The Unaccounted For $619 Billion...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Purveyor of Truth


$619 billion in greenbacks missing from the federal budget. That is to say just how the $619 billion, covering 320 federal programs was spent is a mystery. There apparently exists no accounting of the $619 billion.

Although this is a major issue, or at the very least it should be considered as such, does the fact it happened really surprise anyone?

WASHINGTON — A government website intended to make federal spending more transparent was missing at least $619 billion from 302 federal programs, a government audit has found.

And the data that does exist is wildly inaccurate, according to the Government Accountability Office, which looked at 2012 spending data. Only 2% to 7% of spending data on USASpending.gov is "fully consistent with agencies' records," according to the report.

Among the data missing from the 6-year-old federal website:

• The Department of Health and Human Services failed to report nearly $544 billion, mostly in direct assistance programs like Medicare. The department admitted that it should have reported aggregate numbers of spending on those programs.

• The Department of the Interior did not report spending for 163 of its 265 assistance programs because, the department said, its accounting systems were not compatible with the data formats required by USASpending.gov. The result: $5.3 billion in spending missing from the website.

• The White House itself failed to report any of the programs it's directly responsible for. At the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which is part of the White House, officials said they thought HHS was responsible for reporting their spending.

For more than 22% of federal awards, the spending website literally doesn't know where the money went. The "place of performance" of federal contracts was most likely to be wrong.

That's a problem, said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

"We live in a world in which information drives decisions," Carper said. "And, given the budget constraints that our government faces, we need reliable information on how and where our money is being spent."

I suppose when the federal government views it's taxpaying citizens as a never ending and bottomless money pit this is what we can expect.

More BELOW THE FOLD.

Via: Memeorandum

Comments

  1. Sounds more like a reporting problem than an "unaccounted for" problem.

    ReplyDelete
  2. More of the arrogance of the ruling elite. RN. Regardless of which party is involved.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Haven't "they" printed enough? As well as borrowing enough?

    See, "they" know "they" spent the $619 billion, "they" just have no damned idea on what. Or to whom it went apparently.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those who defend this have no idea what accountability and responsibility are. If they can't document it they shouldn't spend it. And if they don't waste this amount any more, the annual deficit is more than erased.

      Let's do it.

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. As Dervish Sanders posted a recent comment I left at his his siteI feel it only proper to respond in kind. You'all know, tit for tat and all.

    I will forego a response, leaving it to those so inclined to "engage" with DS to carry the response(s).

    ReplyDelete
  6. RN: I choose at this point not to respond to the sewer-shark. He has lots of gnashing of teeth, but no bite.

    As for "Tit for Tat", Les, does this mean you will make a "Dissembling Dervish" fake blog as he made his "Lying Lester" and in a similar fashion entirely misrepresent his statements??

    Oh wait. You have a life. That answers that question.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh wait. You have a life. That answers that question. :-)

    Yes dmarks, indeed I do. Complete with a lovely and intelligent women (my wife) by my side. I have zero time for children's play and writing dissertations of 1,000+ words that very few, if anybody, read.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hear he sends the equivalent of "War and Peace" by Tolstoy every week or two, to Will's blog. All of it never read, ever. But it is more like "Bore and Sleaze" by Toadstool.

      Delete

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