August, 2014 Political Class Insanity, Part 2; Social Security Wastes $300 Million, NASA Wastes $350 MIllion, and More

It is that time of the month where every month we review the latest insanity, ineptness, wasteful spending, stupid quotes, and other frivolity of the American political class. Unfortunately, we have a pretty full plate this month, a plate that is going to take a long list of posts to get through as our politicians continue to prove that we are living through the worst set of politicians today that this nation has ever had to endure.

Our first insanity update was yesterday, making this the second in what promises to be a long series of continuing ineptness by the American political class.

1) We start off today with a typical Federal government data systems project. Typical in that after spending big bucks to build the system, the system does not work, much like the Obama Care online heath insurance exchange data system processes. This example was within the Social Security administration and involved the following fiascos, according to a recent Associated Press report:

• The Federal Social Security Administration (SSA) spent nearly $300 million on a new computer system to handle disability claims.
• Despite spending so much money, the Administration cannot get it to work. 
• They have been working on the project and problem for six years and still have no idea when it might be available to help with the high volumes of disability claims.
• The SSA claims the project is still only in the testing phase, six years and $300 million later, but claims it cannot estimate when it will be operational or how much it will cost.
• "The program has invested $288 million over six years, delivered limited functionality and faced schedule delays as well as increasing stakeholder concerns," said a report by McKinsey & Co., a management consulting firm.
• According to the article, SSA executives have decided to "reset" the program in an effort to save it and needed bring in the outside consultants from McKinsey to figure out what went wrong.
• On top of the operational problems and disasters, now the House Oversight Committee is also looking into the computer project, and whether Social Security officials tried to bury the McKinsey report, with committee members officially calling the project "an IT boondoggle."

Unfortunately, this is so typical of large Federal government data systems projects. We have previously reported on such ineptness where we discussed a study that found over 90% of large government data systems projects never get finished at all or fall far short of their intended goals.

Thus, while members of Congress worry about trivial things like the name of the Washington Redskins or names of Post Office locations, we are pretty sure that the Federal government is basically broken at the operations level in executing its basic functions. But that that situation never seems to be part of what politicians are worried about, issue PR releases about, or set up photo ops about.

2) Depressing article recently published by the AgainstCronyCapitalism.org website, "The Real Problem with the Economy," further illustrated the economic ignorance and stupidity of the current political class. Their inability to understand basic economic theory and policy has resulted in probably the most serious deterioration in the standard of living in this country in our entire history.

According to the website’s review of a recent New York Times article, the inflation-adjusted net worth for the typical American household was $87,992 in 2003. Just ten years later, it was only $56,335, representing a whopping 36% decline when adjusted for inflation and reality. This analysis and depressing finding was included in a study financed by the Russell Sage Foundation. 

I would bet that most long term members of Congress have been immune to this trend, given that they currently enjoy annual salaries that are three times the size of the $56,335 median. Their immunity and economic ignorance probably means that their personal trend will not turn around soon.

That is why we suggested Step 36 from “Love My Country, Loathe My Government” be implemented for all members of Congress. Step 36 reads as follows: Require all members of the political class upon their election to Congress of the White House to take and pass a course on economic concepts and principles. 

This might at least give them a fighting chance to put forth sound economic policies. Lord knows that without such training we are stuck with an ever declining standard of living.

3) A recent article in Business Week looked at how much the Defense Department (DOD) paid for standard helicopter parts from Bell Helicopter. The article was based on work done by a DOD watchdog group. Their top line findings found that the Department of Defense in 2012 paid $13.4 million for 35 standard helicopter parts but should have only paid $4.4 million.

Their detailed findings included the following examples of overpayment:

• A sleeve spacer: paid $29.95 for each, should have paid $7.49, a 300% markup.
• An inner swash plate cap: paid $2,355.85 each, should have paid $412.12, a 472% markup.
• A shim: paid $237.51 each, should have paid $25.86, an 818% markup.
• Bevel gear: paid $8,123.50, should have paid $445.06, an amazing 1,725% markup.

The article contains other parts examples which are just as insane. It is these types of examples that prove:

1. Government is severely broken at the operational level.
2. It should be no surprise how the country got to almost $18 TILLION in debt given how out of control and wasteful government and political class spending is across all facets of government.
3. When Nancy Pelosi pathetically states there is nowhere to cut government spending, just give her these examples.

4) Speaking of wasting money, consider another recent article from Business Week. NASA will complete work on a $350 million tower to test rocket engines at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The 350 foot steel frame facility was built to test rockets that were going to send America back into space, to the moon, and possibly beyond under NASA’s Constellation program.

The sad news is that the tower will probably never be used since the program was terminated years ago. President Obama proposed ending the Constellation program back in 2010 but taxpayer money continued to be spent on the tower. $292 million had already been spent by that time but incredibly, another additional $57 million was spent on this relic since then.

