GOVERNMENTAL WASTE.....BURIED ON OUR BACKS

We live in interesting times. Unusual times. The rich get richer, the poor poorer. The government directly or indirectly assists the rich to the detriment of the poor. There is no middle class. Only the 1 per cent and 99 per cent.

 

The U.S. Census Bureau issued a recent study regarding median household incomes. The bottom line was that median household incomes have fallen five years in a row. Approximately $5,000.

 

The Republican controlled House of Representatives passed a bill recently cutting food stamps by $40 billion over a ten year period. It amounts to $3.8 billion a year. The bill was passed without a public hearing by any Congressional committee.

 

To add insult to injury, the bill provided that food stamp recipients be tested for drugs.

 

With fewer people employed and salaries significantly less, food stamps are a staple in many households. One sixth of the population receives food stamps.

47.5 million. Interestingly, that number has increased by 13 million in the five years Obama has been in office.

 

In addition, free breakfasts for children are on the way out. Republicans cry for cuts in areas affecting the elderly. Social Security and Medicare. They also want to do away with Obamacare.

 

While Congress is trying or actually cutting back on much needed benefits and assistance to the people they represent, there are tons of waste for which they are directly responsible. If Congress were to pursue in the first instance governmental waste, there would be less need to economically break the backs of the poor.

 

Examples of governmental waste follow. I guarantee you will laugh at some. Never the less, you will be disturbed by all.

 

Every facet of government is a sinner. Democrats, Republicans, Tea Party members, Congressmen, Senators, and bureaucrats alike. They all bear responsibility, one way or another.

 

Senator Frank Lautenberg recently died. He represented New Jersey as a Democrat for many years. A liberal. He died a millionaire. He left an estate of $56.8 million.

 

On a recent spending bill, $174,000 was tacked on as a rider. The amount is roughly equal to one year's salary as a Senator.  There was no hearing. I even question whether there ever was proper approval obtained from the House of Representatives for the payment in this instance or any in the past.

 

The $174,000 was in effect a death benefit paid to a Senate  member's widow. It was justified as a time honored practice. Note that $174,000 was appropriated to a millionaire widow at the same time that food stamps were being cut  by the House of Representatives $40 billion.

 

House and Senate members receive free medical. The best. While the Republican members of both Houses want to do away with medical care to 30 million people who previously had none.

 

Lets move on to banks. The Huffington Post came out recently with an interesting and shocking report.

 

Huffington claims the biggest banks in the U.S. receive 3 per cent of every tax dollar. It amounts to $722 per family.  The monies are viewed as a subsidy. They are not TARP dollars.

 

The 3 per cent totals $83 billion a year that the banks are receiving.

 

The subsidy applies to the 10 largest banks. The banks are able to borrow money from creditors at lower rates than small banks and people. The reason is that by legislation the government guarantees the bank loans. If the banks fail to pay, the government will with tax dollars.

 

The system is simple. The banks borrow at a low rate of interest and loan the monies out at a higher rate of interest. The dollars in between are pure profit.

 

What bugs me is the claim that without this taxpayer subsidy, none of the top ten banks would be profitable. Wow! Which means if you carry the thought to its logical end, the $20 billion and $40 billion bonus's bank CEOs have been receiving come from the profit the banks make because of taxpayer guarantees.

 

While all this has been going on, the banks are not lending as they should to Main Street America.

 

Pigs.

 

This next example is a beauty.

 

The U.S. Senate has its own barber shop. Funded by the taxpayers. It is called Senate Hair Care Services. Until 1979 haircuts were free. Then because of the Carter recession, a charge of $3.50 for a haircut was initiated. Manicures would cost $18.

 

The head barber receives a salary of $80,000 a year. Six others, $40,000 a year.

 

The barber shop runs at a deficit of $500,000 a year. Taxpayer dollars pay the deficit.

 

I am not enamored with the Heritage Foundation. I sometimes think the organization is the true Speaker of the House of Representatives. However credit must be given where credit is due. The Heritage Foundation has revealed certain governmental waste items.

 

$2.6 million was paid for a study by Wayne State University. The purpose of the study was to determine how to train Chinese prostitutes to drink more responsibly. The claim was it might help with keeping Aids down in China.

 

Credit card abuse is rampant in federal agencies. An example is a $13,500 charge for one dinner by the     U. S. Postal Service. The same organization that at this very moment is in deep trouble economically. The cost of a stamp could go up as much as a nickel. Saturday deliveries may be curtailed. Home deliveries stopped.

 

There were 187 guests at the dinner. It was at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Over 200 appetizers, more than $3,000 in alcohol. At the same time that food stamps were under consideration to be cut, as well as breakfasts for poor children.

 

Historically, the Pentagon has been famous for spending abnormal and unreasonable amounts for items. I recall when I was in college in the 1950s there was some sort of expose because the Pentagon was paying $400 for one toilet seat.

