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167 Comments
- brad3378, on 04/09/2008, -3/+81How the hell does one employee get away with writing $642,000 worth of checks over the timespan of SIX YEARS without getting noticed? Is 21 months of prison time enough of a deterrent? Do we realistically expect this person to be able to pay back the entire amount? Unbelievable!!
I want to see names.
I want to see these crooks on billboards holding their prison numbers.
I want to see even the smallest details of the budgets of the departments that let this happen opened up to the public.
I want to see severe funding cuts to their departments because they just proved they can't be trusted. - eprowten, on 04/09/2008, -1/+52"At the State Department, one credit-card holder bought $360 worth of women's lingerie at Seduccion Boutique for use during jungle training by trainees of a drug enforcement program in Ecuador"
What a joke... ***** like this is why we have a $450 billion deficit and explains the "government oversight" that allowed Haliburton and Blackwater to get no-bid contracts. - brjohnson789, on 04/09/2008, -3/+39This is what you get when you have bloated bureacracies with little to no repurcussions for doing a 'bad' job. It attracts thieves because they know there's a good chance they can get away with something. If most of these departments were businesses in the private sector they would have been OUT of business a long time ago. The next time you think the gov't should do something to fix a problem (health care for example), just remember that a gigantic bureacracy will be created to fix the problem, and there will be lots of waste like what we see in this article.
- mountainsurfer, on 04/09/2008, -4/+40They should be tarred and feathered and dragged through the streets.
- greenroom628, on 04/09/2008, -5/+39Wow. Way to go government employees! Way to spend our tax dollars. Not only do we get to pay for torture and illegal/unwarranted detention, but we get to clothe you in suits (that few of us can afford, by the way) and on expensive internet dates (for extra-marital affairs, no less...Gov.Spitzer must be proud). I'm so, so proud to have you serving our government for us. Bravo.
Schmucks. - AbsurdParadox, on 04/09/2008, -3/+31Wait, WHAT?!? Money mismanagement by the government? Unpossible!
Boy, I sure wish these same people would run my healthcare. - Akronos, on 04/09/2008, -1/+25And how the government managed to "misplace" 9 billion dollars in Iraq. Yes, 9 billion dollars. You read that right.
- Gerz1219, on 04/09/2008, -2/+15I think the trillion dollar war has a lot more to do with that deficit that some mid-level bureaucrat spending a couple hundred dollars on lingerie. I'm not excusing these federal employees' actions, but I just don't feel the outrage when their petty fraud is minuscule compared to all the Cold War defense systems and mortgage bailouts.
- ProjectGSX, on 04/09/2008, -0/+11This is disgusting. I work for a company who's opex is out of control and we still dont have crap like this going on.
- compupawn, on 04/09/2008, -0/+9A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
-- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) - inactive, on 04/09/2008, -0/+8Yep! not only that, but not a damn thing will be done about it!
- Enfenestrate, on 04/09/2008, -0/+8Not on my dime.
- inactive, on 04/09/2008, -5/+13and these are the same people who will run "FREE HEALTH CARE" .....Americans you are so stupid.
- Shaman760, on 04/09/2008, -1/+9I have a friend in Mississippi who works in the hospitality business at a very large hotel there. When Katrina hit, hordes of these Government leeches...err...employees took over the hotel and as she recollected to me "They were the rudest bunch of people I've ever met". She said they were wasteful, such as ordering dinner, eating two bites of a dish and deciding it was not what they wanted and ordering yet another selection (all paid for on taxpayers' dime).
Anyhow, If any of you are lucky enough to work in the public sector, must be real nice. Is the government hiring? Maybe I can get a job like that. - jftitan, on 04/09/2008, -0/+7Then I'll pay for it.
- Olfster, on 04/09/2008, -0/+7I think the key point you make is "no repurcussions for doing a 'bad' job."
- Solstice, on 04/09/2008, -0/+7Lingerie? Is that you J. Edgar? I thought you were dead!
