U.S. Consulate For Sale! Never Used, Cheap, Act Now!

The all time most popular post ever written in this blog occurred on July, 2012 and was entitled, "U.S. Navy Ships For Sale! Never Used, Cheap, Act Now!" It reviewed the sorry history of two U.S. Navy ships,  the USNS Benjamin Isherwood and the USNS Henry Eckford (the original post can be accessed at: http://www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2011/07/us-navy-ships-for-sale-cheap-never-used.html):

• These two ships were built using taxpayer money to the tune of about $300 million.
• They were almost complete when the Navy decided that they were no longer needed.
• Rather than find a foreign or domestic buyer for these perfectly good ships, either military or commercial, and get at least some money in return for the $300 million investment, the Navy decided to scrap them.
• The ships were then scrapped at an additional cost to the American taxpayer of about $10 million.

I think the purity of this taxpayer wealth waste is what makes this post the most popular. How much more disrespectful of the American taxpayer can you be than to spend $300 million, get no use for that $300 million investment, and then pay another $10 million to destroy the $300 million investment?


And what a great example of continued bad priority setting by the Washington political class. While Congress went nuts with hearings and indignation about the blatant waste which incurred when the GSA treated itself to a lush, expensive, $832,000 party in Las Vegas, I do not believe any Congressional investigations or hearings were done to investigate the military's waste of $310 million, an escapade that was 372 times more expensive.


But if you missed out on buying those Navy ships, we have another great deal for you, courtesy of a wasteful effort from your State Department. According to an Associated Press article from May 6, 2012:

• The United States is considering abandoning a consulate it was building in the northern part of Afghanistan because the building is now considered too dangerous to occupy.
• $80 million of American taxpayer money has already been spent on the construction of the consulate.
• The construction was being done to a former hotel "despite glaring security deficiencies."
• These deficiencies included shoddy construction which was overlooked during construction.
• Apparently, waivers were granted to go around strict State Department building rules in a rush to open the consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif as a sign of U.S. commitment to Afghanistan. i.e. they took an $80 million short cut with taxpayer money.
• The article described the various security problems including a susceptibility to car bombs, the sharing of a perimeter wall with local shopkeepers, being surrounded by tall buildings that could be used for an attack, the short distance between the compound's buildings and other buildings, the outer wall was not up to U.S. standards, and in the event of an emergency, there wasn't even enough space to land a single helicopter, so one would have to land on a nearby street.
• Besides the actual building location and security, the article goes on to say: "Neighborhood security also was in question. The compound was near a large mosque that is often the center of large protests in the city, and a nearby truck stop and pickup spot for day laborers provided easy cover for surveillance or attack."
• In other words, somebody really screwed up when they gave the go ahead and the associated waivers to proceed building an $80 million complex that is likely never to be used.
• Or said in official administration language: "Consequently, establishing a diplomatic presence at the current location is no longer believed to be tenable and the search for an alternative site has been initiated."

Another $80 million of taxpayer wealth down the drain for absolutely no benefit or return on investment. And apparently no Congressional indignation or investigation even though this fiasco is 96 times more expensive and wasteful than the GSA Las Vegas conference, an expense that made everyone's headlines and started Congressional investigations.

Three steps need to be taken relative to this disaster:

1. Those involved in this waste of taxpayer money, those that picked the location without doing their security due diligence, those that signed off on the waivers that made a bad security situation worse, and those that supervised those that made these bad decisions need to be fired. In the private sector, if someone wasted $80 million like this, you can be sure they would be fired. If GSA people got fired for wasting $832,000, State Department people need to be fired for wasting $80 million.
2. The entire process that led to this disaster needs to reviewed and changed so that it never happens again. One would have thought that after two hundred years, the Federal government would know how to do a simple thing like selecting a secure consulate location. Apparently they do not, so a complete, professional review of this decision process needs to be put in place.
3. Step 34 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" needs to be put in place. Step 34 would remove Congressional members from their committee posts for massive screw ups such as the Navy fiasco described above and this embassy waste. Maybe if Congressional members knew that their committee posts were at stake, their performance and overview of their committees' responsibilities might be a little more diligent and effective.

These types of incidents are interesting, and depressing, when it comes to certain types of economists that are favored by Obama and Democrats. These Keynesian economists insist that the Federal government cannot afford to cut government spending at all since it would hurt the so-called economic recovery, which has been next to non-existent. They somehow believe that ANY spending by the Federal government leads directly to increased economic activity.

So my questions to them would involve the following:

1. How does taking $300 million out of the economy via taxes and spending that $300 million on Navy ships that are never used lead to economic growth? There are no usable assets available for continued economic growth after the ships dismantling is complete. That $300 million could have been used to build factories and businesses that would lead to continued economic growth into the future by the private market. Now all the country has is a pile of used scrap steel for its $300 million expenditure.
2. How does the wasteful government spending of $80 million on a consulate half way around the world, that will never be used, contribute to domestic economic growth?
3. How does losing $600 billion a year on waste, criminal fraud, and inefficiencies in the Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other government programs improve the economy? If the Federal government and political class were doing their job, this $600 billion in waste could be returned to taxpayers for their use in the economy, a use that would be more efficient, more beneficial to the economy, and restore some degree freedom to the nation's citizens.

These types of economists seem to think that government can spend citizens' wealth more efficiently than the citizens can. Given the above examples of massive waste, the failed Cash For Clunkers program, the failed $830 billion stimulus program, and other failed Obama administration Keynesian economic programs:

• Why do they still claim that politicians know how to efficiently and effectively spend our wealth?
• How can they possibly claim that spending $80 million in Afghanistan is a Federal government expense that should not be cut?
• How can they possibly claim that building and dismantling ships before they are used is a Federal government expense that cannot be cut?
• How can they possibly claim that losing Medicare funds to criminal fraud by the Armenian mob is a Federal government expense that cannot be cut (see the following post for the Armenian reference: http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2010/10/speak-out-against-madness-of-irritating.html)?

Makes no sense to me. And it should not make any sense to any rational person, given this administration's economic approach that has resulted in massive national debt levels, stubbornly high unemployment, record food stamp rolls, expensive bailouts, and a string of failed economic programs on everything from mortgages to appliances.

But do not let this political insanity get in your way of a great investment. I doubt that those Navy ships are still available but if you move quickly, I bet you could get a sweet deal on this unused $80 million consulate, probably for pennies on the dollar. It is convenient to the local marketplace, is within walking distance to a main place of worship, and is out in the country, away from the hustle bustle. Just watch out for the Taliban, they can get a little agitated, in a terrorist sort of way.

[Note: Please visit the following post to see what actually happened once upon a time when the Federal government dramatically cut its spending, calling every Keynesian economic theory into doubt:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-really-happens-when-you-cut.html]




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