Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Tax Money Down the Drain

With the new tax plan as law it would behoove us to see how our taxes are spent. It is a sad truth that our government is too large and misappropriates our dollars. The military complex takes half and has their flunky's complain about entitlements which is close to the other half. The problem with the tax law is that the legislators are living in a fairy land. I agree with the corporate side tax level being reduced, however there was no need to help lower the rich in the individual bracket. They should have raised that level to 42%. But hey, that's just me and this little blog.
Another sad truth about the tax plan it that it does not reduce our national debt. These legislators do not have their feet on the ground. They probably will be going to California for New Year's to keep their "high." What it all means is our government will resort to borrowing and bloating the national debt to cover their stupidity. In addition to these basic mistakes, our tax dollars get taken for useless projects like a bridge to nowhere. The politicians take our money to use as a campaign to get re-elected in their state. It is no wonder that Congress never does anything because its people have no vision other than self. This is the sad meme of our times. Here are a few examples which does not include expenses in the budget for foreign aid, NSA to spy on us or similar. We get deeper in debt to give corrupt nations military hardware, service and technology to be our friend. This is BS!
The following are examples, although some are for flavor and not associated with our taxes.
GAO 
According to the Government Accountability Office, our government shows no improvement in the use of our taxes. In a report just released, it highlights Medicaid payments. It found fraudulent billing claims and it estimates that the cost of the various crimes to be 10% or $36 billion in 2016. Here's an idea: Hire some people to crack down on these crooks.
Infrastructure
President Trump has big plans with our need to rebuild our infrastructure. Sounds great, but this only opens the door for more corruption. These contracts need to be policed. In addition, if the winning company cannot deliver on budget, they take the loss! Of course, the bidding is another problem. It takes years to catch these crooks and the penalties should be similar to individual sentences like three strikes and you're out! If a company commits three felonies, put them out of business! A recent example in the news is Keppel Offshore and Marine. They had to pay $422 million for bribery concerning contracts for Petroleo Brasileliro. Anyway, our nation has a poor history with infrastructure projects. Project Management Institute says around $100 million or 10% of every billion spent goes down the drain. WASTE! This is due to poor bureaucracy. Some day 60 Minutes will also find corruption and bribery.
* Bank Embezzlers: It is not just Wells Fargo. Halifax Bank of Scotland employees stole from clients and from the bank too.
* Online Crooks: They are everywhere. A marketing company, WPP estimates the amount of global rip-offs in 2017 to be $16.4 billion.
* Sex for Sale: Nothing new, but a new twist. Young virgins are offering the first shot online. I can't wait to hear the honeymoon story on how I lost my virginity?
* Crooked Agencies: We know bureaucracies waste and some are down right corrupt like the Navajo Housing Authority. A recent study reveals the agency spent on average $1.1 million to provide housing for needy Indians. The only problem is these are small homes worth much, much less.
* Military Fashion: It is bad enough to buy friendship, but add this. Foreign troops wanted specially design fatigues which cost us an extra $28 million. Then, they received a special plane( ATR4-500) to spy on narcotic fields which cost another $65 million. Keep in mind that these expenses is borrowed money that we owe. Since we spend foolishly, we have less to invest on something positive with our money because they spent it on this crap.  
* Tom Price: taxpayers funded his flights to the tune of $500,000 to live the lifestyle of the rich and famous.
The list goes on-and-on. The Paradise Papers revealed how the rich and famous use various ways to avoid paying taxes. This is a global problem for every government. They resolve it by penalizing their ordinary citizens to cover the shortfalls of their taxation. In addition, many sport stadiums get tax exempt status and even municipal bonds to back their endeavors. There are subsidies for film companies. Here is an idea! Lower the wages of film stars to cover the cost of production. No one is worth $20 million! Let the team owners pay for their arenas. They charge too much for tickets, parking and concessions. In addition, they show no loyalty to the cities that supported them. Every city that helps a professional team should get a piece of the action to which I mean, a slice in the ownership of the team it supports.
I almost forgot, the infamous War on Drugs: State and federal taxes spent $37 billion last year and this has been going on for 40 years with no results. How about the money we give to the UN? A UN report reveals that one-third of the world's food goes to waste. Think about that the next time you go grocery shopping and see how much things cost? I can assure you of this: the bureaucrats never look at price because they don't have to work for their money.