Some
congressman once said something like… “A billion here, a billion
there and pretty soon you’re talking real money”.
I’m convinced that’s the way they see it. Several years ago I found
a glitch in the system here in our state that was allowing 20-30
million a year to go uncollected. I took my discovery to the attention
of the state agency and was promptly told… “You know in the over
all scheme of things….20-30 million a year just isn’t worth that
much to us.”
My question is this…if 20-30 million a year isn’t much, then why
do they worry so much about the piddling amounts I owe them from
time to time? Why not just let me alone and forget anything I might
owe?
I think it is the consensus of just about everyone that I know that
if the government would stop wasting so much money we (us taxpayers)
would have to pay less to keep the government afloat. I could always
use a few more bucks in my pocket each month, how about you?
So, here’s another wonderful way to spend and waste more taxpayer
dollars.
This
month the government is going to hold another terror drill in three
parts of the country. The scenario is that three fictional ‘dirty’
bombs will be exploded and will shut down vital transportation arteries.
No problem so far, right?
I mean we all
need to plan for the bad things that could happen. Then we need
to take action to prevent the kinds of foul-ups that occur as a
result of these exercises. Isn’t that the reason we do them in the
first place? Kind of a test… you did in school….you remember, you
studied and took a practice test to see how well you would perform
when the real thing came along.
Well, try this on for size. These terror drills cost somewhere in
the neighborhood of twenty five million each year and have since
the year 2000. I’m ok with that. Makes a lot of sense to me. Better
to be safe than sorry.
But wait, there’s more. You would think that before they start this
year’s exercise, they would have a review of last years exercise
so they could correct any mistakes… right?
Well, as I’ve said before, logic and government thinking is somewhat
of an oxymoron. You see, they don’t have the report for the exercise
they did last year; in 2006…in fact they don’t have the report for
the exercise they did in 2005. I suppose it doesn’t really matter
since 25-30 million a year really isn’t much money in the overall
scheme of things, is it?
I mean why
should I be worried about something like this, is this any of my
business? I think so. I think anyone will agree that the US government
is not, I repeat is not, a profitable business enterprise. They
don’t make a profit, they just spend money.
We make the
money and give it to them. Not willingly, but we do it anyway, because
that’s how it works.
It only stands to reason that they should try and be decent stewards
of what we send over each and every year. But then again, that takes
logic and it seems the folks inside of the beltway are not always
the most logical are they?
I just wonder who if anyone, ever looks at any of these programs
like the one I just described and asked the powers that be, why
is this allowed to happen?
If someone
came out with that kind of a platform and was running for president,
I guarantee you one thing…
They would get my vote.
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