The Puppet Master?

Glenn Beck exposes the most powerful man in the world, George Soros, as the man pulling the strings of governments and companies worldwide. Soros has a past history of collapsing currencies to profit himself, and unfortunately for Americans, he now has his sights on us.

Financial illiteracy in America

Here's a short reply I gave to a post about credit cards and debt on a 9-12 board I'm on:

One more enormous failure of the public school system (and parents who are expecting the schools to teach) is the incredible lack of practical skills, especially financial management skills. Kids go off to college where credit card companies happily give them credit cards, and the government happily gives them student loans. When they leave school, they are usually saddled with a very depressing amount of debt. It's a sad way to start adulthood, and leaves these people with no choice but to very often live paycheck to paycheck. Most have acquired a car payment by now as well. The pattern continues with an unaffordable house payment. Banks tend to give far more credit than what can be handled, and of course people tend to spend the maximum approved loan amount for everything. Credit continues to be used to finance a lifestyle that took someone's parents a lifetime to achieve. So many look well to do, yet struggle to put food on the table. They just don't truly own much, though they are paying on much.

We are so far removed from the traditional American ethic of working hard, and saving for purchases. This collective mentality has destroyed our nation. Not only is our government now living under unsustainable debt, so are most of our citizens. This leaves the people unable to care for themselves.

Until people choose to live within their means, stay out of debt, and save money, they will remain enslaved to government, banks, jobs, etc.

More corruption uncovered

Glenn Beck uncovers even more corruption at the highest levels, as the web of deception he calls Crime, Inc. grows larger. This episode of his show demonstrates many corrupt criminal connections between government officials and corporations, all designed to enrich themselves at our expense.

Please watch, learn, tell others, and get involved. We all have to do what we can to get our nation back in the hands of the people, and out of the hands of those who seek our destruction, all while claiming to have our best interests at heart.

How to solve the education crisis

Here is a short reply I made on my favorite 9-12 message board regarding the many problems with our education system.


Most Americans have been taught that you are a good parent if you send your kid to school. Not only are you a good parent living up to your societal expectations, but you get free babysitting and the kids out of your hair. If you pay property taxes, then you surely want to take advantage of that and actually get something for your money. Americans have been brainwashed that education is a right, and they expect the government to provide a free education. Who can blame them? After all, they were taught by government schools not to think for themselves, but to believe what their government tells them.

I attended government schools and graduated from one. I was always the kind of kid who asked a lot of questions of my school and church teachers, and even got into debates with them at times. I have always been an avid reader, who loves to learn. The best thing I ever learned in school was how to read in the first grade! I am free to learn whatever I wish as a result.

What is the solution for the public school fiasco? I think abolishing the Department of Education and return all authority to the states is the first step. Get the federal government and it's insane propaganda out of education! But, I don't think that's going to happen.

Therefore, it's up to parents to educate themselves as to what is best for their kids, and then do it, making whatever sacrifices are necessary.

Our government has been infiltrated by the enemy!

Here is some incredible information about the infiltration of our government by homegrown Marxist terrorists groups. Whew! We have many enemies both here and abroad, who abhor freedom and liberty for all. Why? I don't know. I'm still trying to figure that out. I can't imagine why anyone would not want to live in a free nation.


From YouTube:
October 24, 2008 — Ayers and Obama have worked together on books for at least 21 years, and have cooperated in funneling tens of millions of dollars to leftist indoctrination progammes for youth. All this you may have already known. What is even more chilling is this expose' on how William Ayers is planning to implement their mutual Marxist ideology, should Ayers attain influence on Obama through their long standing relationship. Larry Grathwohl penetrated the Weather Underground to bring this fist hand account of Ayers' (and the Weather Underground's) plans. As you may know, Ayers remains unrepentant to this day, and lives just a few houses away from Barack Hussein Obama. Obama's flimsy and ever-shifting denials of his relationship with Ayers have all but completely disintegrated. Furthermore, the prime backer of Obama, Khalid Al Mansour, was a legal assistant to the Black Panther Party (with an office next door). It is known from testimony of Weather Underground members that the BPP and Weather Underground worked "very closely" together. Therefore it it likely that Mansour (who was advising Obama even before he moved from Hawaii, under the tutelage of Communist agent Frank Marshall Davis), was working with Ayers and Dohrn simultaneously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GrCHctYyWA&feature=player_embedded




Here's what Glenn Beck had to say on this subject. Incidentally, I posted a link to the below article on Facebook, and then mysteriously had all my comments I made after the link disappear and then reappear. One would disappear, so I'd leave another, which would disappear, and so on. Sometimes all, none, or some would be there to read. It was very disturbing as I felt that my comments were being read by someone who has access to my Facebook account. I mentioned this on a 9-12 message board that I frequently read and was told this:

"Does no one recall that around one year ago the govt claimed that it had a right to legally access and possess all content posted on both Facebook and Twitter? Their motive was described as a need to keep track of ALL conversations and store them at the Library of Congress so that they (the govt) can go back years from now and "study" social interactions of America. Everything you post IS reviewed and saved."

Scary events are upon us. I like to listen to Glenn, and he sees a repeat of the same scenarios prior to WWI and WWII. He fears the Jews will come under persecution again. Christians are daily persecuted throughout the world. (I need to work on a blog post about that!)


http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/41773/

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Glenn Beck: Audio from 1982 that will blow your mind

Audio Available:

June 11, 2010 - 12:11 ET

GLENN: I'm going to play some audio for you that I played last night that I have to tell you something. After I played it, I went into commercial break and I said to my floor crew, and I said it again on television, I don't know what else I can do. I don't know my fellow countrymen. I don't know who my country is. I don't know who these people are that are my neighbors, that when they hear this, they don't stand up and say, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Show this to me again? Tell me this again? I don't know who you are this is from 1982. This is a video of a former FBI agent. He was the only person to successfully infiltrate the Weather Underground. This is in 1975 and 1976. The Weather Underground, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn. Don't even take it to Van Jones. Don't even take it to the communist, Maoist revolutionaries in the White House. Don't even take it to there. Just think of this with what's happening in Israel and they were part of the Free Gaza movement and then let that sink in because maybe just that you can get your arms around. Maybe your neighbors can get just their arms around maybe somebody wanting to round up Jews. And then think of the ramifications. When your neighbors can get their arms around that, maybe you take it to your neighbors then again and say, okay, you have your arms around that? Now let me show you the people that surround this president. This is a former FBI agent from 1982 exposing for the first time what he found while sitting in a room full of Weather Underground leaders, including Bill Ayers. Listen and remember.

VOICE: I brought up the subject of what's going to happen after we take over the government. You know, we become responsible then for administrating, you know, 250 million people. And there was no answers. No one had given any thought to economics, how are you going to clothe and feed these people. The only thing that I could get was that they expected that the Cubans and the North Vietnamese and the Chinese and the Russians would all want to occupy different portions of the United States.

They also believed that their immediate responsibility would be to protect against what they called the counterrevolution and they felt that this counterrevolution could best be guarded against by creating and reestablishing reeducation centers in the southwest where we would take all the people who needed to be reeducated into the new way of thinking and teach them how things were going to be. I ask, well, what is going to happen to those people that we can't reeducate, that are diehard capitalists? And the reply was that they would have to be eliminated. And when I pursued this further, they estimated that they would have to eliminate 25 million people in these reeducation centers. And when I say eliminate, I mean kill. 25 million people.

