On the same day the Washington Post reports the passing of a $790 billion spending package that includes about $50 billion for so-called infrastructure, it also reports on a Department of Transportation audit of spending on roads:
ran up millions of dollars in inappropriate charges at the expense of
taxpayers, including bills for parties, luxury car leases and hefty
paychecks for executives, according to auditors.
Among the "unallowable expenses" singled out:
$301,667 to lease 45 automobiles,
including Mercedes, BMW and other luxury brands.
$247,685 for dinners, tickets to sporting events, theme-holiday parties.
$60,000 paid to a consultant with only a verbal agreement.
$35,352 charged by two firms for "image-enhancing items such as golf shirts."
The Transportation Department audit, which took four years, examined
bills from a sampling of 41 design and engineering firms picked from
3,580 firms that had active contracts with state departments of
transportation. Auditors looked at data from 2003 because it was the
most current year available when the review began.
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I just want to alert visitors that the blog software is exhibiting an annoying behavior.
If a page limit is exceeded, the next post will not appear until another comment is added.
I posted on an older blog entry this morning and it did not appear until I added another post this evening. When I refreshed the page, the "next" button appeared and I was then able to read my earlier post.
Has anybody in the media noticed that for weeks, we've been told that this stimulus bill must be passed NOW. That every day…every hour…every minute we delay, the more jobs are being lost, and the more people are being hurt.
And then when the bill passes Congress on Friday night, Obama announces he's going to wait until Tuesday (4 days????) to sign it?
Another example of politicians at their worst!
Alot of red tape surrounds the buyout and execution of publicly funded construciton work which more or less ensures that the taxpayer does not get a good deal.
Public owners have little flexibility in choosing a contract/agreement with a building contractor that best fits the amount of risk the project presents to all parties involved. On the other hand, private owners have much more flexibility in choosing the contract that is more efficient in reducing the risk that the project presents. This sometimes results in the taxpayer getting a very, very bad deal on publicly funded projects.
Additionally, most public projects pay the prevailing wage as determined by the Davis-Bacon Act. While this does not represent a labor premium in big cities such as san francisco, new york or boston where unions have a tight control of the labor market, it does represent a labor premium in right to work states or localities where most of the workforce is non union.
If identical buildings were built across the street and the only difference between the two is the first is built for a private owner while the second is built for a public owner, the government owned project would likely cost more even if they were built by the same contractor.
Isn't this a little like the sun coming up in the morning?
67 years of watching this shit and yes the sun still comes up every day, and government contractors still milk the teat for all it's worth at every opportunity.
Damn, what a surprise!
Just imagine how much corruption will go along with these stimulus efforts.
But surely it doesn't matter what the money is spent on. Only the multiplier, that amorphous demand stimulant, really matters. This isn't corruption, but sound economic policy right from the pages of the Great John Maynard Keynes. How many jobs were created to supply those golf shirts, sporting events, and automobiles?
Russell's ideology is blinding him to the plain facts: these design and engineering companies were doing a public service by spending money.
Vidyohs,
I would not say that government contractors "milk" the taxpayer for every penny. They are just businessmen, like any else who are exploiting all avenues within a particular contract to increase revenue.
The red tape surrounding this work is tedious and is often times illogical and makes no sense, so it more or less ensures that the taxpayer gets a raw deal in the end.
Vidyohs,
I would not say that government contractors "milk" the taxpayer for every penny. They are just businessmen, like any else who are exploiting all avenues within a particular contract to increase revenue.
The red tape surrounding this work is tedious and is often times illogical and makes no sense, so it more or less ensures that the taxpayer gets a raw deal in the end.
I believe in the old days the states primarily used their own design and engineering employees, but the small government and privatization advocates wanted the employees cut and the business contracted out. Yahoo said the contractors.
On another note, it looks like about 20% of those 1071 pages of stimulus are health care IT and alleged reforms.
If only the government had their own dedicated workers, eh Rustbelt? Like the Army Corp of Engineers! We haven't had any catastrophic, city-destroying failures from those guys, that's for sure.
Next stop; protectionism, 'greed' and 'capitalism' being blamed when this stimulus doesn't stimulate!
"I believe in the old days the states primarily used their own design and engineering employees, but the small government and privatization advocates wanted the employees cut and the business contracted out. Yahoo said the contractors."
– save_the_rustbelt
I knew this comment was coming.
The problem isn't government. The problem is not enough government! Obviously we need to nationalize more stuff!
I'm a contractor, funny how I don't get paid for all these goodies. But then again, the company I contract for is a private company, not the government.
Ryan, Marcus:
I would never argue for the perfection of government employees or the procurement system, but somehow government employees managed to get the interstate highway system designed and built working with private contractors, and even some private design engineers.
This may stun some of the readers of this blog, but sometimes the government and the private sector can work together and obtain quite good results.
And Marcus, I doubt that state governments ever nationalized anything.
This may stun some of the readers of this blog, but sometimes the government and the private sector can work together and obtain quite good results.
The point isn't about the results, but about the costs.
I think it of interest that road construction technology has changed so little in so long.
Quote from save_the_rustbelt: "This may stun some of the readers of this blog, but sometimes the government and the private sector can work together and obtain quite good results."
Compared to what?
Well now Mark,
I don't feel too much like shifting through hairs to see which ones we will split today.
I said milk and you say natural exploitation. You take the east side of the hair and I'll take the west side, ok?
Did I mean that every single contractor dealing with the government milks the teat for all its worth, yes I did.
Does every single one take extra turns at the teat? Maybe not, but my own lengthy experience as a government employee and one who also paid very close attention since that employment ended, I'd have to say that the contractor that does not go back for unjustified seconds is rare, extremely rare.
The most common phrase you will hear in those circles is this, "Its only government money." All of the evil, the stupidity, ignorance, and corruption one can imagine is contained in that statement, and the public is as guilty of the stupidity and ignorance as any one involved. That is why it goes on, they all know that the chances of being caught, much less punished, are extremely slim to nil. After all the congress people and government agents are already bought and will run interference in any legal action.
I know that there are honest people out there somewhere, but I am not about to grab a latern and go searching for one. Seems like an acient Greek did that one and only old age and death kept him from continuing his search to today.
Mark, there are just so many many ways to pad the books. My God, just look at the average bill submitted by hospitals and doctors to medicare and medicade. $32 screws, to fasten those $6,000 toilets in USAF airplanes?