Last week I had the opportunity to bring up spending and transparency in two important hearings. On Wednesday I questioned Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on some highly questionable uses of funds at the Federal Reserve, and on Thursday I asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about exorbitant spending at the State Department.
It is extremely important to continue bringing these issues up, especially in light of our difficult economic times, when so many are out of work, as I saw up close in my district at the Oceans of Opportunity Job Fair in Galveston two weeks ago. Those who are working live with the fear of losing their jobs as they struggle to pay bills. Meanwhile, Washington is talking of increasing their taxes, something voters were promised, clearly and adamantly, would not happen in this administration.
Government also struggles with money, but the struggle centers on how to get more of your money into government coffers. Rather than expanding the Federal budget in the face of economic downturn, we should be focusing on eliminating waste and being the very best stewards of public funds that we can possibly be. Most businesses have had to streamline and cut back in order to survive, and so it is only fair for our government to do the same.
Instead, the State Department is building a $1 billion embassy in London, the most expensive ever built. The plans even include surrounding it with a moat! I asked the Secretary of State about this massive expenditure, and she claimed the funds for this were coming from the sale of other properties. If money can be saved, then save it! Don’t spend it on such an extravagant structure overseas when people back home can’t find jobs or pay bills. Not only that, but the administration has committed to doubling foreign aid. That is one promise that is likely to be kept, despite our economic crisis.
I asked Chairman Bernanke about Federal Reserve agreements with foreign central banks and if he had had any conversations about bailing out Greece, which he flatly denied. However, he recently announced that the Federal Reserve will be looking into Goldman Sachs’ derivative agreements with Greece. Goldman Sachs, as we know, has “too big to fail” status with the Fed, so it is conceivable that any Greece-related catastrophic losses at Goldman Sachs will once again be passed on to taxpayers.
Perhaps most sinister are the revelations in Robert Auerbach’s book Deception and Abuse at the Fed that $5.5 billion was sent to Saddam Hussein in the 80’s — money that allowed Iraq to build up its military machine to fight Iran prior to the first Gulf War, the very machine turned against our brave men and women within just a few years! I agree with Bernanke’s characterization of this — it is indeed “bizarre” to think that Americans at the Federal Reserve could engage in this type of behavior, which a some have called “criminal.” However, Professor Auerbach served as a banking committee investigator, and as an economist at the Treasury Department and at the Federal Reserve. His claims are hardly without merit. In fact, they are solidly backed by court rulings and other evidence.
The lack of accountability and transparency in our leaders on government spending is appalling. We simply must keep pressing these issues and voicing our objections if we are ever to reverse our failed policies.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works license.
Video published by this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Sampling+ license.
Facebook
Digg
del.icio.us
reddit.com
Newsvine
Shawn Earnest
Mar 07, 2010
-Quote: “the State Department is building a $1 billion embassy in London, the most expensive ever built.”
-Response: If London did this in America I perceive that would be an insult to the United States, it’s people, and life style as a Nation by symbolically projecting that we are all savages and that they need a mote to keep the criminals out and remain safe.
Humanity needs food, shelter, and a sense of a humane community (wolf pack) safety that nations and groups of populations are supposed to provide. This can also be used to control populations -easily, so I have heard in documentaries and or perhaps that is a conspiracy.
Flying to the Moon, Fling in planes that fill the skies across oceans wide, satellites in space watching and listening to our every motion, international space-stations orbiting the Earth, the existence of computers, plastic clothing, anti-gravity (http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/09/nasa-creates-anti-gravity-field-makes-lab-rats-levitate/), and even more. Since only 100 years ago was considered utterly insane and some kind of nutty conspiracy ends in consorts. So, what if this economic National/Global situation is a tab bit of a conspiracy? Why is it they always have huge amounts of money to print out? Oh’ well…
I worked for Ben S. Bernanke in 2001-2002 in the Economics Department as a entry level assistant computer administrator to David Milnes head Administrator at Princeston University. I also worked for Yacine Ait-Sahalia, of Economics Bendheim Center for Finance right next door as well.
I had “no” computer certifications at all and that made many lower staff members, above me, very angry. I was invited to go out and eat off-campus with Faculty and Students, more then once, which had never happened before with any staff members unless wife or husbands of professors, and or of political status equivalent. The students said I was the best computer administrator they ever had and I was offered a job with the IMF, but declined cause I do not like living in cities. In 9 months of working there they still never figured why I worked there. Princeton’s ITSecurity / Computer IT Security was pissed at me too cause I tracked down a hacker that broke in the Economics Sparc Server website right to target an “Israeli hacker Ehud Tenenbaum, AKA Spyder” with in a manner of minutes and IT Staff was working on that for months throughout Princeton. Head IT Security staff member, (Professors always called her the “Bag-Lady”), She said I was a hacker, cause I could do all this stuff with UNiX, Stuff(?) or are they really that stupid? —Oh’ they are not stupid, cause they all have political status; -They know people.
The lower staff members at Woodrow Wilson “School of Public Internal Affairs” where very angered that I was working at Princeton University without certifications, and again. —- And adding to their rage of complaints: I was without a family name, I was without any other social political status that they could impress other people with. The lower staff members over me could not brag about me, but where jealous the students and faculty liked me, (so petty and immature the staff members where; -family members of professors), and that angered them even so much more. So they trumped up reasons to fire me and did. It was suggested, (by grad-students and faculty), that a Professor Kimble at the Economics Bendheim Center for Finance who also works for National Security Agency and CIA when over-seas *under-cover*, (indeed have been romured by university grad-students and faculty alike of his private profiling), and he fabricated a story I was cheating, Cheating? I was a student? Nope, I was the SysAdmin’s Ass man.
What do I think about “Ben S. Bernanke?” I do not say, but perhaps you should ask Ben what I think, yes?
If you do speak with Ben tell him I appreciate his offering of his daughters 3-ferrets to me, cause I love animals so much, but I did declined the offer. I respect brilliance in senior leaders in my life with such grace. -Thanks for cleaning up the “School of Public Internal Affairs”, but what about the *Bag-Lady* people!!! [Grin]…Ranting-ended.
-forgive the dramatic grammatics.