- Gregd, on 04/09/2008, -0/+7Wow. I really don't understand the mentality it takes to justify one's actions in this scenario. Regardless of who's footing the bill, one would think that morality would come into play here, despite the black hole that is the federal government.
I've had state issued credit cards before and wouldn't have dreamt of doing anything stupid like this. Am I really in the minority here? - inactive, on 04/09/2008, -0/+6as long as you think like your government it's not so bad.. it's not "failed spending".. "unplanned stimulus"
- ChanM, on 04/09/2008, -0/+6And this is surprising now? You must be living in a cave if you didn't think government employees take advantage of their position.
- AbsurdParadox, on 04/09/2008, -1/+7All bureaucrats accept stolen funds as payment. Thats one hell of a list.
- bphicke, on 04/09/2008, -0/+5What if someone donated the tar and feathers?
- duckman9y, on 04/09/2008, -0/+5I once worked for the Federal Government for a couple of years (non-military). So, what is your response to this article? Yes, there a are lot of mis-informed people in the world, but with so many stories of government waste what do you - a current employee - see? Personally I left when my department had to "justify their jobs" and I honestly didn't see a need.
- Kenzan, on 04/09/2008, -1/+6Sorry but the penalties are too soft here.
As a Government employee, a person is in a position of public trust and therefore special mitigating circumstances apply.,
I say if intent to fraud can be proven, 20 years in Levenworth ought to do it just fine.
- iheartrendering, on 04/09/2008, -1/+6Unfortunately this kind of ***** is expected.
- Enfenestrate, on 04/09/2008, -0/+5That's an awfully long post considering you had nothing of value to contribute. How about you explain WHY we don't know what we are talking about. You essentially repeated yourself over and over with nothing to back up even your initial claim that we're ignorant.
- kinseyincanada, on 04/09/2008, -3/+8actually its the ***** like spending over $399 billion dollars year on your military
- Brownds, on 04/09/2008, -1/+6I work for the DOD so I can tell you hell ya it happens. When I use my card the bill is looked at by an army of peons to check for unusual charges. What’s funny is 95% of the time the abusers are the ones that are checking me for misuse of my government travel card. When I was in the Airforce in Germany our Resource Advisor, who is the guy that managed our use, refurnished his house charging almost $8000 on his card and since he is the guy that managed the account he cooked the books. Needless to say he got 8 years in prison for it.
- chip0wa, on 04/09/2008, -0/+5you guys have all obviously never been on fark...
- boxybrzown, on 04/09/2008, -1/+6This scenario almost certainly has to be a higher-level manager who was in charge of reviewing the checks written for his department's account, so it's likely a "who will police the police" sort of issue.
And you can't really cut funding for the department as a result because other people depend on that department to function, which is the inherent problem with Government management. You can't really go out of business no matter how badly you perform. - TheSabre, on 04/10/2008, -0/+4The salary thing pisses me off. I'm a GS13 in DC, which is pretty good (82k), it sucks paying $1500/month in rent and another $1000 in bills. Many people think government employees work an hour a day and get the best benefits and steal taxpayer money. I work 12 hours a day with 8 hours pay and pay for my own benefits, as I'm sure you do as well.
As you said, I do it because I love my country.
You speak the truth, my friend. - Akronos, on 04/09/2008, -1/+5The surprising thing here is that most people are still willing to give up to 35% percent of their income to a government that has proven, time and time again, that it cannot be trusted. I really wonder how much longer we're going to take this *****.
- dafragsta, on 04/09/2008, -1/+5Someone told me today that I was insane for doing the same thing and expecting a different result. I say you are all ***** insane for waking up every day and expecting more honesty and virtue from your fellow humans, when in fact it's getting worse, and there is no punishment for it.
- LeePeyton, on 04/09/2008, -0/+4I'm tired of the swine in Washington wasting my money.
