Ten years after Congress ordered federal agencies to have outside auditors review their books, neither the Defense Department nor the newer Department of Homeland Security has met even basic accounting requirements, leaving them vulnerable to waste, fraud and abuse.Oooh...ooohhh...audit BATFU next...audit BATFU next...
Seriously, this is obscene. The same administration that's trying to destroy a family business over minor paperwork glitches like putting "Y" or "N" on a form instead of "Yes" or "No" doesn't have the needed controls in place to run a hotdog stand--and these are the "authorities" we look to to safeguard nothing less than the physical security of the nation--and the same authorities who bring the hammer down on "We the People" when some opt to assume responsibility for their own security.
The system is insane.
[Via HZ]
And David, let us not forget the Mustang Ranch!
ReplyDeleteFor those of you who might have missed it, the IRS seized the Ranch, a legal (in Nevada) whorehouse when the previous owner had engaged in some 'funny stuff' as regards his tax bill.
The Government sold it to another private individual earlier this year.
Why?
Because the Federal Government could not run a brothel and make a profit.
That's right. Your government, my government couldn't even run an already established, um, cathouse and make money at it.
If the DoD can be forced to comply with this, all those enlisted men we see patrolling the streets of Iraq could be given a raise in pay without increasing the DoD budget. Think about it.
That a Spec4 who humps around an M60 has to send his wife to Welfare to get food stamps so the kids can eat is obscene.
Ridiculous. At best, it's a conflict of interest to ask that the federal government to reform itself. It becomes a maze of red tape when we have nested relationships of agencies watching agencies.
ReplyDeleteSorry, America, there's only one efficient solution, and it directly involves you. This task cannot be delegated to yet another government entity.
I'm sure nearly every one of you has gone through the experience of pinching pennies to get by. You learn from this experience what are your fundamental needs and basic responsibilities. I learned that I don't need such luxuries as a 70 degree house in the winter, brand-name food, television, cell phones, expensive clothes, electronics, expensive cars or more than one cheap defense gun.
The only way to reform is to cut the money supply. Expecting anything else to produce results is fantasy. I took the meaning of the bricks-through-windows guest essay to mean this. While I think that the IRS is a legal entity with a purpose, I think the direct income tax is flagrantly illegal, and the root cause of many problems that came afterward, including using the treasury to exchange gifts for votes, and punitive taxation.
I have a rule of thumb to detect waste in government spending and over-taxation: Superfluous spending. When you've got a government worrying about cigarettes, foie gras, shoe laces wrapped around trigger guards, or the number of gay, farsi-speaking Niue-born migrant workers that are first-time home buyers... Close the purse.