Green Car Bust: $687,000

The city of Salinas, Calif., invested more than $500,000 in Green Vehicles, an electric car venture that failed to produce a single car. In addition to the city money, the State of California chipped in another $187,000, but the owner of the company said it folded due to a lack of investors. The city ponied up the money after the company promised it would create 70 new jobs and generate some $700,000 in tax revenue annually for city coffers. City officials were reportedly irked when they learned of the company’s collapse by e-mail.

Government Grants

Despite a nearly $17 trillion federal deficit, our government continues to spend taxpayer dollars in ways that defy common sense. Consider the following grants that were recently posted on the government website www.grants.gov:

• Project to Ensure Formal Workers Benefits in El Salvador ($300,000)
• Programs Benefiting Tibetan Refugees in South Asia ($2,500,000)  
• Cooperative Agreement with the Egypt Ministry of Health and Population for Global Disease Detection Activities ($4,000,000)

I would like to think that at some point our elected officials and bureaucrats will come to their senses and stop this madness but more and more I am coming to the conclusion that is best expressed by the comedian Ron White when he said: "You can't fix stupid".

Sensitivity Training: $130,000

The Omaha, Nebraska public school district spent $130,000 in federal stimulus money to buy manuals to instruct teachers and school administrators on how to be culturally sensitive. The book, The Cultural Proficiency Journey: Moving Beyond Ethical Barriers Toward Profound School Change, says that teachers need to work for social justice in order to overcome a white-privileged society. The book says racism, sexism, homophobia and ableism are forces of oppression in schools, and that institutions in America “channel wealth and power to white people.”

IRS: $46,378,040

The Internal Revenue Service sent 23,994 tax refunds worth a combined $46,378,040 to “unauthorized” alien workers who all used the same address in Atlanta, Ga., in 2011, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). That was not the only Atlanta address theoretically used by thousands of “unauthorized” alien workers receiving millions in federal tax refunds in 2011. In fact, according to a TIGTA audit report published last year, four of the top ten addresses to which the IRS sent thousands of tax refunds to “unauthorized” aliens were in Atlanta. The IRS sent 11,284 refunds worth a combined $2,164,976 to unauthorized alien workers at a second Atlanta address; 3,608 worth $2,691,448 to a third; and 2,386 worth $1,232,943 to a fourth.

Other locations on the IG’s Top Ten list for singular addresses that were theoretically used simultaneously by thousands of unauthorized alien workers, included an address in Oxnard, Calif, where the IRS sent 2,507 refunds worth $10,395,874; an address in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the IRS sent 2,408 refunds worth $7,284,212; an address in Phoenix, Ariz., where the IRS sent 2,047 refunds worth $5,558,608; an address in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where the IRS sent 1,972 refunds worth $2,256,302; an address in San Jose, Calif., where the IRS sent 1,942 refunds worth $5,091,027; and an address in Arvin, Calif., where the IRS sent 1,846 refunds worth $3,298,877.

Since 1996, the IRS has issued what it calls Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to two classes of persons: 1) non-resident aliens who have a tax liability in the United States, and 2) aliens living in the United States who are “not authorized to work in the United States.”

The IRS has long known it was giving these numbers to illegal aliens, and thus facilitating their ability to work illegally in the United States. For example, the Treasury Inspector General’s Semiannual Report to Congress published on Oct. 29, 1999—nearly fourteen years ago—specifically drew attention to this problem.

“The IRS issues Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to undocumented aliens to improve nonresident alien compliance with tax laws. This IRS practice seems counter-productive to the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s (INS) mission to identify undocumented aliens and prevent unlawful alien entry,” TIGTA warned in that long-ago report.

Perhaps the most remarkable act of the IRS was this: It assigned 6,411 ITINs to unauthorized aliens presumably using a single address in Morganton, North Carolina. According to the 2010 Census, there were only 16,681 people in Morganton. So, for the IRS to have been correct in issuing 6,411 ITINS to unauthorized aliens at a single address in Morganton it would have meant that 38 percent of the town’s total population were unauthorized alien workers using a single address.

