Does it matter if their up in arms? What are they going to do - except burn their own neighborhoods down? A person who has lived their entire life on the government dime, isn't what you'd call a self starter.

I think that it is a give that the Lib side views any action against their favorite programs as an affront to humanity.  O'reilly asked one yesterday if she would be OK with a govt audit to insure that the money going to Planned Parenthood was not being used illegally.  She was 100% against an audit and with equal conviction declared that they did not spend any of their money illegally.  Elimination of fraud is taken as an attempt to remove services  from the program they are ripping off.

I think if they do not protest that you are going down the wrong path. 

EVERY SINGLE SOLITARY GOVERNMENT PROGRAM SHOULD BE AUDITED IMMEDIATELY, if only to combat "waste" and to make sure they have their spending under control. I would do it with outside auditors if possible, and instead of paying them, give them a break on their next few years tax bill.

Quote from: mdgiles on January 09, 2013, 09:55:37 AM
EVERY SINGLE SOLITARY GOVERNMENT PROGRAM SHOULD BE AUDITED IMMEDIATELY, if only to combat "waste" and to make sure they have their spending under control. I would do it with outside auditors if possible, and instead of paying them, give them a break on their next few years tax bill.

Do you think it's physically possible?

Quote from: taxed on January 09, 2013, 09:56:49 AM
Do you think it's physically possible?

It is a great idea and obviously not possible to audit the entire government in a short time period. However, with all the waste evreywhere just throw a dart at a federal organization chart and start where it lands. However, being serious, the pols and and employee unions would never allow an independent study to identify the waste in government.

If the pols ever did what everyone says they are going do, which is eliminate govt waste our deficit argument would be very different today. There is not an agency that does not have a large amount of waste which can be identified and removed.  Toss in Fraud which is not so easy to find would just be gravy. 

An audit would be helpful but if they allocate 10 hours labor to a job that private industry would allocate 2 hours, the audit would see that 10 hours was allocated and 10 hours was used.  So they would not find anything wrong.  What type of audit that is needed is one that evaluates how the work is done, how it flows and the amount of resources that are applied.  All this would be very difficult with so many unions involved who are more interested in expanding work hours and not interested in increasing efficiency. 

I would toss that dart and open up for bid to private industry half or a quarter of the work done by that group.  If they do the work quicker or more cheaply they get to take it all over.  Very black and white comparison to determine who would be more efficient.  I would guess that there would be very few that would bet that the govt agency would perform the job quicker and less expensively than the private company. 

I think that the GOP really shoots themselves when they say things like cuts to the DOD are unacceptable.  I think that there are lots of cuts that are possible that would not diminish our capabilities one bit.

Quote from: raptor5618 on January 09, 2013, 11:23:15 AM
If the pols ever did what everyone says they are going do, which is eliminate govt waste our deficit argument would be very different today. There is not an agency that does not have a large amount of waste which can be identified and removed.  Toss in Fraud which is not so easy to find would just be gravy. 

An audit would be helpful but if they allocate 10 hours labor to a job that private industry would allocate 2 hours, the audit would see that 10 hours was allocated and 10 hours was used.  So they would not find anything wrong.  What type of audit that is needed is one that evaluates how the work is done, how it flows and the amount of resources that are applied.  All this would be very difficult with so many unions involved who are more interested in expanding work hours and not interested in increasing efficiency. 

I would toss that dart and open up for bid to private industry half or a quarter of the work done by that group.  If they do the work quicker or more cheaply they get to take it all over.  Very black and white comparison to determine who would be more efficient.  I would guess that there would be very few that would bet that the govt agency would perform the job quicker and less expensively than the private company. 

I think that the GOP really shoots themselves when they say things like cuts to the DOD are unacceptable.  I think that there are lots of cuts that are possible that would not diminish our capabilities one bit.

I agree wholeheartedly about the DOD. there are plenty of opportunity areas there. One of the issues with DOD, and other departments, is the pols keep appropriating funds that are not necessary, but are "bringing home the pork". Weapons systems, etc; standout as examples.

Quote from: supsalemgr on January 09, 2013, 11:32:56 AM
I agree wholeheartedly about the DOD. there are plenty of opportunity areas there. One of the issues with DOD, and other departments, is the pols keep appropriating funds that are not necessary, but are "bringing home the pork". Weapons systems, etc; standout as examples.

The DOD is not where we need to start cutting.

Quote from: supsalemgr on January 09, 2013, 10:40:32 AM
It is a great idea and obviously not possible to audit the entire government in a short time period. However, with all the waste evreywhere just throw a dart at a federal organization chart and start where it lands. However, being serious, the pols and and employee unions would never allow an independent study to identify the waste in government.

I'm saying, I don't think it's actually possible.

Find some "waste" or "problems" in dept. "A", and dept."B", and dept. "C"; and then play them off against each other. You know one of those: "Well, we've identified 21 billion dollars, of waste, which is 7 billion apiece - unless you can show us where you should keep part of your 7 billion and the other departs should have their share increased". 

Quote from: walkstall on January 09, 2013, 05:57:16 AM
I find IF I get money back from the government, the good wife thinks it is hers.   

The wife. The only thing more powerful than the government....

Quote from: The Boo Man... on January 09, 2013, 03:31:10 PM
The wife. The only thing more powerful than the government....

  Yes but she is tax deductible, the government is not. 

Quote from: mdgiles on January 08, 2013, 10:36:09 AM
Oddly enough, they label Social Security an entitlement - which is correct - IF YOU'VE PAID INTO THE FUND YOU ARE ENTITLED TO RECEIVE FROM IT - easy enough to understand. What I don't understand, is why they label all these other government giveaways as "entitlements" - as if you're entitled to receive freebies from the Feds for simply existing. One would think that in labeling SS an "entitlement", along with all these other programs, they're simply trying to muddy the waters.

Exactly, they paid into it so they are entitled to the money. What infuriates me is the welfare lifers who are an expense to all Americans but never did their fair share of anything (work, paying taxes) then think they are entitled to even more. If I had my way, to get on welfare it would be so demeaning they wouldn't want it but then again I don't think they know what demeaning means. After downsizing welfare that share would go to increase the income of SSI and people who really need the help (disabled, military, our kids coming home to give them time to adjust and get started again. Why do we keep feeding the people who don't respect themselves enough to provide for themselves? Now it even seems they are encouraging it. 

EBT only pays for gruel, vegetables, and meat - once a week? And of course any citizen who sees it being used to pay for anything else, could turn in the malefactor - anonymously of course.

Quote from: not_one_of_them on January 12, 2013, 04:40:08 PM
Exactly, they paid into it so they are entitled to the money. What infuriates me is the welfare lifers who are an expense to all Americans but never did their fair share of anything (work, paying taxes) then think they are entitled to even more. If I had my way, to get on welfare it would be so demeaning they wouldn't want it but then again I don't think they know what demeaning means. After downsizing welfare that share would go to increase the income of SSI and people who really need the help (disabled, military, our kids coming home to give them time to adjust and get started again. Why do we keep feeding the people who don't respect themselves enough to provide for themselves? Now it even seems they are encouraging it.

It is extremely frustrating, we even give SSI to illegals, people that didn't even pay into the system.
But it's the way the Dims but votes.

By the way, welcome to the forum NOOT.