Friday, April 6, 2012

Another Reason why The Federal Government Is Broke

The scandal involving the GSA and their almost $900,000 conference in Las Vegas is shedding light on many things, especially how lavish the GSA is, how little oversight there is and this from the Las Vegas Sun:
At the five-day conference, expenses incurred by the 300 employees included $44 breakfasts, commemorative coins, pricey shrimp dinners and matching vests.
GSA employees stayed in luxury suites, threw semi-private parties catered by room service and spent $75,000 to build 24 bicycles for a charity group in an afternoon team-building exercise.
At one "networking reception," they were treated to beef Wellington, cheese displays and 1,000 sushi rolls priced at $7 each. Reports indicated the conference broke federal contracting regulations and far exceeded the government's meal per diem of $71 a day.  http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/apr/06/mayor-goodman-dont-make-las-vegas-scapegoat-gsa-sc/
The Federal government pays up to $71 a day in meals for it's employees?  With the exception of the wilderness of Alaska, I cannot imagine anywhere else in the U.S. you cannot get 3 good meals for under $71 a day.  That averages out to a little over $23.50 per meal.  Most places in the you can get a nice breakfast for under $10, lunch under $15 and dinner $25 and that is being generous.  While I don't the employees should have to eat at fast food places every meal, they also should not eat at luxury 5 star restaurants either.
So, I do hope they have an investigation, though I also hope they don't blame Las Vegas either for the lavish party.  Las Vegas did not force the GSA to spend the money nor did Las Vegas plan the lavish party for federal government employees.
And unlike what the Senile/Coward/Crybaby Harry Reid says, we do need an investigation and we need to find out things like the federal government employees get $71 for food per day when they are out of the office, when most people can get by with less than $50 per day.

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