 

The Pentagon did not buy anything this time. What they did was ship parts at exorbitant cost. The parts were simple washers. Two $ .19 washers were shipped from South Carolina to Texas at a cost of $998,798. An $ .89 washer was shipped from South Carolina to Florida at a cost of $293,451.

 

Many federal employees do not like flying coach. Neither do I. But, I do. Even to Europe. I am paying my own bill. The government is not paying for me.

 

Federal employees spend $146 million dollars annually for upgrades. Only half are authorized. None should be and every employee should fly like most  taxpayers do. Coach.

 

The House of Representatives authorizes money to be spent. Congress recently gave Alaska Airlines $500,000 to paint a Chinook salmon on a Boeing 737.

 

The Defense Department gets the biggest share of the American budget. There were $100 million worth of unused flight tickets purchased at Department of Defense expense. All were refundable. None were refunded.

 

Senator Tom Coburn is a Republican from Oklahoma. I do not always agree with him. He is a penny pincher and a penny watcher. He is much like Ben Franklin in that regard.

 

Senator Coburn recently came up with two bad CCongressional approved spending items. One was $505,000 to promote specialty hair and beauty products for cats and dogs. The other $97,000 for floating outhouses for Oregon fishermen.

 

The Democrats and Republicans have their party conventions every four years. A big deal! Who pays for it? The taxpayers. You and I. The cost is $100 million paid to each party.

 

IHop makes money. Their pancake outlets do a good business. IHOP puts out a quality product at a decent price. The company is successful. Such being the case, it is difficult to understand why a grant was given to  HOP of $800,000 to subsidize the building of a I HOP in Columbia Heights, one of Washington, D.C.'s trendiest and most desirable neighborhoods.

 

The elevators on Capitol Hill that our Representatives and Senators use every day are fully automated. Yet the government spends an additional $440,000 a year for attendants to push the buttons.

 

In recent years, Congress has authorized tons of money to build new court houses. Most not needed. Since 2000, millions of square feet of wasted unused courthouse space exists all over the United States. Forget the waste in construction dollars for the unneeded facilities, it costs $57 million a year to maintain the unused space.

 

The National Institute of Health is an Agency of the U.S. Department of Health. In 2011, the National Institute of Health authorized a study by Ohio State University at a cost of $386,000. The purpose of the study was to determine what was the best massage duration when massaging rabbits.

 

Sarah Palin is not one of my favorite people. However, she came out with an on point statement when she recently said, "If the government shuts down, who will spy on me?"

 

There are so many more examples of misappropriation and wastefulness by Washington. I suggest our elected representatives first look within themselves when cutting. Cutting important items such as  food stamps, breakfasts for children, Obamacare, and considering cutting Social Security and Medicare.

 

What did the poor, the young, the sick and the elderly do to receive the treatment that they are? I do not understand. It is the big guys picking on the little guys. Bullies kicking those that cannot effectively protect themselves.

 

My admonition: Pick a fight with some one your own size! See what it is like to get kicked in the ass.

 

 

POPE FRANCIS.....A FLAMING LIBERAL

Pope Francis' election as Pope of the Catholic Church provided me no consolation at the time. I wrote soon after that I doubted he was what Catholics in the United States needed. I envisioned him as another preacher of Church doctrinaire which had driven Catholics from the Church en masse. 

 

I considered the problems of United States Catholics distinct from those of Catholics in other countries. Gays, abortion and birth control were among the leaders. It was my opinion that a simple priest from Argentina was not equipped by training or experience to deal with these issues. My reasoning was based on the fact that his primary concern as a prelate  in Argentina was to help the poor. Poverty was a local problem he had dealt with his entire priestly career.

 

I was wrong! I could not have been more wrong!

 

Pope Francis has been a surprise and a breath of fresh air. Doctrinaire is not as rigid. He speaks of love. Jesus loved. The Church should love. The new Pope recognized that the position of the Church had been one of obsession. A rigid doctrinaire approach to gays, abortion and birth control. He said in effect ease up, love one another.

 

Pope Francis made it clear. Such items were on the table for rethinking.

 

Slate Magazine last week referred to Pope Francis as.....a flaming liberal. He is. Conservative he is not. His comments are shaking his Church and the rest of the world at the same time.

 

If question still existed as to his flaming liberalism, Pope Francis cleared the air this past Sunday. The Pope was in Cagliari, Sardinia. He had a prepared speech to give. The comments of the people caused him to cast his prepared remarks aside. People were telling him they lacked work, needed work. Things were desperate. It was increasingly difficult for a father to feed his family.

 

Pope Francis' off the cuff remarks hit home. Not only for Cagliari, but for the rest of the world also. He spoke of money, big business and poverty.

 

He began by condemning big business' idolatry of money over man. He referred to money as an ".....idol." Decried the ".....god called money."