GLENN: Here's what you have to decide, America. You have a choice to make because this has been out since 1982. This is an FBI agent. These details are in FBI reports. So you have to make this choice. I have to believe that William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn and those in that room have more credibility than the FBI agent who documented these things in the 1970s and then spoke out about them in 1982 for the first time. I'm betting my friends' life or my Jewish friends' life or the possibility of my Jewish friends' life or my capitalist friends' life, I'm betting that Bill Ayers is a changed man, that Bernardine Dohrn is a changed man, that the people around the president that listen to William Ayers and dismiss Bill Ayers, as we approach a time of economic catastrophe, I'm betting my Jewish friends' life that he's a changed man or that this FBI guy is somehow or another exaggerating. Make the choice. Choose carefully.

Congressman assaults student!

Wow! Watch Congressman Bob Etheridge from South Carolina immediately respond with violence and intimidation when asked this question by a college student, "Do you fully support the Obama agenda?"

Crime, Inc. overview

Here is the latest Crime, Inc. info. It's a great overview, and I highly recommend everyone to watch and find out the insane web of government corruption. It's a huge scam for a few very powerful people to get extremely rich off of us!!!

Democracy versus Republic: What's the difference and why does it matter?

Here is a superb article contrasting a republic and a democracy. Americans are continuously told that we are a democracy by our teachers, and leaders, and even our president. It is crucial for Americans to understand that we are NOT a democracy; we are a republic. There is a huge difference.

In a democracy, the majority rules, and can usurp the rights and freedoms of the minority, and of the individual. Mob rule reigns, and the majority can, and often does, use economic and even violent methods to pressure and intimidate others to vote for them in the "free" elections.

In a republic, the rights of all people are protected under the Law, or Constitution. America is a nation of laws, to which all people, including the leaders, are subject. At least, that is our official form of government. Tragically, greedy politicians have trampled our Constitution, and govern as though they are above the Law.

Thankfully, as we watch our nation and liberties being swept into a socialist abyss, many Americans have developed a renewed love for our country and its freedoms. We are educating ourselves as to our true history and intended form of government. Despite many decades of being lied to, we are researching, and teaching ourselves and others the truth.

By God's grace, we intend to restore our beloved nation to her correct foundation, "with liberty and justice for all.”

"As Ronald Reagan emphasized, America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere."^[1]

http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/AmericanIdeal/aspects/demrep.html

An Important Distinction: Democracy versus Republic

It is important to keep in mind the difference between a Democracy and a Republic, as dissimilar forms of government. Understanding the difference is essential to comprehension of the fundamentals involved. It should be noted, in passing, that use of the word Democracy as meaning merely the popular type of government--that is, featuring genuinely free elections by the people periodically--is not helpful in discussing, as here, the difference between alternative and dissimilar forms of a popular government: a Democracy versus a Republic. This double meaning of Democracy--a popular-type government in general, as well as a specific form of popular government--needs to be made clear in any discussion, or writing, regarding this subject, for the sake of sound understanding.

These two forms of government: Democracy and Republic, are not only dissimilar but antithetical, reflecting the sharp contrast between (a) The Majority Unlimited, in a Democracy, lacking any legal safeguard of the rights of The Individual and The Minority, and (b) The Majority Limited, in a Republic under a written Constitution safeguarding the rights of The Individual and The Minority; as we shall now see.

A Democracy

The chief characteristic and distinguishing feature of a Democracy is: Rule by Omnipotent Majority. In a Democracy, The Individual, and any group of Individuals composing any Minority, have no protection against the unlimited power of The Majority. It is a case of Majority-over-Man.

This is true whether it be a Direct Democracy, or a Representative Democracy. In the direct type, applicable only to a small number of people as in the little city-states of ancient Greece, or in a New England town-meeting, all of the electorate assemble to debate and decide all government questions, and all decisions are reached by a majority vote (of at least half-plus-one). Decisions of The Majority in a New England town-meeting are, of course, subject to the Constitutions of the State and of the United States which protect The Individual’s rights; so, in this case, The Majority is not omnipotent and such a town-meeting is, therefore, not an example of a true Direct Democracy. Under a Representative Democracy like Britain’s parliamentary form of government, the people elect representatives to the national legislature--the elective body there being the House of Commons--and it functions by a similar vote of at least half-plus-one in making all legislative decisions.

In both the Direct type and the Representative type of Democracy, The Majority’s power is absolute and unlimited; its decisions are unappealable under the legal system established to give effect to this form of government. This opens the door to unlimited Tyranny-by-Majority. This was what The Framers of the United States Constitution meant in 1787, in debates in the Federal (framing) Convention, when they condemned the "excesses of democracy" and abuses under any Democracy of the unalienable rights of The Individual by The Majority. Examples were provided in the immediate post-1776 years by the legislatures of some of the States. In reaction against earlier royal tyranny, which had been exercised through oppressions by royal governors and judges of the new State governments, while the legislatures acted as if they were virtually omnipotent. There were no effective State Constitutions to limit the legislatures because most State governments were operating under mere Acts of their respective legislatures which were mislabeled "Constitutions." Neither the governors not the courts of the offending States were able to exercise any substantial and effective restraining influence upon the legislatures in defense of The Individual’s unalienable rights, when violated by legislative infringements. (Connecticut and Rhode Island continued under their old Charters for many years.) It was not until 1780 that the first genuine Republic through constitutionally limited government, was adopted by Massachusetts--next New Hampshire in 1784, other States later.

It was in this connection that Jefferson, in his "Notes On The State of Virginia" written in 1781-1782, protected against such excesses by the Virginia Legislature in the years following the Declaration of Independence, saying: "An elective despotism was not the government we fought for . . ." (Emphasis Jefferson’s.) He also denounced the despotic concentration of power in the Virginia Legislature, under the so-called "Constitution"--in reality a mere Act of that body:

"All the powers of government, legislative, executive, judiciary, result to the legislative body. The concentrating these in the same hands is precisely the definition of despotic government. It will be no alleviation that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one. 173 despots would surely be as oppressive as one. Let those who doubt it turn their eyes on the republic of Venice."

This topic--the danger to the people’s liberties due to the turbulence of democracies and omnipotent, legislative majority--is discussed in The Federalist, for example in numbers 10 and 48 by Madison (in the latter noting Jefferson’s above-quoted comments).

The Framing Convention’s records prove that by decrying the "excesses of democracy" The Framers were, of course, not opposing a popular type of government for the United States; their whole aim and effort was to create a sound system of this type. To contend to the contrary is to falsify history. Such a falsification not only maligns the high purpose and good character of The Framers but belittles the spirit of the truly Free Man in America--the people at large of that period--who happily accepted and lived with gratification under the Constitution as their own fundamental law and under the Republic which it created, especially because they felt confident for the first time of the security of their liberties thereby protected against abuse by all possible violators, including The Majority momentarily in control of government. The truth is that The Framers, by their protests against the "excesses of democracy," were merely making clear their sound reasons for preferring a Republic as the proper form of government. They well knew, in light of history, that nothing but a Republic can provide the best safeguards--in truth in the long run the only effective safeguards (if enforced in practice)--for the people’s liberties which are inescapably victimized by Democracy’s form and system of unlimited Government-over-Man featuring The Majority Omnipotent. They also knew that the American people would not consent to any form of government but that of a Republic. It is of special interest to note that Jefferson, who had been in Paris as the American Minister for several years, wrote Madison from there in March 1789 that:

"The tyranny of the legislatures is the most formidable dread at present, and will be for long years. That of the executive will come it’s turn, but it will be at a remote period." (Text per original.)

Somewhat earlier, Madison had written Jefferson about violation of the Bill of Rights by State legislatures, stating:

"Repeated violations of those parchment barriers have been committed by overbearing majorities in every State. In Virginia I have seen the bill of rights violated in every instance where it has been opposed to a popular current."

