At this rate, we probably need today and tomorrow to wrap up the latest insanity, a record that is a tribute to the continuing incompetence of the American political class.
1) Before we get into the first instance of political class insanity and government incompetence, keep in mind that the Federal government currently maintains tens of thousands of buildings around the country that are currently not occupied, costing the American taxpayer billions of dollars a year to maintain, guard, and account for.
Also keep in mind that the Obama administration and this Congress recently reduced the retirement benefits of our retired armed services members, a reduction we have placed on our brave soldiers in light of the wasteful spending we are about to dive into.
With these two points in mind, consider the disaster unfolding in downtown D.C. with a building renovation for a brand new Federal bureaucracy, as described in a 2013 Washington Examiner article:
- The renovation costs for the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau bureaucracy’s new headquarters building have almost doubled, soaring from an initial estimate and budget of $55 million to $95 million.
- At this new, higher level, these renovation costs are at least twice the typical renovation expenses for the most luxurious commercial office space available in downtown Washington, D.C., according to architectural experts cited in the Examiner article.
- The $95 million estimate is also almost double the General Services Administration's $50 million ANNUAL budget for construction, acquisition and renovation for ALL Federal buildings throughout the ENTIRE country.
- The skyrocketing renovation costs compute out to a whopping $80,000 for each of the 1,200 CFPB employees working at the agency.
- To Congressman Patrick McHenry, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee's subcommittee on oversight and investigations, the high cost of the renovations is evidence that the CFPB is out of control: "This is absolutely a runaway agency."
- The renovation rate for the 300,000 square foot CFPB offices is $316 per square foot, twice the $150 per square foot costs for renovating Washington's luxury commercial Class "A" office buildings with high-end restrooms, lobbies, elevators, hallways and office suites, according to the Examiner article.
- The renovation costs for a typical Class "B" Washington office building are about $100 per square foot, making the CFPB renovation costs up to three times the going rate for quality facilities.
- One reason for the possible high costs is that the CFPB contracted the prestigious Chicago-based architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, for $7.2 million, to design the renovations.
- Skidmore is famous for extravagant and lavish designs including the luxury Dubai-based Cayan Towers and Dubai's other famous skyscraper Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
- Adding insult to injury, the CFPN tried to bury the cost increase in a little known published government report in April, 2013.
- It was at a June 18 Congressional subcommittee oversight hearing when Stephen Agostini, the CFPB’s chief financial officer first informed the lawmakers the costs had doubled when he was asked by Congressman Sean Duffy, even though the agency gave Duffy a document just prior to the hearing that still contained the outdated $55 million number.
- Unbelievably, Agostini hinted that the costs might go even higher at the June hearing: "Congressman, we are at the early stages of understanding what it would cost to renovate a building that is 30 years old."
- Agostini bemoaned the fact that "we have floors at 1700 G Street where we cannot run telephone lines, run electrical lines, run computer lines, because when the building was built, it was not anticipated they would use those things."
- However, the building's previous occupants were the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Comptroller of the Currency, two government entities that require sophisticated information technology infrastructures to conduct complicated financial services activities.
So many questions, so much waste, so much deceit:
- Why does an existing building need a high end, expensive designer for simple offices?
- Was the initial estimate low balled intentionally to get approval?
- The assertion that a lot of renovation was needed seems bogus for a relatively new building and even if there were needed technology renovations required, you do not need a high end design firm to run wires and cables.
- With tens of thousands of empty Federal buildings already under Federal control, why do we need to renovate yet another building?
- Who is responsible for such a shoddy or dishonest job of estimating costs, costs that have almost doubled and look to go even higher? Such incompetence or dishonesty needs to be rewarded with firing those responsible.
- How many veterans could have had their retirement benefits restored, at least temporarily, if the CFPB was not wasting and spending money so willy-nilly?
The Defense Department, that wastes at least tens of billions of dollars a year, has been around for over two hundred years. Medicare and Medicaid, which waste almost $100 billion a year, have been around for over fifty years. At least these two Federal entities took a long time to build up their wasteful habits. Looks like the CFPB will get up to wasteful spending levels in just a few short years.
2) But the inability to forecast simple building renovation costs is not the only crisis coming out of the new CFPB. An April 5, 2014 article from the Washington Examiner reports that, from a personnel perspective, the CFPB is already a disaster:
- A CFPB attorney, testifying at a Congressional hearing, has come forward with shocking details about widespread personnel abuses in the CFPB.
- These accusations include blatant racism, gender discrimination and illegal retaliation against whistle blowers like herself.
- According to Congressman Sean Duffy: "Army Veteran and CFPB employee Angela Martin recounted an environment of racism and sexism at the CFPB: '...women were seen 'crying in their offices after suffering from abuse.' In fact, she claimed some employees have been clinically diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder stemming from the hostile work environment. Ms. Martin also informed members [of the House Financial Services Committee] that one particular division of the agency was commonly referred to as 'The Plantation,' a derogatory reference, and that a non-white immigrant employee was referred to as ‘an F-ing foreigner.’”
- In the midst of these serous accusations, Ms Martin claims, in front of Congress, that the head of the CFPB asked her to back down from her accusations and take a bribe in the form of a new position.
Great, so much for the first African American President helping to bridge the racial divide in this country. His second largest legislative effort has resulted in a new government bureaucracy that is allegedly infested with racism and sexism even though it is only a few years old. Given that this creation happened only on the Obama watch, no way he can blame Bush for this alleged disaster.
A short snippet of Ms. Martin’s testimony can be viewed at the following link:
Given the organization’s blatant disregard for the American taxpayer when it comes to spending lavishly on itself and its offices and the credibility that Ms. Martin shows in this video clip, it is probably a pretty good bet that this new Federal monstrosity is also disrespectful of its own employees, a disrespect and disregard that is likely resulting in sub-optimal performance and a further wasting of taxpayer wealth.
Sorry we went so deep into this dysfunctional government organization but it is a microcosm of typical Washington and political class insanity:
- Wasting taxpayer wealth with lowball estimates in order to get approval for further spending.
- Enriching themselves and their working conditions in Hunger Games fashion regardless of the cost to taxpayers.
- A bureaucracy running amuck and out of control, despite Congressional and Constitutional attempts to get it under control.
- Sexism and racist behavior that would get non-government entities in deep legal problems if they behaved the same way but somehow government employees and entities are not covered by the same laws and regulations they impose on the rest of us.
Tomorrow will definitely be the last installment in this month’s political class insanity series. Not because we covered all of the insanity but because it is too depressing to continually review the ineptness, the idiocy, and the wasteful spending of the worst set of Washington politicians that ever held office.
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