 

The Pope said, ".....where there is no work, there is no dignity." This statement recalled to mind Flora's comment. Flora is an Albanian I met in Amorgos this past summer. She cleaned my living quarters.

 

Flora moved me. Her simplicity, her piety. Life could be tough. I quoted Flora's comment in my column published here late in August. She told me that ".....for poor people winter is all year, there is no summer."

 

Flora and the Pope are of the same mind set.

 

Pope Francis further commented on the old, the young and their treatment in the money world of today. He said,  "We throw away grandparents and we throw away young people. We have to say no to this throwaway culture. We want a system that helps everyone."

 

Another of his comments hit me hard. He urged the unemployed to fight for work. Fight.....

 

Comments the Pope has made fuel the fires of revolutionary thought. Love one another, tear away at the restrictive thinking of the Church, everyone who wants to work should work.

 

No question Pope Francis is a liberal. Makes sense. Jesus was a liberal.

 

Pope Francis is planting seeds that will alter the thinking of the Catholic Church. Perhaps the world. 

SYRIA'S PUPPET MASTER.....BANDAR BIN SULTAN

Syria continues to be a mess. It may be one for many years. There is one person who is pulling the strings, calling the shots. He is the man behind the scenes, a manipulator. 

 

It is not Obama. Nor is it Putin or Assad. It is Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud. A big name for a big man!

 

A bit of history first regarding Prince Bandar's background.

 

He is 64 years old.

 

His father was of royal lineage. His mother a commoner. Actually, a concubine. She and her son were ignored by the royal family till Prince Bandar was 11 years old. At that time, his mother and he were permitted to move into the royal palace to live.

 

Prince Bandar's education was English and American. He is a graduate of the Royal Air Force College Cranervell. He trained as a jet fighter pilot. He later received additional training at the Maxwell Air Force Base and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He received a Masters in International Studies from John Hopkins University.

 

His diplomatic career began in 1978 when he was assigned to Washington, D.C. Overnight, he became a favorite of Presidents, Congressmen and Washington luminaries. In 1978, he was appointed Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States. During his diplomatic career, his influence was in constant ascendancy. He served during the terms of five Presidents, ten Secretaries of State, and eleven National Security advisors. His relationship with Bush 1 was so close that Prince Bandar was described as being a member of the President's family.

 

Prince Bandar continued as Ambassador till 2005. Since he was first appointed to  the post in 1983, his tenure lasted 23 years. In each of the 23 years, he acquired more influence and more clout.

 

In 2005, Prince Bandar became Secretary General of Saudi Arabia's National Security Council. In 2012, he was appointed Director General of the Saudi Intelligence Agency by King Abdullah himself.

 

Prince Bandar continued and continues as a person of great influence during his Security/Intelligence years. He frequently meets with senior U.S. officials. Many visited him in Saudi Arabia. Not all the trips were public knowledge.  Some were silent and never disclosed.

 

Personal antidotes of the Prince includes traveling where ever in a very large Airbus A-340. He owns an estate in England. He built a 32 room mansion in Aspen at a cost of $135 million. He is a cigar smoker, drinker and party man. He wears European clothes as often as possible.

 

A man of power, a man of influence. Undoubtedly.

 

In late 2012, Saudi intelligence, functioning at the direction of Prince Bandar, began efforts to convince the U.S. that Assad was using chemical weapons.

 

The Wall Street Journal this past August reported that Prince Bandar had been appointed to lead Saudi Arabia's efforts to topple Syrian President Assad.

 

Also in August, the Mint Press News claimed Prince Bandar had supplied chemical weapons to Assad's opposition, the rebels.

 

Money, easily available money, comes into play. In the early 2000s, it is claimed an Al-Yamamaharms deal was concluded. Billions of dollars were involved. It is claimed Prince Bandar has been freely using certain of those funds to  finance Saudi Arabia's security activities.  The monies found their way into 2 Saudi Washington Embassy accounts, Saudi government accounts, and royal family accounts. It was alleged that Prince Bandar was using these funds to accomplish Saudi Arabia's ends. An investigation arose. In 2009, Prince Bandar retained former FBI Director Louis Fresh to represent him.

 

Obviously, Saudi Arabia wants Assad out and certain rebel factions in. At some point, it is claimed a covert campaign began to support the rebels with money and arms. It is claimed that CIA funds were funneled through Prince Bandar to the rebels. CIA involvement cannot be verified as the CIA is not required to divulge how it spends money allocated to it.

 

At the same time, Prince Bandar was pushing Congress and the Obama administration to expand the U.S. role in Syria. Congress and the President were being told that Assad was responsible for chemical attacks.