Russian Nuclear Scientists: $15 Million

A Cold War-era program called the Initiative for Proliferation Prevention has in many years been appropriated far more than it can spend, according to Coburn's report. The Department of Energy (DOE) has admitted that the program overlaps with other government nonproliferation initiatives. Contrary to its original mission of ensuring that former Soviet nuclear experts did not go to work for rogue nations or terrorist groups, the program has helped Russian weapons institutes recruit scientists. The DOE says the program has created nearly 2,800 private sector jobs in Russia.

Moroccan Pottery Classes: $27 Million

A "key part" of a four-year, $27 million plan by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to improve the economic competitiveness of Morocco involved training Moroccans to design and make pottery for sale both locally and in international markets, Coburn's report says. But the translator hired was not fluent in English and some of the materials used in the sessions were not regularly available in Morocco. The agency's Inspector General concluded the training was "ineffective and poorly implemented."

Beef Jerky: $639,884

A Pentagon project dedicated to testing technology from our allies in order "to improve the U.S. warfighter's capabilities" is using a process developed in France to develop a new form of beef jerky that resembles a Fruit Roll-Up. "The Pentagon could have simply purchased meat snacks from the numerous companies already producing these popular treats rather than creating its own brand of jerky," Coburn's report says. The Pentagon isn't alone, though: The Department of Agriculture gave a $283,884 grant to the Sunburst Trout Farms, which produces trout jerky and other fishy products, to help expand the market for those foods.

Empty Airport: $450,000

The Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission voted to keep open the rarely used Lake Murray State Park Airport, simply to land more federal funds. It averages one flight per month, bases no planes, and is only two miles from other airports. The FAA makes automatic payments to the airport, which then turns the money around to other projects in state, making it nothing more than a brief layover for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Obama’s Trip to Africa Comes With a Hefty Price Tag

President Obama’s upcoming trip to Africa will require extraordinary security measures and will likely cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, according to a confidential planning document obtained by the Washington Post.

In addition to the hundreds of agents that will be required to secure the president when he visits Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania later this month, the Washington Post reports that military planes will airlift in 56 support vehicles, including 14 limousines and three trucks’ worth of bullet-proof glass to cover the windows of the president’s hotels.

The security precautions go beyond the ground to the nearby seas and skies.  The Post reports that an aircraft carrier with a fully staffed emergency medical center is being positioned nearby and that fighter jets will protect the president’s airspace 24 hours a day.

While the trip’s price tag remains unknown, President Clinton’s visit to Africa in 1998 cost the federal government at least $42.7 million, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Obama’s expensive trip, the cost of which is in line with previous presidential trips to Africa, comes as federal agencies are grappling with across-the-board spending cuts.

Doctors Took Bribes to Help Steal Millions from Medicare

The corrupt former president of a New Jersey lab testing firm said hundreds of doctors demanded bribes and kickbacks as part of a $100 million dollar Medicare and insurance billing scheme. Click here for complete article.

The Waste List

Click here to view a "waste list" that currently totals $57,322,568,479

GAO: Government not cutting waste

Congress and the Obama administration have scrapped just a fraction of the duplicative programs targeted for cuts by Government Accountability Office (GAO), the agency’s chief told lawmakers Wednesday. Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro said just 12 percent of more than 300 recommendations issued by GAO since 2011 to eliminate, combine or modify duplicative programs have been fully carried out.

The hearing follows the release of the latest in a series of GAO reports finding billions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted on government overlap spread across dozens of federal agencies.

Among its findings is the existence of two separate programs responsible for federal catfish inspections, 76 different drug abuse programs and a general lack of coordination between departments charged with providing veterans services.