It is correct to say that in any Democracy--either a Direct or a Representative type--as a form of government, there can be no legal system which protects The Individual or The Minority (any or all minorities) against unlimited tyranny by The Majority. The undependable sense of self-restraint of the persons making up The Majority at any particular time offers, of course, no protection whatever. Such a form of government is characterized by The Majority Omnipotent and Unlimited. This is true, for example, of the Representative Democracy of Great Britain; because unlimited government power is possessed by the House of Lords, under an Act of Parliament of 1949--indeed, it has power to abolish anything and everything governmental in Great Britain.

For a period of some centuries ago, some English judges did argue that their decisions could restrain Parliament; but this theory had to be abandoned because it was found to be untenable in the light of sound political theory and governmental realities in a Representative Democracy. Under this form of government, neither the courts not any other part of the government can effectively challenge, much less block, any action by The Majority in the legislative body, no matter how arbitrary, tyrannous, or totalitarian they might become in practice. The parliamentary system of Great Britain is a perfect example of Representative Democracy and of the potential tyranny inherent in its system of Unlimited Rule by Omnipotent Majority. This pertains only to the potential, to the theory, involved; governmental practices there are irrelevant to this discussion.

Madison’s observations in The Federalist number 10 are noteworthy at this point because they highlight a grave error made through the centuries regarding Democracy as a form of government. He commented as follows:

"Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government, have erroneously supposed, that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions."

Democracy, as a form of government, is utterly repugnant to--is the very antithesis of--the traditional American system: that of a Republic, and its underlying philosophy, as expressed in essence in the Declaration of Independence with primary emphasis upon the people’s forming their government so as to permit them to possess only "just powers" (limited powers) in order to make and keep secure the God-given, unalienable rights of each and every Individual and therefore of all groups of Individuals.

A Republic

A Republic, on the other hand, has a very different purpose and an entirely different form, or system, of government. Its purpose is to control The Majority strictly, as well as all others among the people, primarily to protect The Individual’s God-given, unalienable rights and therefore for the protection of the rights of The Minority, of all minorities, and the liberties of people in general. The definition of a Republic is: a constitutionally limited government of the representative type, created by a written Constitution--adopted by the people and changeable (from its original meaning) by them only by its amendment--with its powers divided between three separate Branches: Executive, Legislative and Judicial. Here the term "the people" means, of course, the electorate.

The people adopt the Constitution as their fundamental law by utilizing a Constitutional Convention--especially chosen by them for this express and sole purpose--to frame it for consideration and approval by them either directly or by their representatives in a Ratifying Convention, similarly chosen. Such a Constitutional Convention, for either framing or ratification, is one of America’s greatest contributions, if not her greatest contribution, to the mechanics of government--of self-government through constitutionally limited government, comparable in importance to America’s greatest contribution to the science of government: the formation and adoption by the sovereign people of a written Constitution as the basis for self-government. One of the earliest, if not the first, specific discussions of this new American development (a Constitutional Convention) in the historical records is an entry in June 1775 in John Adams’ "Autobiography" commenting on the framing by a convention and ratification by the people as follows:

"By conventions of representatives, freely, fairly, and proportionately chosen . . . the convention may send out their project of a constitution, to the people in their several towns, counties, or districts, and the people may make the acceptance of it their own act."

Yet the first proposal in 1778 of a Constitution for Massachusetts was rejected for the reason, in part, as stated in the "Essex Result" (the result, or report, of the Convention of towns of Essex County), that it had been framed and proposed not by a specially chosen convention but by members of the legislature who were involved in general legislative duties, including those pertaining to the conduct of the war.

The first genuine and soundly founded Republic in all history was the one created by the first genuine Constitution, which was adopted by the people of Massachusetts in 1780 after being framed for their consideration by a specially chosen Constitutional Convention. (As previously noted, the so-called "Constitutions" adopted by some States in 1776 were mere Acts of Legislatures, not genuine Constitutions.) That Constitutional Convention of Massachusetts was the first successful one ever held in the world; although New Hampshire had earlier held one unsuccessfully - it took several years and several successive conventions to produce the New Hampshire Constitution of 1784. Next, in 1787-1788, the United States Constitution was framed by the Federal Convention for the people’s consideration and then ratified by the people of the several States through a Ratifying Convention in each State specially chosen by them for this sole purpose. Thereafter the other States gradually followed in general the Massachusetts pattern of Constitution-making in adoption of genuine Constitutions; but there was a delay of a number of years in this regard as to some of them, several decades as to a few.

This system of Constitution-making, for the purpose of establishing constitutionally limited government, is designed to put into practice the principle of the Declaration of Independence: that the people form their governments and grant to them only "just powers," limited powers, in order primarily to secure (to make and keep secure) their God-given, unalienable rights. The American philosophy and system of government thus bar equally the "snob-rule" of a governing Elite and the "mob-rule" of an Omnipotent Majority. This is designed, above all else, to preclude the existence in America of any governmental power capable of being misused so as to violate The Individual’s rights--to endanger the people’s liberties.

With regard to the republican form of government (that of a republic), Madison made an observation in The Federalist (no. 55) which merits quoting here--as follows:

"As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust: So there are other qualities in human nature, which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence. Republican government (that of a Republic) presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form. Were the pictures which have been drawn by the political jealousy of some among us, faithful likenesses of the human character, the inference would be that there is not sufficient virtue among men for self government; and that nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring one another." (Emphasis added.)

It is noteworthy here that the above discussion, though brief, is sufficient to indicate the reasons why the label "Republic" has been misapplied in other countries to other and different forms of government throughout history. It has been greatly misunderstood and widely misused--for example as long ago as the time of Plato, when he wrote his celebrated volume, The Republic; in which he did not discuss anything governmental even remotely resembling--having essential characteristics of--a genuine Republic. Frequent reference is to be found, in the writings of the period of the framing of the Constitution for instance, to "the ancient republics," but in any such connection the term was used loosely--by way of contrast to a monarchy or to a Direct Democracy--often using the term in the sense merely of a system of Rule-by-Law featuring Representative government; as indicated, for example, by John Adams in his "Thoughts on Government" and by Madison in The Federalist numbers 10 and 39. But this is an incomplete definition because it can include a Representative Democracy, lacking a written Constitution limiting The Majority.

From The American Ideal of 1776: The Twelve Basic American Principles.

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The wizard behind Crime, Inc.

Glenn Beck has fingered Joel Rogers as the "Wizard" behind Crime, Inc., the web of government corruption and deception. I would have guessed George Soros, who is quite entrenched nonetheless.













Below is a link to a video of Joel Rogers speaking, with some highlighted quotes listed.


http://www.fusionfx.net/index.php/2010/04/30/crime-inc-joel-rogers-the-new-green-deal/

Crime inc.~ Joel Rogers & amp; The New Green Deal
2010 April 30

by Greg Hedgepath
Listen to this article. Powered by Odiogo.com

The New Green Deal – Take Back America 2008

Well here is Joel Rogers and you can pick the Marxist policy out of every sentence the man speaks. He even tells you in your face the WE CANNOT FIX the climate but we can take over government. And don’t get to excited about the money yet.

Here is what to watch for and when he states it.

Joel rogers is introduced at 31:32 seconds into the video.

33:42 it extends our politics into the organization of the economy.
34:02 …redistribute opportunities to people…
34:11 Climate, not just the thing we are responding to but the profitability of it.
34:27 you can do everything you want to in the US to reduce greenhouse gases and it wont make much of a dent frankly in world wide climate change. Its only 22 %….
35:00 He goes after the constitution, how to get around it.