 

Many believe the AL-Qaeda rebel faction used chemical weapons and it was blamed on Assad. The Russians are not the only ones who are of this opinion. Whoever, whatever, assuming the chemicals were supplied to AL-Qaeda rebels directly or indirectly by Saudi Arabia, Prince Bandar has attempted to pull the wool over the eyes of the world. Including many in Congress and President Obama.

 

Prince Bandar's power and abilities have been described as wasta.....under the table clout. The clout.....money and arms. He has been able to arrange for both to find there way  to whom ever and where ever is in the best interests of Saudi Arabia. Including the Syrian rebels.

 

What is the bottom line here? What is going on? Who, what and why are the motivating factors? 

 

Oil. Oil, oil, oil.

 

Saudi Arabia is purportedly our friend. Yet 15 of the 19 persons directly responsible for 9/11 were Saudi Arabians. Not much was ever made of this. Gasoline prices continue to be sky high in the United States. A good chunk of the oil imported comes from our friend Saudi Arabia. Why haven't the Saudi's done something to bring the price down? That should be what friends are for.

 

Syria has miles and miles of pipelines through which Saudi Arabia moves its petroleum product. Saudi Arabia needs the use of those  pipe lines. Syria also has tons of natural gas yet untapped.

 

Russia is a player. Russia's major export is gasoline. It represents 70 per cent of Russia's income. Russia needs the same pipelines to transport its petroleum product.

 

Russia has been using for years the Syrian port of Tartus to move its product from Russia to Syria and then to the pipelines and other seaports. The loss of the Tartus seaport to the Russians would be disastrous.

 

Approximately six weeks ago, Prince Bandar visited Putin in Moscow. He tried to convince Putin to abandon support of Assad. In return, Prince Bandar would guarantee that the seaport of Tartuswould remain in Russian hands as it has. Additionally, Prince Bandar made it clear that the Olympics would not be tampered with. Putin never thought the games would be.

 

Prince Bandar explained Chechen terrorists, who were under Prince Bandar's control, would not disrupt the Sochi games. There would be no bombings, fires, attacks, killings, etc. It was reported Putin's response was a firm Nyet. No!

 

China is another player. Though merely on the perimeter. and probably smart enough not to get directly involved. China needs oil. Big time. In 2011, China and Saudi Arabia entered into a deal. Involved were investments and arms. The deal places China silently on the side of Saudi Arabia.

 

Russia in the meantime is seeking out friends of its own. It was recently announced that Russia was selling Iran some super doper missiles and also would be helping in the development of another nuclear reactor in Iran.

 

The petrodollar rules! Oil is the underlying current in all of this.

 

Prince Bandar is the leader of the band. He is a pied piper and the U.S. is dancing to his tune. Rather than taking the lead.

 

Perhaps President Obama is correct. I do not see it.

 

What a mess!

Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou

Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou 09/17 by Key West Lou | Current Events Podcasts

Last week Lou talked about Syria...This week's show is to expand on this. The man pulling the strings..... Bandar bin Sultan. Should be good.

9pm Tuesday nights !

GREECE OPENS DOOR TO POISONOUS FOODSTUFFS

 

The Greek government recently came up with a plan to help feed its millions who are without food. The plan was to take effect September 1. Two days after the plan was announced, the supermarkets slammed the door shut on the proposal.

 

Most Greeks are living below the poverty level. Fathers cannot feed their families. They are without money to buy groceries. Most of these fathers have been hard working all their lives and now find themselves in a humbling situation not of their making.

 

I believe the Greek government has been and is screwed up when it comes to money. Otherwise, the Greek people would not be in the dire economic straits they are today.

 

The Greek government announced that as of September 1, supermarkets and grocery stores would be permitted to sell outdated foods. Expired foods. Foods that were beyond the date set forth following "Best used by....."

 

Depending on the type of food, the groceries could be sold anywhere from one week to three months following the expiration date.

 

The government required the stores to set aside a special section with a sign for the aged foodstuffs.  All foods so sold were to be sold priced below what they were initially labeled to be sold for.

 

What a wonderful solution to a serious problem! Make bad food available to the public. Put the consumers at risk. Invite e.coli, salmonella, botulism and I do not know what else to poison your own people.

 

The plan was bad on its face. It did not take long for someone to raise holy hell about it. The supermarkets.

 

The supermarkets stood together. They were concerned with health and safety issues. Outdated produce especially raised their ire.  The supermarkets refused to poison their customers. A few of the smaller stores swiftly jumped into the program, but it is expected they will back away.

 

The plan backfired. Before it even got going.

 

Is the Greek government capable of doing better? I do not know. Perhaps no one knows how to do better. The economically driven Greek calamity may be without solution in every respect. The proposal itself reeked of desperation.

 

As you are aware, I have spent a considerable amount of time in Greece the past two summers. One of my friends communicated with me. On the second day of this program, she bought a bag of outdated rice at a grocery store. When she opened it, the rice was crawling with small worms.