- loquax, on 04/09/2008, -0/+4Far be it from me to call money spent on hookers and fast cars as "wasted," but it would have been nice if some (or all) of that cash had been put to use for better things like the millions of kids who go without food and healthcare. We should have a process where we (as citizens) can go on line and view a quicken-like register of every freaking dime spent, show its categorization, who authorized it and who was the payee. I might be willing to excuse some items as important to national security (and not viewable), but 99.9998% of the transactions our government makes should be in the clear and viewable.
- Oobitsa, on 04/09/2008, -0/+4While I realize today is "Lynch a Federal Employee Day", I'll come clean and admit I am one and have a purchase card. The cap is $2500 per expense. It takes about 3 days to get approval. Believe me, using these cards for fraud would be way too hard.
Why not be a government contractor instead? Do you realize that the most I could EVER make as a fed is $190,000/year as a member of the Senior Executive Service? Right now, I make a little under $100,000, which is a very generous salary which I appreciate, but my college room mate makes $260,000 peddling really bad software to the government. Do you really think that Ruths Chris and the Ritz here in DC survive on feds abusing their purchase cards? I've never been to a Ruth's Chris. I bought my iPod on my own money, and the most expensive thing I've ever bought with my card is a piece of body armor for a diplomat going to Afghanistan. There are bad eggs, but most of my MILLIONS of colleagues do their jobs out of love for their country, not for access to low limit credit cards.
Hey, it's worth mentioning that Senator Coleman, who called for the report, has received over $2.3 million in PAC contributions. It's a shame GAO can't investigate Congress. - IslandDog, on 04/09/2008, -4/+8And Hillary and Obama want to raise taxes......LOL.
- warriorscot, on 04/09/2008, -1/+5Trick is to have accountability and transparency, things like this are harder to get away with in an open government since news papers easily pick up on it. To be honest I do not see why civil servants should have credit cards, if they need something it should be requisitioned or bought then claimed back a credit card is a bit much for people who really shouldn't have much in the line of expenses in the first place. It is one thing for politicians and diplomats to have a credit card for things, but 300,000 cards seems excessive even for a government as large as the US to have on the go at any one time.
Its all about accountability and responsibility, clearly nobody gave a ***** or more likely there just was no system to control and monitor charges that was effective. Personally if you work on the basis of an employee paying out of pocket and claiming back then I dare say many frivolous charges would disappear. - Rodalli, on 04/09/2008, -0/+4ZOMG YOU GUYS HOW WILL WE EVER FIND THE MONEY TO PAY FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE?!?! WE'LL HAVE TO RAISE TAXES!!!11!
- govsucks, on 04/09/2008, -1/+5Another fine example of why the government should take care of our health and retirement
- voodoosteve84, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3This makes me incredibly angry. Where is their sense of public servitude?
- bphicke, on 04/09/2008, -1/+4You obviously missed the point,
- rotarychainsaw, on 04/09/2008, -2/+5It's called reaganomics. The gov't workers need to spend that money so it will trickle down to me.
- hillkiwi, on 04/09/2008, -3/+6Well thanks for that. Do you care to list any examples or add anything at all?
- jayrok, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3This is just worklife imitating life. I'm sure the personal credit cards of the employees are racked up even higher.
- mandarin, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3Yeah you cant have jungle warfare without lingerie you know , where have you guys been???
- olenick, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3There is no mortgage bailout. There was a bailout of Bear Stearns, a private investment bank serving primarily extremely wealthy institutions and individuals. There is also pending legislation to bailout home builders: apparently the Senate feels using tax dollars to artificially add more supply to the housing market is good public policy. But despite the mortgage mess being the most severe threat to the US economy in almost a century there's nothing -- not even changing bankruptcy law, in much the same way Congress did to help credit-card companies -- pending to help mortgage holders.
- dwnwrd, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3"I work for the government."
"I'm a prisoner in a federal facility."
There, fixed it. - dracostimpy, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3Yeah, I'm kinda disappointed at Digg's apparently low Fark IQ.
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