Comments on: Report: Millions Blown On Government Cards

GAO Says Federal Employees Paid For Online Dating, Suits And Lingerie With Federal Credit Cards

[blackwater66-2009]

Like this is a surprise to congress or whoever. There is a responsible person who is suppose to validate all purchases made by their employees each month and if that person is not doing their job than get rid of them. Ultimately the buck stops at the supervisors desk ! Who''s watching who !!

[lochlan-2009]

"The review of card spending at more than a dozen departments from 2005 to 2006 found that nearly 41 percent of roughly $14 billion in credit-card purchases, whether legitimate or questionable, did not follow procedure..."

"...increasing scrutiny of purchase cards, which are used by 300,000 federal employees and are directly payable by the U.S. government."

Let me get this straight: Their are 300,000 credit cards out there and they spent $14billion.

300,000 into $14billion= $46,666.67 averaged each card over the course of a year. That is some hefty spending.

[forthepeopl1]

BECAUSE THIS WAY THEY CAN SAY I DIDN''''''''T SAY THAT,I MEANT THIS, INSTEAD OF THAT..

AND THIS WAY THEY CAN SAY THAT WE TOLD ALL YOU AMERICANS OUT THEIR DONT YOU REMEMBER WHAT WE SAID IN THE MINUTES
On the one hand, the Fed has been urgently moving to prevent the trio of economic woes %u2014 housing, credit and financial from plunging the country into a deep recession. On the other hand, with soaring energy prices and high food costs, policymakers realize that they can''''''''t afford to let inflation get out of control, either.

Even with the big interest rate reduction in March, most Fed members saw overall inflation moderating in coming quarters, the minutes said. However, inflation pressures had picked up even as economic growth had weakened, the minutes added, suggesting that uncertainty clouded the inflation outlook.

Plosser and Fisher %u2014 the two who opposed the hefty three-quarter-point reduction in March %u2014 were "concerned that inflation expectations could potentially become unhinged," according to the minutes. If people, investors and businesses expect prices to rise sharply, they''''''''ll act in ways that will make inflation worse. Once inflation takes hold, it is hard to break."

S!!! F-THEM ALL, AND AMERICANS BETTER TAKE THEIR MONEY OUT SOON, REAL SOON BECAUSE ITS COMMING, AND ITS GOING TO CRASH HARD.

ANYONE SEEN MR POTATO-HEAD( PAULSON ) OR IS STILL SIPPING TEA WITH CHINA!! THE PEICE OF S/H/I/T/, SCUM BAG, FRUIT CAKE. I HOPE GODZILLA COME DOWN AND SITS

[tejasdemo]

Blah, blah, blah....now, everybody be sure to complain about poor people eating away our tax dollars with all those nasty, irresponsible food stamps.

Our country is completely corrupt.

[sistatee-2009]

So we save 2 billion dollars in "administrative costs" by giving these cards to people, and get 16 billion in unauthorized purchases. I say take back the cards and save 14 billion. We could build the border fence with that money.

[afmca]

Once again corruption flourishes because we fight to blame Demos or Repubs. These crooks remain no matter which party is in office. The people we should blame AND punish are the government employed criminals. This is easy to stop ... once found the person is fired from their job, makes restitution in full, is permanently banned from government jobs or related businesses, loses all pensions, and, if big enough, spends time in jail. It is time for zero tolerance for government criminality.

[mjvw2]

I actually agree with most of your post however; with a little homework you would have discovered that the Clinton Administration created the Federal Credit Card program and issued the Executive Order mandating its use for travel.
Posted by mjvw2

I don''''t care who started the system, and I''''m sure most people don''''t care, what we should care about is punishing those that abused the system. You steal money, you go to jail, simple as that.
Posted by alexma50085

Couldn''t agree with you more. The post I originally replied to blamed the current administration for the program. Just correcting that mis-statement

[blondbeotch]

antoniof123 9:32 Yea, and like the Demorats hands are clean--if you are that naive, glad you left the party--stay gone

[blondbeotch]

zoe2006 10:28** You are the IDIOT!!!!

[dbl06]

It is possible to limit the sic codes where a purchase card can be used. For example, 5631 is the sic code for a Lingerie Store, it would be possible to exclude the use of any purchase card at that sic code. It is also possible to limit the amt of credit available by the week or month. Should be an easy fix if the motivation were there.

[fstop100]

How about prison sentences for those guilty. It is theft.

[papabc]

bet you can fine waste starting from the beginning of this country. There are better ways of tracking it now.

If your are working (now) and chatting here then is that abuse of your jobs?

[wdrussell1]

retired you seem to have no problem with waste fraud and abuse as long as you can put Clinton in your post.
''WE" might be able to fix this, but you are part of the problem.

[retiredusaf3]

These abuses have been going on in government since the Clinton administration forced the program on all federal workers.

[jerry_in_va]

I am baffled every time I hear one of these reports. I''ve worked for the Federal Govt for over 32 years in multiple agencies and locations and have never seen or heard of anyone doing the kinds of things that are indicated in this report. It is nearly impossible to get funding for legitimate charges, I can''t imagine how these people get funding for the charges indicated in this report.

[displeased]

I wonder how much more money we waste on the incompetent or fraudulent governmental auditors that are supposed to identify control weaknesses to prevent this and other crimes we don''t know about.

[papabc]

It doesn''''t matter weather republicon or democrat, fraudulent behavior deserves indictment and jail.
=========================
I agree... fraud crosses all lines and if people have no honor then they will abuse the job. Democrat, Republican, Independent, Other.

[papabc]

I agree with the: cancel all Cards then issue them only to key personnel. If key personnel miss use the cards then FIRE them.
Any Present or Past abuse of the card: Fire the offenders, NOW.
Private Companies would.

I am tired of my tax $$$ going down the drain to Government Workers that think working there is a right and taking our tax $$$ is theirs to do with as they wish.

I am sure there are people, Like Me, that would and could fill the empty jobs and do them better.

[timdgrim]

OH China, we need some more money....our government credit card statement just came in! And while you''re at it send some more c**p for our stores and we''ll send the shipping containers back. (Empty of course)

[pronto9]

As a defense contractor who does business with the government, I know that there are stop-gap measures in place which are suppose to prevent abuse. Obviously, some well protected/connected offices are getting around this. I doubt there is any employee who doesn''t know that buying items for personal consumption or use is illegal. They just think they won''t get caught. Violators should be terminated from employment. That will get a lot of other folks attention. "Joe got fired for buying porn on his GCC" will go a long way to stopping this abuse by theft.