35:36 Think of carbon as not just another commodity that we will be willing to let people bribe us to spend but think of it more like a neurological poison, like Mercury.
36:08 …carbon trading markets should apply to our appliances transportation machinery and other sorts of things.
36:20 we should re-authorize transportation safety bill and drive the money to the MPOs, The Metropolitan planning Organizations…
38:14 and we should not only spend money on the Federal land….
38:25 ..well on your way to greening the American economy,. You will grow the wealth and GE and Cisco and he other people that are announcing great plans should be relatively happy with that.
38:35 any environmentalist that is not concerned with the distribution of that wealth should be relatively happy too.
39:15 the deal in American politics I would recommend to all of us is sort of a new mantra on Federalism is we should all be for progressive federalism….
39:54 we do in fact need a movement out there which is pushing for that all the time. And very vigorously and very loudly.
40:01 we heard this morning from the Reverend Jackson…..
40:31 …I hope you all realize that you could eliminate every power plant in America today and you can stop every car in America today. Take out the entire power generation sector. Take out all of the transportation sector. And you still would not be anywhere near below 80% below 1990 levels. You would be closer to around 60% it would be around 68% percent and that is with bringing the economy to a complete halt. Basically.
41:16 to get these 4 different groups, this is what Apollos one contribution is. I think it is important contribution to get progressive business, Labor and environmentalist, essentially white dominated labor uh……
41:40 you know your winning when the opportunist climb on board and we are now winning. But we are now mainstream. And we should really move with authority of being in the mainstream and begin to use that power.
42:00 Van, (Van Jones) and Majora and I tonight are to get BIG AWARDS as LEADERS of this movement.
42:10 I think Vans operation is still about 60 or 80 people…… Majora over 4 years….. has 10o people or is it 85 people……
42:40 and the infrastructure we need… for an effective movement, you need better communications, methods for recruiting YOUNG people……clear….we can build that infrastructure.
43:50 the pay-go environment we are going to be in

Joel rogers is introduced at 31:32 seconds into the video.
Joel goes on for about 12 min until 44:10 into the film.
Joel speaks again 46:50 until 50:31 w/ even more shocking requirements

56:01 - Originally recorded 2 years ago

The Chicago Climate Exchange was suddenly sold on Friday.. 4 days after this story broke (for 1/3 of it's value from 6 months ago). They are trying to make a rapid exit.

Much more on Crime, Inc.!

In the interest of preserving and sharing this extraordinarily crucial information about the utter depths of corruption in which our government is involved, I am re-posting the following blog post. Talk about a tangled web of deception!


http://romanticpoet.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/does-crime-at-the-highest-level-of-government-and-their-connections-bother-you/

Does Crime(?) At The Highest Level of Government and Their Connections Bother YOU?

The following contains a WEALTH of information that connects the web of Crime Inc. in Washington,D.C.

CRIME INC.



Obama biggest recipient of BP cash

By ERIKA LOVLEY | 5/5/10

While the BP oil geyser pumps millions of gallons of petroleum into the Gulf of Mexico, President Barack Obama and members of Congress may have to answer for the millions in campaign contributions they’ve taken from the oil and gas giant over the years.

BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Donations come from a mix of employees and the company’s political action committees — $2.89 million flowed to campaigns from BP-related PACs and about $638,000 came from individuals.

On top of that, the oil giant has spent millions each year on lobbying — including $15.9 million last year alone — as it has tried to influence energy policy.

During his time in the Senate and while running for president, Obama received a total of $77,051 from the oil giant and is the top recipient of BP PAC and individual money over the past 20 years, according to financial disclosure records.

An Obama spokesman rejected the notion that the president took big oil money.

“President Obama didn’t accept a dime from corporate PACs or federal lobbyists during his presidential campaign,” spokesman Ben LaBolt said. (?)(?)

“He raised $750 million from nearly four million Americans. And since he became president, he rolled back tax breaks and giveaways for the oil and gas industry, spearheaded a G20 agreement to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, and made the largest investment in American history in clean energy incentives.”

In Congress, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who last week cautioned that the incident should “not be used inappropriately” to halt Obama’s push for expansion of offshore drilling, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of BP’s largesse. Her comments created some blowback, with critics complaining that she is too blasé about the impact of the disaster, even though she was among the first lawmakers to call for a federal investigation into the spill.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/36783.html#ixzz0n9hLzYDm

Al Gore:

All profits made go to the (non-profit) Alliance for Climate Protection

The Alliance for Climate Protection Connections Map: (courtesy of http://www.muckety.com/) (use link to view map) http://www.muckety.com/A92DA89D8FCEC6BA14528CF0EBCFC5FD.map

Of interest on this map:

Al Gore is the Chairman of the Alliance for Climate Protection

Carol M. Browner: Obama’s Energy Czar AND is a Director of APX Inc.

APX Inc: Investors Include GOLDMAN SACHS, Kinetic Ventures, and the Woodside Fund.

Carol Browner and APX Connections: (use link to view map)
http://www.muckety.com/22B15C13E4BAC4D16DEBD6F57E0804F1.map

Carol M. Browner is Married to Thomas J. Downey a former member of the House of Representatives and currently is connected to J STREET (map of his connections: http://www.muckety.com/7787B32D5BAFF9CDCE91C29005AFD433.map)

Joseph Stiglitz: Director of Resources for the Future

Maggie L. Fox: Married to Senator Mark Udall of Colorado

Orin S. Kramer: Was an Admininstrator at the EPA and is currently Chairman of the New Jersey State Investment Council.

And so on and so on……

**Map is interactive at link above**

========================

Continuing ON:



Map of Apollo Alliance Connections: (use link to view map)
http://romanticpoet.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/apollo-alliance.jpg

The Apollo Alliance and the Alliance for Climate Protection Connections: (use link to view map)
http://romanticpoet.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/apollo-alliance-and-alliance-for-climate-protection.jpg

***The Connection to BOTH is Carl Pope of the Sierra Club***

================================

Continuing on again:



Mineral Management Services Map (MMS) (use link to view map)
http://romanticpoet.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/mineral-management-services-map-mms.jpg

========================================


ABOUT the International Monetary Fund:
History

The IMF was established in 1945, having first been conceived at the Bretton Woods Conference in New Hampshire, USA in 1944. That conference saw representatives from forty four allied nations gather to to craft new rules and institutions to regulate the chaotic global economy – blamed for the Great Depression and for helping cause two World Wars. The outcome was the Bretton Woods Agreement which created two new multilateral institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), now known as the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.

The creation of the IMF was a ‘compromise’ between the proposals put to the Bretton Woods conference by head negotiators from England and the USA: John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White. Keynes advocated the establishment of a global bank called called the International Clearing Union, which would have divided the responsibility for balance-of-payments imbalances between both the debtor and creditor nations. But the United States was at the time not just the most economically powerful nation in the world, but also the world’s largest creditor. As a result, it was White’s proposal for a Fund which favoured creditor nations – by placing the world’s debt burden solely on debtor nations – which won out in the end, altered only slightly by a few concessions to Keynes.

Roles

At its establishment, the IMF was to given a number of interconnected roles, set out in Article 1 of its Articles of Agreement. In essence, the IMF’s two main roles were to:

* Monitor an international system of fixed exchange rates based on the value of the US dollar which would be pegged to the value of gold, with the goal of ensuring international monetary stability; and
* Provide short-term loans to nations in danger of balance-of-payments crises (ie: when there is not enough hard currency to pay for imports). The loans were to be made from a large gold reserve, and from contributions from the Fund’s members, based on the relative size of their economies.