Not surprisingly, Mississippi's two U.S. Senators have helped keep taxpayer money flowing to create jobs on a home state project that will never be used. Another reason why we have an $18 TRILLION national debt with nothing to show in return for our wasted investment. Think about it. For $350 million we have useless cement tower in Mississippi. If we had used that money logically, sanely, and unselfishly:

• How many homeless kids could have been fed in America?
• How many sick and ailing vets could have gotten the medical treatment they need and deserve?
• How many drug addicts could have gotten the treatment they need to kick the habit?
• How many unemployed Americans could have gotten job training aid to help them reenter the workforce?

Wasting hundreds of millions of dollars is bad enough. The lost opportunity to take care of those in need in this country is even a sadder commentary on the horrendous priorities of Washington’s political class.

That’s enough insanity for today. More to follow over the next few days as we continue to prove that we are being served by the worst set of politicians in the history of this country, hands down.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Latest Political Class Insanity From Reason Magazine and More - June Edition, Zombie Special!

The June issue of Reason magazine arrived this week so it is that time of month again where we review the latest, most insane antics from the political class. These incidents come from both Reason magazine and a whole host of other sources. Reason magazine is one of the best publications for examining how destructive the politicians in this country are to the basic concepts of freedom and liberty. Their articles are well thought out and well researched but usually very easy to understand how taxes, wasteful spending, onerous laws, official corruption, and other actions continually weaken the Constitutionally guaranteed rights of Americans.

Thus, the following from Reason starts this month's listing of political class insanity:

- In a short article called "Lunar Lunacy", Reason discusses the Constellation program that is run by NASA. Constellation is, or was, the space program that was supposed to bring American astronauts back to the moon. However, the Obama administration shut down the program last year. But, in March 2011, Congress voted for a three week continuing budget resolution that compelled NASA to continue spending $1.4 million a day on Constellation, a program that was officially killed in 2010. This wasted about $29 million worth of taxpayer dollars during the three week budget window. What a disgrace.

However, it gets worse. Similar problems happened many times last year as Congress tried, unsuccessfully, to pass a budget last summer. Each time they failed, they had to pass a continuing budget resolution, resolutions that Alabama Senator Richard Shelby insisted continue to fund Constellation, a dead program. The reason: much of Constellation's funding went to businesses and employees in Shelby's state.

Even though the NASA administrator, Charlie Bolden, wrote a letter to Shelby last June warning of the waste, by the time the budget issues got resolved, the American taxpayer had paid out more than $250 million to fund a program that had already been axed by the President, $250 million paid for absolutely no benefit received. The classic example of a political zombie, a program that cannot be killed or starved.

- Recently, three Americans decided that they did not want to be enrolled into the government's Medicare program when they became eligible. They did not ask for a refund of the Medicare funds and taxes that they had paid into the system during their working years, they just did not want to enroll, probably happy to get their health care coverage elsewhere.

Sounds like a good deal for the government, especially in these times of Medicare's fast arriving bankruptcy: a customer has already paid for the service but then does not want to receive either the service or a refund. Any rational business would love to have these kinds of customers.

Apparently, the Federal government and the political class that operates it is not quite so rational. The government took these three ordinary Americans to court, saying that they HAD to enroll into the Medicare program and pay the monthly fees involved until they died. Unfortunately, the judge hearing the case agreed with the government, saying that no loophole or provision existed for someone to opt out of what now appears to be a mandatory government program.

The lead attorney for the three plans to appeal but did make an insightful comment after the verdict: "an entitlement is now an obligation." You cannot live in a free country when the government demands that you pay for a service you may not want, whether it is Medicare in this case or Obama Care in the larger sense.

- In Baltimore, a police officer is supposed to sign every ticket that is issued as a result of a traffic light camera, i.e. those tickets where a physical officer did not issue the ticket on the spot. The officer signing the camera tickets is supposed to swear that he or she had reviewed the video footage and a traffic violation had actually been captured on tape.

Unfortunately, although Officer James Fowler had passed away in September, 2010, his signature continued to appear on tickets issued as recently as January, 2011. Makes you wonder if you can believe anything the political class tells you, especially when it is sending out tickets from dead people. Or maybe this is just another example of a political zombie, akin to the NASA program above that would not die!

- 80 year old Delia Gluckin had recently left her Manhattan apartment building and was heading for the subway when she tossed a newspaper into a city trash can on her street. Unfortunately, this resulted in a $100 ticket for throwing "improper refuse" into the trash can.

Apparently, unknown to Ms. Gluckin, city trash cans are only for litter and her newspaper was legally deemed to be household trash, trash she should have disposed off prior to leaving her home. The only comment I can make here is that if NYC has someone on the payroll that is worried about how a newspaper is disposed of, then NYC has too many people on the payroll.

- Speaking of too many people on the payroll, a short Reason blurb this month talked about how Chicago employs more than 1,400 truck drivers at an average wage of $30 an hour. The city's inspector general recently reported that about 200 of these drivers are "severely" underemployed. All they have to do is transport people and equipment to work sites, at which point they they then sit around all day, collecting their pay, until they need to take everything and everyone back from the work site.

