Whew! I was worried that the stimulus money was going to be wasted!

[CW&M Mom]

I should mention too...this guy's unit was one that trained the units before they went to Iraq...they moved around and probably felt that that staying under budget was not helpful for them...because they lost that money...and then the next year...there budget was cut.

[MaryMary]

I absolutely agree that they should do it the way your suggesting...and I do not want war time stuff to be cheap or even just okay...I want them to have the best, safest, product that can be purchased. It's the non wartime stuff that was just baffling what they were just farting money away on just to spend the money. Even if all that money stayed within the military...rewarding them to divert what they don't need to say the VA hospitals would be wonderful....and not punishing them by cutting there budget by not spending.

Gross mismanagement is rampant in any government department. Every manager is fighting tooth and nail for every penny allocated to their department, even if they do not need it. Yes, all private business managers do the same, but that's private businesses, not taxpayers money. I spoke to a regional Social Security manager just days before fiscal new years, it was the businest time of the year trying to spend all money left on their balances. He was talking about dozens of thousand of dollars, not a couple hundred here and there.
I keep quiet about accountability of the government employees to the tasks assigned and their productivity, happened to spend a week or so in one of the offices.
There are huge amount of money in the system which are not accountable for. Million here, billion there, who cares... Just push a bit to pass on some new bills so we'll have more opportunities to tuck in more pork, throw to Average Joe and Jane some freebies to shut them up and we'll be fine. :shrug7:

[Dengineer]

Gross mismanagement is rampant in any government department. Every manager is fighting tooth and nail for every penny allocated to their department, even if they do not need it. Yes, all private business managers do the same, but that's private businesses, not taxpayers money. I spoke to a regional Social Security manager just days before fiscal new years, it was the businest time of the year trying to spend all money left on their balances. He was talking about dozens of thousand of dollars, not a couple hundred here and there.
I keep quiet about accountability of the government employees to the tasks assigned and their productivity, happened to spend a week or so in one of the offices.
There are huge amount of money in the system which are not accountable for. Million here, billion there, who cares... Just push a bit to pass on some new bills so we'll have more opportunities to tuck in more pork, throw to Average Joe and Jane some freebies to shut them up and we'll be fine. :shrug7:

Exactly! These are the exact reasons that the government shouldn't be given any more responsibility than is absolutely necessary to administer their Constitutionally mandated duties. Even those will be bungled in the government's own special way, but limiting their power and authority limits the mismanagement.

[CW&M Mom]

Exactly! These are the exact reasons that the government shouldn't be given any more responsibility than is absolutely necessary to administer their Constitutionally mandated duties. Even those will be bungled in the government's own special way, but limiting their power and authority limits the mismanagement.

I guess what some of us see...is the rampant complaing about the 1% of the budget (the food stamps)...and the unemployment...which very little has much to do with the feds....has about 98% of the attention here. I don't have figures on the military portion of the budget (and speaking purely of the wasteful spending)...but more complaining about that....might be more logical KWIM....as it takes up a huge amount of the budget. I would rather have my tax money go to the single mom with kids with food stamps....than help the military purchase the $200 hammer form XYZ company that isn't even needed.

I also really don't see much difference on the corporate side either.

I can't go into detail, as I need to go, but back from where I'm from...the most republican state in the Union....how they do the spending in the military (as in you get this amount...spend it in a year...or lose it)...is exactly how they do funding for the things needed in the school districts (it's called block grants)...and the exact same effect happens. It's not necessarily a liberal way of funding...republicans like it too...in fact it makes them feel better...that they get to take the money away if it's not spent in the year....but they can't see past the fact....that that causes the school district to spend it unwisely...if they could hold onto that money...until they actually need it (as in right now, since the budgets are in shambles form lower property taxes)...it sure would be more helpful.

[MaryMary]

I guess what some of us see...is the rampant complaing about the 1% of the budget (the food stamps)...and the unemployment...which very little has much to do with the feds....has about 98% of the attention here. I don't have figures on the military portion of the budget (and speaking purely of the wasteful spending)...but more complaining about that....might be more logical KWIM....as it takes up a huge amount of the budget. I would rather have my tax money go to the single mom with kids with food stamps....than help the military purchase the $200 hammer form XYZ company that isn't even needed.

do you know why FS issues takes 98% of attention here? Because that's what we, grocery shoppers, see the most. I wouldn't be too much off that 99% of members here spend much more time in the stores then reading government fiscal reports.

I also really don't see much difference on the corporate side either.

the difference is in the source of money, how it's acquired. Corporations have to produce some product, sell it and receive money, while government create nothing but receive money anyway. Yes, corporate managers spend the budget, not their own money, but if they'd mismanage more then once they'd have nothing to manage any more...

I can't go into detail, as I need to go, but back from where I'm from...the most republican state in the Union....how they do the spending in the military (as in you get this amount...spend it in a year...or lose it)...is exactly how they do funding for the things needed in the school districts (it's called block grants)...and the exact same effect happens. It's not necessarily a liberal way of funding...republicans like it too...in fact it makes them feel better...that they get to take the money away if it's not spent in the year....but they can't see past the fact....that that causes the school district to spend it unwisely...if they could hold onto that money...until they actually need it (as in right now, since the budgets are in shambles form lower property taxes)...it sure would be more helpful.

Lets say, you have some leftover from your monthly grocery budget. Do you have to spend it on groceries? No! You can save it to college or pension funds (lond term), or emergency fund (short term), shift over to another item of your budget, treat your family with dinner out, etc. The problem is, lets say, school superintendent is not allowed to have endowments, spend it or lose it plus budget cuts next term.