But in 1971, the US ended fixed US dollar/gold convertibility due to a variety of factors, including inflationary pressure and the cost of fighting the Vietnam War. This move resulted in the collapse of the system of fixed exchange rates which the IMF was established to oversee, and the Fund lost one of its two main roles. This provided the impetus for the change in focus which occurred during the 1970s and 1980s. By the 1980s, the IMF had refocused to a large degree on lending to developing countries, both on providing finance and encouraging policies to stimulate growth. 1982 was the last year in which a member of the OECD used an IMF loan facility.

Accompanying this change in focus was a change in method. Former World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz notes that originally, “the IMF was based on a recognition that markets often did not work well – that they could result in massive unemployment and might fail to make needed funds available to countries” (Stiglitz 2003, p. 12). But in the 1970s and 1980s, “the Keynesian orientation of the IMF, which emphasized market failures and the role for government in job creation, was replaced by the free market mantra of the 1980s, part of a new ‘Washington Consensus’” (Stiglitz 2003, p. 16).

The Washington Consensus was so named because it was a common ideology of the IMF, World Bank and US Treasury – all based in Washington – that markets, free from government intervention of any kind, held the key to development in rich and poor countries alike.

READ MORE:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=International_Monetary_Fund

===================================

The IMF ties to the Group of Thirty:
Group of 30
From SourceWatch

The Group of Thirty, often abbreviated to G30, is an international body of leading financiers and academics which aims to deepen understanding of economic and financial issues, and to examine consequences of decisions made in the public and private sectors related to these issues.

The group consists of thirty members and includes the heads of major private banks and central banks, as well as members from academia and international institutions. It holds two full meetings each year and also organizes seminars, symposia, and study groups. It is based in Washington, D.C.
The Group of Thirty was founded in 1978 by Geoffrey Bell at the initiative of the Rockefeller Foundation, which also provided initial funding for the body. Its first chairman was Johannes Witteveen, the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

The Bellagio Group, formed by Austrian economist Fritz Machlup, was the immediate predecessor to the Group of Thirty. It first met in 1963, to investigate international currency problems, particularly the balance of payments crisis which faced America throughout the early 60s.

The current members of the Group of Thirty are:

Paul Volcker – Chairman of the Board of Trustees; former Chairman of the Federal Reserve
* Jacob A. Frenkel – Chairman; Vice Chairman, American International Group

* Geoffrey L. Bell – Executive Secretary

* Leszek Balcerowicz – President, National Bank of Poland
* Jaime Caruana – Governor, Banco de España
* Roger W. Ferguson – Vice Chairman, Federal Reserve Board
* Stanley Fischer – Governor, Bank of Israel
* Mervyn King – Governor of the Bank of England
* Guillermo Ortiz Martinez – Governor, Banco de México
* Jean-Claude Trichet – President, European Central Bank
* Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa – Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank
* Zhou Xiaochuan – Governor, People’s Bank of China
* Yutaka Yamaguchi – Former Deputy Governor, Bank of Japan

* E Gerald Corrigan – Managing Director, Goldman Sachs<<<< * Andrew Crockett – President, JP Morgan Chase * David Walker – Chairman Morgan Stanley * William R. Rhodes – Senior Vice Chairman, Citigroup * Jacques de Larosière – Conseiller, BNP Paribas * Guillermo de la Dehesa – Director, Aviva Group * Arminio Fraga – Partner, Gávea Investimentos * Domingo Cavallo – Robert Kennedy Visiting Professor in Latin American Studies, Department of Economics, Harvard University * Martin Feldstein – President, National Bureau of Economic Research * Peter B. Kenen – Walker Professor of Economics & International Finance, Department of Economics, Princeton University * Paul Krugman – Professor of Economics, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University * Lawrence Summers – President, Harvard University * Marina v N. Whitman – Professor of Business Administration & Public Policy, Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan * Ernesto Zedillo, Director, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, Yale University * Gerd Häusler – Counsellor and Director, International Capital Markets Department, International Monetary Fund * Toyoo Gyohten – President, Institute for International Monetary Affairs * Abdalatif A-Hamad – Chairman, Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Group_of_30

======================

Remember what Obama said about the “Volker Rule”?



From the Federal Reserve Bank’s own website:

January 2009
Timothy F. Geithner

Timothy F. GeithnerTimothy F. Geithner became the ninth president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on November 17, 2003. In that capacity, he serves as the vice chairman and a permanent member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the group responsible for formulating the nation’s monetary policy. President Obama nominated Mr. Geithner to be the 75th Secretary of the Treasury and the U.S. Senate confirmed him to the position on January 26, 2009.

Mr. Geithner joined the Department of Treasury in 1988 and worked in three administrations for five Secretaries of the Treasury in a variety of positions. He served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 1999 to 2001 under Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.
He was director of the Policy Development and Review Department at the International Monetary Fund from 2001 until 2003. Before joining the Treasury, Mr. Geithner worked for Kissinger Associates, Inc.

Mr. Geithner graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in government and Asian studies in 1983 and from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies with a master’s in International Economics and East Asian Studies in 1985. He has studied Japanese and Chinese and has lived in East Africa, India, Thailand, China, and Japan.

Mr. Geithner serves as chairman of the G-10’s Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems of the Bank for International Settlements. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Group of Thirty.<<<< http://www.ny.frb.org/aboutthefed/orgchart/geithner.html

=======================================

End notes:

WHY would Al Gore give all profits to the Alliance for Climate Protection? Because HE is the CHAIRMAN of this alliance. So Al Gore is investing in himself?

Carol M. Browner, Obama’s Energy Czar is a Director at the Alliance for Climate Protection.

Maggie L. Fox is CEO & President of the Alliance For Climate Protection is married to Senator Mark Udall of Colorado.

and so on…..and so on……..

WHY was Timothy Geithner’s connection to the Group of 30 “scrubbed” from the Group of 30′s website after his confirmation as U.S. Treasury Secretary?

Paul Volker is connected to Obama.

Larry Summers is connected to Obama.

Larry Summers: Director Of National Economic Council, Top Adviser To Obama

=============================

Now you have the information; spread this to your family and your friends; then have them forward the information to their extended family and friends……

The MSM’s are mum about these connections; Glenn Beck is being chastised by the LEFT.
WHY?

=================================

NOT RACIST.

NOT VIOLENT.

JUST NO LONGER SILENT.

War On The Dollar Exposed
Get The Shocking Bulletin Obama & Bernanke Do Not Want You To Read!
UncommonWisdomDaily.com

Crime, Inc.

Glenn does it again! As a rare, true journalist today, he has uncovered a web of corruption so deep and wide that it makes your skin crawl, especially when this web of corruption is our own government!!! Help us Jesus! We are lost and undone without You!

Disgusting examples of government wasting our tax dollars!

Here is an outrageous list of government waste, best read sitting down, and not at at all if you have high blood pressure. Keep in mind that these are only examples. There are many more disgusting thefts of our money. Taxing hard working Americans, then essentially throwing our money away, is criminal.

I remember as a kid reading about the government paying several hundred dollars each for toilets seats and hammers. Obviously, a criminal element is at work for this to happen. It sounds to me like some government official is awarding a contract to someone he knows, who then is allowed and encouraged to charge outrageous sums of money that no one in the private sector would ever pay.

I read another story in Reader's Digest a year or so ago about something a couple of guys had invented that the government wanted to buy. However, the government insisted paying far more than what the men charged for this item. Being honest and wanting to do the right thing, the men refused to overcharge the government. They very nearly lost the contract as a result, but in the end, Uncle Sam agreed to pay the same price that everyone else paid.

Our federal government has ballooned into a gigantic, bloated entity that serves very little practical purpose. Like living at the base of a great mountain, it now overshadows every aspect of our lives. Is this what our Founding Fathers intended when they intentionally created a very limited federal government, so as to allow the citizens to govern themselves, as long as they did not infringe upon the rights of others? I believe George Washington and his contemporaries would have had many of our modern day politicians in prison.