The inspector general estimated that if the drivers themselves were forced to actually work during the day, the city could save about $18 million a year in its budget. However, the city's contract with the union will not allow those work rules to be changed. Thus, the good taxpayers of Chicago pay an additional $18 million a year for no services received.

Think maybe the city's school system might make better use of the wasted $18 million? Think that city departments serving the unemployed or homeless might make better use of the wasted $18 million? Think that the Chicago taxpayers might like the wasted $18 million back in their wallets?

Some more political class insanity that Reason missed:

- According to an article in the February 14, 2011 issue of the Washington Examiner, as reprinted in the Cato Institute's Policy Report in June, an employee of the D.C Metro System was found to have stolen more than 70 pieces of Metro System equipment including a 32 inch computer monitor, tools, camera equipment, and a portable generator. The employee took some of the equipment directly out of Metro facilities but also used his Metro employee credit card to purchase items directly for himself. The Metro's inspector general, investigators, and police found all of the stolen merchandise at the employee's home.

Good police work, got the criminal, you say. Well, not so fast. While the employee was forced to retire as a result of his larceny, he will not face any criminal charges. Why? The county's district attorney decided not to press charges since the Metro "may have served to create an atmosphere where such behavior, although not explicitly condoned or excused, was part of an implicitly tolerated practice." In other words, this guy is not guilty because everyone else stole from the Metro System. That is a place I would like to work at, I can steal anything I can get my hands on because my co-workers are doing the same thing. Unbelievable.

I wonder what Metro's ridership thinks of such waste relative to their fares. Maybe if there was not such a practice and so much stolen merchandise and credit card abuse, the fares go could go down.

- We have discussed the financial disaster that the state of California is today. Huge revenue shortfalls and serious expense problems. A prime example we talked about previously was the small California town that was close to bankruptcy, probably because the people running the town, both high ranking employees, and city council members, had voted themselves salaries in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range.

Now comes word from the June 3, 2011 issue of The Week magazine, that Newport Beach, California citizens are going nuts because it has come to light that many city lifeguards make over $100,000 a year, with two lifeguards making over $200,000 a year in salary. No wonder the state and the towns in California are going bankrupt, outrageous salaries for occupations that do not warrant such pay levels.

- By just about any standard, America pays more for education than any other country in the world. And what do we get for a our generous funding? Well, not much if you are a taxpayer in Detroit. According to an Associated Press report that was summarized in the May 20, 2011 issue of The Week magazine, 47% of the adults in Detroit are functionally illiterate. According to the AP report, only 10% of those who are unable to read have made attempts to learn how.

How sad and pathetic. We have almost half of the population, in what is now a semi-major city, existing as illiterate zombies. These types of educational failures are a direct threat to our democracy and freedoms since if a large part of the population is not able to read and think for themselves, than someone else will do it for them, to the detriment of society and the benefit of those that would take advantage of illiterate people.

- According to the May 27, 2011 issue of The Week magazine, the United States had spent $750 million on the military actions against Libya. Remember, Libya is a country that holds no strategic significance for the United States, that provides virtually no oil to this country, is not a terrorist haven, is half a world a way, and represents absolutely no reason why the United States needed to expend military resources. For no purpose and to no end with the exception of laying almost another $1 billion of wasteful spending onto our $14 TRILLION national debt.

- But politicians screw up around the world also, not just in this country. In Britain, they had passed a very generous paternity leave law several years ago for pregnant women. The law  apparently grants a woman a full year of maternity leave with pay, at the expense of the company she works for, to care for the new infant. This was viewed as progressive and supportive of women's rights in the work place.

Unfortunately, the rule of unintended consequences kicked in, according to an article in the May 27, 2011 issue of The Week magazine. According to the article, companies now hesitate to hire women of child bearing age, lest they get pregnant and take a year off with pay. Thus, "the rights put in place to protect women at work are now functioning against them."  Did not quite think this one through, did they?

- And finally, some international political insanity from Turkey. It seems, according to a June 3, 2011 article in The Week magazine, that at least 10 members of a Turkish religious political party, a party that bills itself and its principles as guardians of Islamic values, were caught in a sex sting. Apparently, the behavior caught on videotape is not totally consistent with the values the party is supposed to represent. Many of the party members caught on tape, meeting young women for sexual encounters, have already resigned.

However, you have to give one of the party members credit for originality. He blamed President Obama for the sting and the videotapes. Original, but stupid.

That's it for this month. The beauty of writing about the political class, in all countries, is that they continue to prove how insane, wasteful, and incompetent they are, providing a never ending stream of incidents to report about. Which is a shame. I would much rather write about politicians actually acting sane, being efficient with our tax dollars, and competently going about a process, any process, that actually addresses and accurately implements programs to eliminate the major issues facing the country.

But I guess zombies are hot in our culture today and the political class is more than happy to provide their versions of zombie programs, zombie government employees and other assorted zombie insanity.


Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.loathemygovernment.com
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com