard-earned dollars. It also comes from money the government borrows. They have to borrow all the time (this year over $1 trillion!) because the federal government operates at a deficit. The government operates at a deficit because it spends more than it takes in.
So now, with all this borrowing they do, they're saddling your children with having to pay the interest on all this increased debt. (No one really believes that any of this debt will ever actually be repaid, but the interest does come due on a regular basis.)
With all that I've just described, don't you think these people - Congress, the Defense Department, indeed all other government officials - would be extremely conscientious about how they spend their time, and about how they spend your tax dollars and all that money that the government has to borrow?
Do you find them to be all that conscientious?
When they aren't, do any of us kick up a fuss?
Your money is the taxes you pay. The government collects it and spends it. But they're not always careful about how they spend it. Here's an example.
The Defense Department recently sent a report on China to Congress. It was one of 500 reports sent by the DOD to Congress each year. A Congressman complained that the report was "too short." I assume what he meant was that the report left out important facts.
So the Congressman goes to Defense Secretary Panetta and complains. Panetta points out that last year the DOD decided that reports to Congress should not exceed 15 pages. This report observed that new rule.
It turns out that an online version of the same report was 52 pages long, including footnotes and appendices. Some of the information that the Congressman said should have been in the report was included there. So the fact that the report was accessible online didn't satisfy the Congressman. In addition to being dissatisfied with this, the Congressman wants something else changed.
Apparently last year then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates decided that Pentagon officials should sign "non-disclosure" agreements in order to control leaks. The Congressman wants that practice changed. He feels that the DOD might not be forthcoming enough with Congress because of such agreements.
What's going on here? Why is all this back and forth taking up the time of this Congressman, his staff, DOD Secretary Panetta, his staff and various other officials at the Department of Defense? Is this another example of just how dysfunctional government can be?
The job of the military is to defend our country. If, in the pursuit of their objective of defending the country, the leaders of our armed forces need to discuss certain matters with Congress, then such discussions should be forthright and consistent with the military's obligation to defend the country. While I suspect the Congressman and the Defense Department officials wouldn't disagree with these statements, you have to wonder just how hard it is to accomplish these simple, yet important, objectives.
So why all these time-wasting exchanges?
Meanwhile your tax dollars pay for the salaries of these people. Your tax dollars support the activities I just described. Shouldn't these people be conscious of the fact that they're spending tax-payers money - which comes from your hard-earned dollars?
But wait, it gets worse.
Much of the money spent by government these days isn't just coming from the taxes you pay from your hard-earned dollars. It also comes from money the government borrows. They have to borrow all the time (this year over $1 trillion!) because the federal government operates at a deficit. The government operates at a deficit because it spends more than it takes in.
So now, with all this borrowing they do, they're saddling your children with having to pay the interest on all this increased debt. (No one really believes that any of this debt will ever actually be repaid, but the interest does come due on a regular basis.)
With all that I've just described, don't you think these people - Congress, the Defense Department, indeed all other government officials - would be extremely conscientious about how they spend their time, and about how they spend your tax dollars and all that money that the government has to borrow?
Do you find them to be all that conscientious?
When they aren't, do any of us kick up a fuss?
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