A corrupt cesspool of greedy thieves has taken over the nation. They tax us under the guise of necessity in order maintain infrastructure, yet they live lavishly on our dime, and blatantly waste our money on innumerable pork projects, very often spent attempting to get votes from various special interest groups.

Long gone are the days when a politician was truly a public servant, who went into office for a time to represent his neighbors. Now, we see mostly career politicians, far more concerned with doing whatever necessary to remain in office, than actually representing constituents.


http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/10/50-Examples-of-Government-Waste

50 Examples of Government Waste
Published on October 6, 2009 by Brian Riedl

Soaring government spending and trillion-dollar budget deficits have brought fiscal responsibility -- and reducing government waste -- back onto the national agenda. President Obama recently identified 0.004 of 1 percent of the federal budget as wasteful and proposed eliminating this $140 million from his $3.6 trillion fiscal year 2010 budget request. Aiming higher, the President recently proposed partially offsetting a costly new government health entitlement by reducing $622 billion in Medicare and Medicaid "waste and inefficiencies" over the next decade. Taxpayers may wonder why reducing such waste is now merely a bargaining chip for new spending rather than an end in itself.

It is possible to reduce spending and balance the budget. In the 1980s and 1990s, Washington consistently spent $21,000 per household (adjusted for inflation). Simply returning to that level would balance the budget by 2012 without any tax hikes. Alternatively, merely returning to the 2008 (pre-recession) spending level of $25,000 per household (adjusted for inflation) would likely balance the budget by 2019 without any tax hikes.

Not Easy, but Necessary

Reducing wasteful spending is not easy. Even the most useless programs are passionately supported by the armies of recipients, administrators, and lobbyists that benefit from their existence. Identifying inefficiencies and abuses is much easier than devising a system to fix them. Many lawmakers focus more on bringing home earmarks than on performing the less exciting task of government oversight. Exasperated taxpayers see the cost of government rise with no end in sight.

Of course, eliminating waste cannot balance the budget. Lawmakers must also rein in spending by reforming Social Security and Medicare and by eliminating government activities that are no longer affordable. Yet government waste is the low-hanging fruit that lawmakers must clean up in order to build credibility with the public for larger reforms.

Congress has allowed government employees to spend tax dollars on iPods, jewelry, gambling, exotic dance clubs, and $13,500 steak dinners. If lawmakers cannot even reduce this kind of waste, fraud, and abuse, taxpayers will be less likely to trust them to reform Social Security and Medicare.

Six Categories of Waste

The six categories of wasteful and unnecessary spending are:

1. Programs that should be devolved to state and local governments;
2. Programs that could be better performed by the private sector;
3. Mistargeted programs whose recipients should not be entitled to government benefits;
4. Outdated and unnecessary programs;
5. Duplicative programs; and
6. Inefficiency, mismanagement, and fraud.

The first four categories are generally subjective, and reasonable people can disagree on whether a given federal program falls under their purview. Yet the final two categories -- duplication and inefficiency, mismanagement, and fraud -- are comparatively easy to identify and oppose. Thus, they are heavily represented in the examples of government waste below:

1. The federal government made at least $72 billion in improper payments in 2008.[1]
2. Washington spends $92 billion on corporate welfare (excluding TARP) versus $71 billion on homeland security.[2]
3. Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.[3]
4. Government auditors spent the past five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them -- costing taxpayers a total of $123 billion annually -- fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve.[4]
5. The Congressional Budget Office published a "Budget Options" series identifying more than $100 billion in potential spending cuts.[5]
6. Examples from multiple Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs.[6]
7. Washington will spend $2.6 million training Chinese prostitutes to drink more responsibly on the job.[7]
8. A GAO audit classified nearly half of all purchases on government credit cards as improper, fraudulent, or embezzled. Examples of taxpayer-funded purchases include gambling, mortgage payments, liquor, lingerie, iPods, Xboxes, jewelry, Internet dating services, and Hawaiian vacations. In one extraordinary example, the Postal Service spent $13,500 on one dinner at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, including "over 200 appetizers and over $3,000 of alcohol, including more than 40 bottles of wine costing more than $50 each and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold." The 81 guests consumed an average of $167 worth of food and drink apiece.[8]
9. Federal agencies are delinquent on nearly 20 percent of employee travel charge cards, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.[9]
10. The Securities and Exchange Commission spent $3.9 million rearranging desks and offices at its Washington, D.C., headquarters.[10]
11. The Pentagon recently spent $998,798 shipping two 19-cent washers from South Carolina to Texas and $293,451 sending an 89-cent washer from South Carolina to Florida.[11]
12. Over half of all farm subsidies go to commercial farms, which report average household incomes of $200,000.[12]
13. Health care fraud is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $60 billion annually.[13]
14. A GAO audit found that 95 Pentagon weapons systems suffered from a combined $295 billion in cost overruns.[14]
15. The refusal of many federal employees to fly coach costs taxpayers $146 million annually in flight upgrades.[15]
16. Washington will spend $126 million in 2009 to enhance the Kennedy family legacy in Massachusetts. Additionally, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) diverted $20 million from the 2010 defense budget to subsidize a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute.[16]
17. Federal investigators have launched more than 20 criminal fraud investigations related to the TARP financial bailout.[17]
18. Despite trillion-dollar deficits, last year's 10,160 earmarks included $200,000 for a tattoo removal program in Mission Hills, California; $190,000 for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming; and $75,000 for the Totally Teen Zone in Albany, Georgia.[18]
19. The federal government owns more than 50,000 vacant homes.[19]
20. The Federal Communications Commission spent $350,000 to sponsor NASCAR driver David Gilliland.[20]
21. Members of Congress have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars supplying their offices with popcorn machines, plasma televisions, DVD equipment, ionic air fresheners, camcorders, and signature machines -- plus $24,730 leasing a Lexus, $1,434 on a digital camera, and $84,000 on personalized calendars.[21]
22. More than $13 billion in Iraq aid has been classified as wasted or stolen. Another $7.8 billion cannot be accounted for.[22]
23. Fraud related to Hurricane Katrina spending is estimated to top $2 billion. In addition, debit cards provided to hurricane victims were used to pay for Caribbean vacations, NFL tickets, Dom Perignon champagne, "Girls Gone Wild" videos, and at least one sex change operation.[23]
24. Auditors discovered that 900,000 of the 2.5 million recipients of emergency Katrina assistance provided false names, addresses, or Social Security numbers or submitted multiple applications.[24]
25. Congress recently gave Alaska Airlines $500,000 to paint a Chinook salmon on a Boeing 737.[25]
26. The Transportation Department will subsidize up to $2,000 per flight for direct flights between Washington, D.C., and the small hometown of Congressman Hal Rogers (R-KY) -- but only on Monday mornings and Friday evenings, when lawmakers, staff, and lobbyists usually fly. Rogers is a member of the Appropriations Committee, which writes the Transportation Department's budget.[26]
27. Washington has spent $3 billion re-sanding beaches -- even as this new sand washes back into the ocean.[27]
28. A Department of Agriculture report concedes that much of the $2.5 billion in "stimulus" funding for broadband Internet will be wasted.[28]
29. The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were refundable.[29]
30. Washington spends $60,000 per hour shooting Air Force One photo-ops in front of national landmarks.[30]
31. Over one recent 18-month period, Air Force and Navy personnel used government-funded credit cards to charge at least $102,400 on admission to entertainment events, $48,250 on gambling, $69,300 on cruises, and $73,950 on exotic dance clubs and prostitutes.[31]
32. Members of Congress are set to pay themselves $90 million to increase their franked mailings for the 2010 election year.[32]
33. Congress has ignored efficiency recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services that would save $9 billion annually.[33]
34. Taxpayers are funding paintings of high-ranking government officials at a cost of up to $50,000 apiece.[34]
35. The state of Washington sent $1 food stamp checks to 250,000 households in order to raise state caseload figures and trigger $43 million in additional federal funds.[35]
36. Suburban families are receiving large farm subsidies for the grass in their backyards -- subsidies that many of these families never requested and do not want. [36]
37. Congress appropriated $20 million for "commemoration of success" celebrations related to Iraq and Afghanistan.[37]
38. Homeland Security employee purchases include 63-inch plasma TVs, iPods, and $230 for a beer brewing kit.[38]
39. Two drafting errors in the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act resulted in a $2 billion taxpayer cost.[39]
40. North Ridgeville, Ohio, received $800,000 in "stimulus" funds for a project that its mayor described as "a long way from the top priority."[40]
41. The National Institutes of Health spends $1.3 million per month to rent a lab that it cannot use.[41]
42. Congress recently spent $2.4 billion on 10 new jets that the Pentagon insists it does not need and will not use.[42]
43. Lawmakers diverted $13 million from Hurricane Katrina relief spending to build a museum celebrating the Army Corps of Engineers -- the agency partially responsible for the failed levees that flooded New Orleans.[43]
44. Medicare officials recently mailed $50 million in erroneous refunds to 230,000 Medicare recipients.[44]
45. Audits showed $34 billion worth of Department of Homeland Security contracts contained significant waste, fraud, and abuse.[45]
46. Washington recently spent $1.8 million to help build a private golf course in Atlanta, Georgia.[46]
47. The Advanced Technology Program spends $150 million annually subsidizing private businesses; 40 percent of this funding goes to Fortune 500 companies.[47]
48. Congressional investigators were able to receive $55,000 in federal student loan funding for a fictional college they created to test the Department of Education.[48]
49. The Conservation Reserve program pays farmers $2 billion annually not to farm their land.[49]
50. The Commerce Department has lost 1,137 computers since 2001, many containing Americans' personal data.[50]

