Article from For Liberty by Norm Leahy.
Official Washington is entering a very special time of year – the annual end of the fiscal year spending binge on federal contracts.
What does this little known, but very expensive, government practice involve? According to researchers at OpentheBooks.com, it’s when federal agencies spending all of the remaining money they have been given for the year. Spending it all is key – because if they don’t they may be given much less to spend next year.
This perverse incentive system leads to some astounding outlays of taxpayer money. In their report, which looked at spending on federal contracts in September 2019, Open the Books discovered expenditures for:
Alcohol ($502,026); guns and ammunition at non-military, non-law enforcement agencies like HHS, VA, and ED ($1.5 million); games, toys and musical equipment including pianos, flutes, and French horns ($3.7 million); lobster tail and snow crab ($4.6 million); golf carts, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles ($6.2 million); books and pamphlets ($23 million); workout and recreation equipment ($25.1 million); batteries ($53 million); vehicles ($253.8 million); public relations and marketing ($456.8 million); and furniture ($457.8 million).
On the feds’ booze tab for September 2019, Open the Books notes:
The 2 departments awarding these contracts were Defense ($308,025) and State ($194,001). Vendors winning the business included Carisam-Samuel Meisel, Inc. ($248,744), Foreign Awardees ($194,001), and Coors Brewing Company ($59,282).
All alcohol purchased by the State Department was on behalf of embassies and consulates. The beer acquisition was all through Coors.
The kicker? Spending in September 2019 may have topped $91 billion (out of $575 billion for the entire fiscal year). But that was a decrease from 2018 when contract spending exceeded $96 billion.
Given the massive increase in federal spending this fiscal year owing to the coronavirus, it’s possible September could be even more lucrative for federal contractors.
Image Credit: By Jericho [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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If the world found out that Martians were about to invade Earth the State Department would immediately announce: The Department of State will be meeting on this question 6times a week. These will be formal meetings. Tuxedos for men, gowns for women. We have arranged to have 600 gallons of Dom Perignon champagne and 400 pounds of Kalgan caviar for each meeting. These meetings will go on for 6 days/week for 400 weeks. In this manner the Department of State will, we believe, determine important questions about the Martians such as ‘What is their favorite color? What drugs do they prefer for private use? What ocean front homes has THEIR government given to them for their, like our, dedication to always finding no answer to any problem?’ A report will be given to the Press in 3-4 years.
This article seems to cover during the Trump administration, however, how about the information on the Obama administration and how about for Republicans vs Democrats. Seems to be some disappointing in the numbers. Seems loaded pork budgets of the Democrats are far more extensive than any other administration. If your article goes one way perhaps it’s best to extend your article by bring in by both sides of the coin. Too one sided as far as I can see. Perhaps Pelosi and her minions are behind this article because this article sure stinks to me. and I’m sure
You’re absolutely RIGHT, this has been going on for decade’s!!! My Uncle worked at the Pentagon starting in the 60’s untill he retired, he said the Government is VERY wasteful!!!!
My Uncle worked at the Pentagon, he said it is DISGRACEFUL, they throw away perfectly good stuff and destroy it, nobody is allowed to get any of it.