The Pentagon has wasted $82 million in unnecessary expenses for military uniforms that now come in seven different camouflage patterns. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is in danger of losing $8.35 billion over 10 years on an unproven Medicare Advantage bonus program, the GAO found.

The report identified billions more in revenue lost as a result of untargeted enforcement by the Internal Revenue Service and dozens of contracts awarded by the Department of Homeland Security that overlapped with activities already conducted elsewhere in the department. Together the contracts totaled roughly $66 million.

Government Waste Adds Up

Here are some excerpts from a Newsnet5.com post on government waste:

• More than 45,000 government-owned buildings are empty or half empty, according to the office of management and budget. It costs about a billion dollars a year.
• Taxpayers spent $800,000 last year for congressional representatives to drink bottled water.
• A program produced in India that’s funded with $20 million in taxes from something called the market access program. The market access program gets $200 million a year at the Department of Agriculture that subsidizes marketing for profitable U.S. companies overseas.

Christmas Tree Tax is Back

The House Agriculture Committee approved an amendment to its farm bill that would lift the stay blocking implementation of the Christmas tree tax. We should be thankful the Agriculture Committee does not have jurisdiction over toys.

Some in the Christmas tree industry sought to develop a promotional program to assist its industry. After three failed attempts to set up a voluntary system, they turned to the federal government to do what it could not: Force Christmas tree producers and importers to pay for a Christmas tree promotion program.

On November 8, 2011, the Obama Administration issued a final rule that approved a new program to help promote Christmas trees. The government would set up a Christmas Tree Promotion Board, with one of its goals being “to enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States.” The new program would include a 15 cent “assessment” on fresh cut Christmas trees, which could eventually rise to 20 cents per tree.

EPA contractors lifted weights, watched TV as warehouse rotted

The Environmental Protection Agency paid $750,000 a year to a warehouse contractor in suburban Washington whose employees watched television and lifted weights while taxpayer-paid supplies decayed in moldy, rat-infested conditions, an internal investigation found. Inspector General Arthur A. Elkins‘ report about the “deplorable” conditions inside the 70,000 square foot facility in Landover, Md., stunned top EPA officials and prompted the immediate removal of the contractor.

The facility had new appliances received in 2007 and new furniture received in 2008 that were unopened along with old federal employee passports with personal information that were kept in unsecured containers. The warehouse had “considerable amounts of unusable, inoperable and obsolete furniture” and outdated stocks of paper and print shop supplies.

Employees set up personal spaces within the warehouse with televisions and decorations, including pin-up posters, chairs and couches, he said. They shielded them from security cameras with dividers and storage boxes and set up a gym with surplus weight-lifting equipment, carpeted with EPA tiles, that was maintained in good working order, Elkins said, even as the rest of the warehouse showed signs of rat infestation and mold. The workers used EPA stationary to record workouts and played music on EPA equipment.

IRS Conferences - $50 Million

The IRS spent close to $50 million on 225 conferences between 2010 and 2012, according to briefings given to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Several IRS employees stayed in presidential suites at hotels, the committee learned. Such suites currently cost between $1,500 to $3,500 per night.

"One example in Anaheim, when they bought their tickets they said, 'Well, we'll pay the per diem rate for these hotel rooms.' They didn't negotiate, they didn't bid it. And this was 2,700 folks. So they could have gotten a considerable reduction. Instead what they said is, 'We'll pay full boat, but we want some perks.' So they ended up with free drinks, they ended up with tickets to games, basically kickbacks."

Fifteen outside speakers were hired to give presentations at the conference, totaling $135,000, the oversight committee was told. One of the speakers, who was paid $17,000, led a session called "Leadership Through Art." The IRS spent $50,000 to produce two videos that were shown at the event.

The purpose of the conference was listed as continuing professional education, but credits were not given to attendees, the committee learned. Also, no sign-in sheets were posted outside training sessions, making it difficult to determine if attendees actually went to the sessions.