Pick the Low-Hanging Fruit

Because many of these examples of waste overlap, it is not possible to determine their exact total cost. Yet it is evident that Washington loses hundreds of billions of dollars annually on spending that most Americans would certainly consider wasteful. Lawmakers seeking to rein in spending and budget deficits should begin by eliminating this least justifiable spending while also addressing long-term entitlement costs.

Brian M. Riedl is Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

Show references in this report: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/10/50-Examples-of-Government-Waste

[1]Government Accountability Office, Improper Payments: Progress Made but Challenges Remain in Estimating and Reducing Improper Payments, GAO-09-628T, April 22, 2009, at /static/reportimages/848E2EF8FE88B7FD87B3621E2B5FC0EA.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[2]The Cato Institute estimates that corporate welfare costs $92 billion annually (not even counting the $700 billion TARP legislation). See Stephen Slivinski, "The Corporate Welfare State: How the Federal Government Subsidizes U.S. Businesses," Cato Institute, May 14, 2007, at http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8230 (October 5, 2009). The White House has requested $71 billion for fiscal year 2010 homeland security spending. See Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the U.S. Government, FY 2010: Analytic Perspectives (Supplemental Materials), May 2009, at /static/reportimages/1FA58FAE61C1A1EBAB37BE76B88C824D.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[3]Office of Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), "Subcommittee Oversight Efforts Identify $1.1 Trillion in Waste or Questionable Spending," October 19, 2006, at http://coburn.senate.gov/oversight/?FuseAction=OversightAction
.Home&ContentRecord_id=611f1f4c-802a-23ad-475d-223d6490f308 (October 5, 2009).

[4]Figures include all federal programs rated "effective" or "results not demonstrated" by the George W. Bush Administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) assessment of all federal programs. See http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/ and http://www.whitehouse
.gov/omb/expectmore/part.xls.

[5]Congressional Budget Office, "Budget Options, Volume 1: Health Care," December 2008, athttp://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9925/12-18-Health
Options (October 5, 2009); "Budget Options, Volume 2," August 2009, at /static/reportimages/B6358B2C50828DC2865F4C220C0720C5.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[6]Examples are drawn from Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, "Government at the Brink," Vols. I and II, June 2001; U.S. General Accounting Office, "Managing for Results: Using the Results Act to Address Mission Fragmentation and Program Overlap," August 1997, at /static/reportimages/80B40B0A5C314F2221EE8FF7B22D39CB.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[7]Edwin Mora, "U.S. Will Pay $2.6 Million to Train Chinese Prostitutes to Drink Responsibly on the Job," CNS News, May 12, 2009, at http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=47976 (October 5, 2009).

[8]Government Accountability Office, Government-wide Purchase Cards: Actions Needed to Strengthen Internal Controls to Reduce Fraudulent, Improper, and Abusive Purchases, GAO-08-333, March 2008, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08333.pdf
new.items/d08333.pdf (October 5, 2009); Marc Stewart, "Federal Gov't Questions TVA Spending," WBIR.com, February 27, 2009, at http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=79461 (October 5, 2009); Dan Eggen, "Federal Credit Cards Misused," TheWashington Post, April 9, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04
/08/AR2008040802718.html (October 5, 2009).

[9]Robert Brodsky, "Report Paints Agencies as Deadbeat Travel Card Holders," Government Executive, May 28, 2009, at http://www.govexec.com
/story_page.cfm?articleid=42837&dcn=todaysnews (October 5, 2009).

[10]Laura Strickler, "SEC Spends Millions to Reorganize Desks," CBS News, April 8, 2009, at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/07/cbsnews
_investigates/main4927475.shtml (October 5, 2009).

[11]Tony Capaccio, "Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers," Bloomberg, August 16, 2009, at http://www.bloomberg.com/
apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aY5OQ5xv9HR8 (October 5, 2009).

[12]Ted Covey et al., "Agriculture Income and Finance Outlook," U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, November 2006, pp. 40 and 48.

[13]Carrie Johnson, "Medical Fraud a Growing Problem," TheWashington Post, June 13, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article
/2008/06/12/AR2008061203915.html (October 5, 2009).

[14]Dana Hedgpeth, "GAO Blasts Weapons Budget," TheWashington Post, April 1, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article
/2008/03/31/AR2008033102789.html (October 5, 2009).

[15]Christopher Conkey, "Federal Workers Accused of Abusing Business Class," The Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2007, at http://online.wsj.com/
article/SB119136054325946827.html (October 5, 2009).

[16]Steve LeBlanc, "Feds Spending Millions on Kennedy Legacy," Associated Press, May 11, 2009, at http://wbztv.com/politics/tedkennedy/ted.kennedy
.legacy.2.956809.html (October 5, 2009); Bryan Bender, "Kerry Asks $20m for Kennedy Institute," The Boston Globe, September 25, 2009, at http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/09/25/
watchdog_groups_rap_20m_earmark_for_kennedy_institute/ (October 5, 2009).

[17]Ralph Vartabedian and Tom Hamburger, "Crimes Suspected in 20 Bailout Cases--for Starters," The Los Angeles Times, April 21, 2009, at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tarp-fraud21-2009
apr21,0,2443377.story (October 5, 2009).

[18]These and more examples of recent earmarks are at Brian Riedl, "Omnibus Spending Bill: Huge Spending and 9,000 Earmarks Represent Business as Usual," Heritage Foundation WebMemo No. 2318, March 2, 2009, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/wm2318.cfm.

