How to Get the Goverment to Buy You an iPod
April 9th, 2008 by Peter SudermanSo it looks like the government can’t even manage something as basic as employee purchases using government-issued credit cards. You’ve got federal employees running up tabs for iPods, luxury dinners, and dating services, and $2 million worth of purchased stuff unaccounted for. In the grand scheme of our $3 trillion federal budget, that’s not a lot of money. But the thing is, it’s your money; these are taxpayer dollars being blown on internet dating services and fancy steak dinners. If it’s so difficult to keep track of something as basic as employee credit card purchases, how much more trouble do you think they’ll have managing a massive federal budget? One more reason — as if you needed it — why keeping as much money out of the government’s hands is always a good thing.
April 9th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
It is troubling, Peter, I agree. But let’s not get too crazy here. Of that “almost” two million dollars, one-third was stolen by a single person: Debra K. Durfey, who was charged with five counts of embezzlement in federal court in late 2006. So while this issue definitely needs more oversight, ultimately it would appear that federal employees are doing pretty well with our money. KBR, on the other hand…
When oh when are we going to start seeing posts about how our tax dollars is being spent, stolen, misplaced, etc. in Iraq? I still don’t understand how your organization can be so silent on that issue.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
They don’t care Sickle…it’s not on their radar…