Shades of 9/11
I am so used to hearing, and seeing, our government wasting money that I am not sure it really needs commenting on. By pretending it is not there though does not make it go away so maybe it does need a comment.
This article talks about how immediately after 9/11 congress approved emergency funding to help communities gear up for protection from terrorism but now it turns out, in the finest tradition of waste, the money “remains unspent or is funding projects with questionable connections to homeland security.”
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, lawmakers doled out the money quickly, with few restrictions and vague guidelines. Left to interpret needs on their own -- and with little regional coordination -- cash-strapped local and state officials plugged budget holes, spent millions on pet projects and steered contracts to political allies.
Now I will admit that they say some of the funds remain unspent but to me that just means they have yet to find a way to waste them. One of the many ways this money was spent is:
Another District agency directed $100,000 to the mayor's politically popular summer jobs program, documents show. Forty low-income young adults were trained in first aid and other emergency skills, then paid to rap and dance about emergency preparedness as part of outreach efforts.
I guess these things are what happen when you hand out money to the needy. They waste the money in hopes of getting re-elected.
It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money. P.J. (Patrick Jake) O’Rourke
I am so used to hearing, and seeing, our government wasting money that I am not sure it really needs commenting on. By pretending it is not there though does not make it go away so maybe it does need a comment.
This article talks about how immediately after 9/11 congress approved emergency funding to help communities gear up for protection from terrorism but now it turns out, in the finest tradition of waste, the money “remains unspent or is funding projects with questionable connections to homeland security.”
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, lawmakers doled out the money quickly, with few restrictions and vague guidelines. Left to interpret needs on their own -- and with little regional coordination -- cash-strapped local and state officials plugged budget holes, spent millions on pet projects and steered contracts to political allies.
Now I will admit that they say some of the funds remain unspent but to me that just means they have yet to find a way to waste them. One of the many ways this money was spent is:
Another District agency directed $100,000 to the mayor's politically popular summer jobs program, documents show. Forty low-income young adults were trained in first aid and other emergency skills, then paid to rap and dance about emergency preparedness as part of outreach efforts.
I guess these things are what happen when you hand out money to the needy. They waste the money in hopes of getting re-elected.
It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money. P.J. (Patrick Jake) O’Rourke
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