[19] Brad Heath, "Gov't Losses Big in Home Market," USA Today, May 15, 2009, at http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2009-05-14
-govtown_N.htm (October 5, 2009).

[20] Ira Teinowitz, "FCC Goes NASCAR Racing to Publicize DTV," TV Week, October 2008, at http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/10/fcc_goes_nascar
_racing_to_publ.php (October 5, 2009).

[21] Louise Radnofsky and T. W. Farnam, "Lawmakers Bill Taxpayers for TVs, Cameras, Lexus," The Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2009, at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124364352135868189.html (October 5, 2009); Jonathan E. Kaplan and Mandy Kozar, "Lawmakers Spend on Big Screens, Popcorn," The Hill, November 8, 2005.

[22]Dana Hedgpeth, "$13 Billion in Iraq Aid Wasted or Stolen, Ex-Investigator Says," TheWashington Post, September 23, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/
AR2008092202053.html (October 5, 2009);Dan Friedman, "Report: Defense Department Cannot Fully Account for $7.8B Spent in Iraq," CongressDaily,May 22, 2008, at http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0508/052208cdpm2.htm (October 5, 2009).

[23]Associated Press, "Katrina Fraud Could Top $2 Billion," December 25, 2006, at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15587326/ (October 5, 2009); "FEMA Funds Spent on Divorce, Sex Change," June 14, 2006, at http://cbs4denver.com/national/FEMA.Divorce.Sex.2.268906.html (October 5, 2009).

[24]Government Accountability Office, Expedited Assistance for Victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: FEMA's Control Weaknesses Exposed the Government to Significant Fraud and Abuse, GAO-06-403T, February 13, 2006, p. 11, at /static/reportimages/AD70E579E2C93DD00C8963C3EB7761C3.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[25]Wesley Loy, "Alaska Airlines Takes Flying Fish to a Whole New Level: $500,000 Grant from Federal Funding Pays for Custom Paint Job on Company's Passenger Jet," Anchorage Daily News, October 2, 2005.

[26]Halimah Abdullah, "Who Might Fly Somerset to D.C. and Back?," McClatchey, May 24, 2009, at http://www.kentucky.com/latest_news
/story/806331.html (October 5, 2009).

[27]CBS News, "Beach Restoration: Sending $$$ Out to Sea?," May 26, 2009, at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/26/eveningnews/
main5041144.shtml (October 5, 2009).

[28] Michael Grabell, "Rural Broadband Stimulus Program Slammed in Gov't Report," ProPublica, April 14, 2009, at http://www.propublica.org/ion/
stimulus/item/rural-broadband-stimulus-program-slammed-in-govt-report
-414/ (October 5, 2009).

[29]Government Accountability Office, DOD Travel Cards: Control Weaknesses Led to Millions of Dollars in Unused Airline Tickets, GAO-03-398, March 2004, at /static/reportimages/4ACE73C0DAE4F7DF5A63A1682F144966.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[30]CBS News, "FAA Memo: Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic," April 29, 2009, at http://wcbstv.com/topstories/air.force.one.2.996457.html (October 5, 2009); Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, "The Cost of Presidential and Vice Presidential Political Travel," March 2006, p. 3, at http://oversight.house.gov/documents/
20060316113550-47530.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[31]Government Accountability Office, Travel Cards: Air Force Management Focus Has Reduced Delinquencies, but Improvements in Controls Are Needed, GAO-03-298, December 20, 2002, p. 4, at http://www.gao.gov/new.
items/d03298.pdf (October 6, 2009); Travel Cards: Control Weaknesses Leave Navy Vulnerable to Fraud and Abuse, GAO-03-148T, October 8, 2002, p. 8, at /static/reportimages/40C1D6AB36A6C16873C3BF78605117B8.pdf (October 6, 2009).

[32] Emily Yehle, "House May Get Big Boost for Election-Year Mailings," Roll Call, May 4, 2009.

[33]Department of Heath and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, "Compendium of Unimplemented Office of Inspector General Recommendations," May 2009, at http://oig.hhs.gov/publications/docs/
compendium/compendium2009.pdf (October 6, 2009).

[34]Christopher Lee, "Official Portraits Draw Skeptical Gaze," TheWashington Post, October 21, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2008/10/20/AR2008102003627.html (October 6, 2009).

[35]Associated Press, "Washington Sends $1 Food Stamp Checks to 250,000," February 23, 2009, at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html
/localnews/2008775541_apwafoodstampchecks.html (October 6, 2009).

[36]Dan Morgan, Gilbert Gaul, and Sarah Cohen, "Farm Program Pays $1.3 Billion to People Who Don't Farm," TheWashingtonPost, July 2, 2006, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/01/
AR2006070100962.html (October 6, 2009).

[37]Anne Plummer Flaherty, "Congress Ready for Its End of War Party," Associated Press, October 4, 2006, at http://www.presstelegram.com/
news/ci_4443037 (October 6, 2009).

[38]Government Accountability Office, Purchase Cards: Control Weaknesses Leave DHS Highly Vulnerable to Fraudulent, Improper, and Abusive Activity, GAO-06-1117, September 2006, at /static/reportimages/59308EC86105AAE6C7692F05D53ECA46.pdf (October 6, 2009).

[39]Jonathan Nicholson, "Congress Seems Unlikely to Correct Gaffes in Budget Bill Costing $2 Billion," BNA Daily Report for Executives, September 25, 2006.

[40]Steve Fogarty, " Stimulus Grant Funds a Quieter North Ridgeville," Chronicle-Telegram, May 22, 2009, at http://www.chroniclet.com/2009/05/
stimulus-grant-funds-a-quieter-north-ridgeville/ (October 6, 2009).

[41]Jonathan Rockoff, "NIH Paying $1.3 Million Monthly for Unused Lab," Baltimore Sun, December 2, 2007.

[42]Bennett Roth and Eric Rosenberg, "The Pentagon Says It Doesn't Need Any More C-17 Jets, but It Is Getting Them--at a Cost of $2.4 Billion--Thanks to the Texas Congressional Delegation," Houston Chronicle, September 30, 2007, at http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?
id=2007_4433833 (October 6, 2009).

[43]CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, December 6, 2005, at http://transcripts
.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0512/06/acd.01.html (October 6, 2009).

[44]David Stout, "Medicare Error Sends $50 Million in Refunds to Recipients," The New York Times, August 24, 2006, at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/
08/24/washington/24medicare.html (October 6, 2009).

[45]Griff Witte and Spencer S. Hsu, "Homeland Security Contracts Abused," TheWashington Post, July 27, 2006, at http://www.washingtonpost.com
/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601683.html (October 6, 2009).

[46]Kevin Duffy, "Why Did the Federal Government Help This Golf Course?," Atlanta-Journal-Constitution, November 13, 2006.

[47]See Brian Riedl, "Congress Should Follow the President and Eliminate the Advanced Technology Program," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1828, March 1, 2005, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg1828.cfm.

[48]Government Accountability Office, Department of Education: Guaranteed Student Loan Program Vulnerabilities, GAO-03-268R, November 21, 2002, at /static/reportimages/9329EBC1096FB830E7A1C6AA436AD6E1.pdf (October 6, 2009).

[49]The Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers not to farm more than 40 million acres of farmland. See Brian Riedl, "How Farm Subsidies Harm Taxpayers, Consumers, and Farmers, Too," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 2043, June 20, 2007, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Agriculture/bg2043.cfm.

[50]Associated Press, "Commerce Reports Losing 1,137 Laptops," September 21, 2006, athttp://washingtontimes.com/news/2006/sep/21/
20060921-115116-5387r/print (October 6, 2009).