FEMA - missing / unaccounted for b/millions.
Ka-ching.
911 cleanup - missing /unaccounted for b/millions.
Ka-ching.
Iraq invasion - missing / unaccounted for b/millions.
Ka-ching.
Looting of Iraq treasure - unaccounted for b/millions.
Ka-ching.

Seems like somebody, somewhere, is getting very, very rich off the public purse.

In the words of Anon Amouse, "If that war my dawg, I'd shoot it."

AP in the Washington Times, May 6, 2005

U.S. government mismanagement of assets in Iraq -- from the lack of proper documentation on nearly $100 million in cash to millions of dollars worth of unaccounted-for equipment -- are setting back efforts to fight corruption in the fledgling democracy, auditors and critics say.
Iraq became awash in billions of dollars in cash after the U.S. invasion two years ago, often with few or no controls over how that money was spent and overseen. From the $8.8 billion provided to Iraq's interim government to millions provided to U.S. contractors, investigations have detailed a system ripe for abuse.
The latest indication of that came Wednesday when investigators released a report saying $96.6 million in cash could not be properly accounted for. The total included more than $7 million that was simply gone, according to the report from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
It said $89.4 million in cash payments in south-central Iraq were made without the necessary supporting documentation. Indications of fraud and other wrongdoing are the subject of separate, continuing probes.
Wednesday's report accused civilian contract managers of "simply washing accounts" to try to make the books balance. Staffing shortages and the quick turnover of those responsible for the cash contributed to the problems, the report said, echoing the findings in previous reports.
Examples of possible misspending in Iraq revealed in recent months include:
•"Less than adequate controls" over $8.8 billion given to the interim Iraqi government between the March 2003 invasion and the transfer of power to Iraqis on June 28.
•Projected totals of nearly $20 million in missing or unaccounted-for equipment in Baghdad and Kuwait.
•A lack of proper rules governing about $600 million in cash handed out by U.S. authorities.
Critics say the freewheeling postwar spending in Iraq is, at best, providing a poor example for the new Iraqi government to follow.
"A normal citizen couldn't live this way," said Danielle Brian of the Project on Government Oversight, an independent watchdog group. "Until there are serious penalties imposed on agencies that are sloppy with their spending, we're just going to see more of the same."
A congressional critic of U.S. reconstruction spending in Iraq went further.
"The U.S. risks fostering a culture of corruption in Iraq," said Sen. Russell D. Feingold, Wisconsin Democrat.

(Nah. D'ya think?)

Leahy Bill

WASHINGTON (Thursday, January 4) – Signaling a renewed emphasis on combating corruption at home and abroad, incoming Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), introduced a package of bills Thursday targeting corrupt officials and private companies seeking to defraud American taxpayers and troops.

“Americans want the culture of corruption to end. From war profiteers and corrupt officials in Iraq, to convicted Administration officials, to influence-peddling lobbyists and, regrettably, even members of Congress, too many supposed public servants have been serving their own interests, rather than the public interest,” said Leahy.

Many Democratic Senators joined Leahy in reintroducing a bill creating criminal penalties for war profiteers and cheats who would exploit taxpayer-funded efforts in Iraq and elsewhere around the world. The War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2007 builds on earlier efforts by Leahy, who is also a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, to crack down on this type of rampant fraud and abuse. It is similar to legislation Leahy introduced in 2003, that was subsequently passed by the Senate as part of an appropriations bill but later torpedoed by the White House and the House Republican leadership, which stripped out the Leahy provision.

Also on Thursday, Leahy joined with Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), on another anti-corruption measure aimed at strengthening the tools available to federal prosecutors in combating public corruption. This bill gives investigators and prosecutors the statutory tools and the resources that they need to ensure that serious and insidious public corruption is detected and punished, including extending the statute of limitations on some of the worst crimes.

the extra fees that will be required for computer generated approved, 'Free and Secure Trade (FAST)' program, that allows commercial drivers who have their paperwork in order to spend less time in line at the border. Trucking companies will be expected to fill out and send digital copy of their manifests to computers. Independent truckers, who often are cheaper, will be left out of the loop. FAST does not mean that trucks won't be inspected? So what is the point of it?

If the Ontario government has pledged $325 million to improve security at the Canadian/US border...I wonder what the budget is for unmanned camera survelliance at the border as well as the increase in US border officials? The cost to citizenry is $75 Cdn for one passport...it is my understanding that a US passport is $96 for each member of the family. Terrorists will know there are cameras and will find other means. Seems to me the people that are being inconvenienced are not the terrorists but law-abiding citizens that will bother to get new passports and obey all the regulations.

The crappiest ideas about border security come from people that have no idea how terrorists think and plan nefarious schemes. I would have thought that anyone that has a desire to blow something up will be successful regardless of stupid and expensive ideas that are in place by Homeland Security.

How's that fence coming along that separates the United States from Mexico—any idea of what the cost will be for that?

I keep asking myself, "When will sanity return?" I don't know of any Canadians that would blow Americans to smitherines. I do have a new passport that cost $150 for the two of us. A family of four would be $300, more for American families. Betcha people who normally would have come to the USA will just decide to either stay home or go to countries that are friendler.

I will never fly, because I can't take perfume and hair spray with me. And if I use a credit card to pay for my airplane ticket, my credit card and banking information goes into a United States data base that they feel entitled to keep about me for forty years.

... The same imperative - translate your agenda into war on terror requirements or be starved of funds - and its spiraling consequences surged across the government, affecting virtually all agencies. Bureaucrats unable to describe their activities in "war on terror" terms were virtually disqualified from budget increases and probably doomed to cuts...

...tiny tip at the very, very, top of the iceberg in terms of direct costs. The major costs are found in the fact that no one there can actually account for the life cycle cost of any aquisitions program - this means that the decision making process is not rational and tends to blow through a great deal more money than they would otherwise and make acquisitions decisions that are far from optimal. From the article you linked:

"It's not that DOD flunks audits, it's that DOD's books cannot be audited. DOD aspires for the position where it flunks an audit."

Based on what I've read over the years, that sounds about exactly right.

"At this moment, therefore, two distinct myths emerged, fuelled by the trauma of a shared experience and amplified by the existence of a hungry mass media eager to disseminate images of the world's first televised revolution." - Ali Ansari