Furthermore, as of January 31, 2012, the gross federal debt of the US government was $15.356 trillion. With the annual gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of 2011 at $15.087 trillion, the total public debt outstanding reached 101.8% of the country's entire GDP.
It would certainly be appropriate for our federal government leaders and workers to handle their responsibilities as public servants by prudently spending our taxpayers' money in a manner that would eliminate the continuing deficits. But after three years in a row of spending more than $1 trillion in excess of receipts (and a projection of a fourth consecutive year), it does not seem that they are even trying to be careful in how public funds are spent nor does it appear that there is much of an effort to find ways to cut expenses and reduce the mounting deficits.
Furthermore, they are not even paying their "fair share" of taxes to help increase the revenue side of the budget. As Vice President Joe Biden stated during the 2008 campaign, are government employees "doing their patriotic duty" by paying their taxes?
President Barack Obama has preached that all Americans should pay their fair share in taxes, but a government report finds that tens of thousands of federal employees -- from staffers in Congress to those in federal agencies and even Obama's executive office -- collectively owe the government billions in back taxes.
"Data from the Internal Revenue Service show that more than 279,000 federal employees and retirees owed $3.4 billion in back income taxes as of Sept. 30, 2010. The data includes 467 employees of the House of Representatives, or about 4.2% of the workforce, who owed more than $8.5 million. In the Senate, 217 employees, or about 3% of the workforce, owed $2.13 million. Obama's staff was not immune, either, with 36 people in Obama's executive office of nearly 1,800 workers -- about 2% -- owing the government a total of $833,970 in back taxes." http://money.msn.com/tax-tips/post.aspx?post=ab789642-9f66-414f-8683-8dbc20504dc0
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In addition, members of Congress abuse the appropriations process when deciding where to spend public funds.
"Some members of Congress send tax dollars to companies, colleges and community groups where their spouses, children and parents work as salaried employees, lobbyists or board members, according to an examination of federal disclosure forms and local public records by The Washington Post.
A U.S. senator from South Dakota helped add millions to a Pentagon program his wife evaluated as a contract employee. A Washington congressman boosted the budget of an environmental group that his son ran as executive director. A Texas congresswoman guided millions to a university where her husband served as a vice president.
Those three members are among 16 who have taken actions that aided entities connected to their immediate families....
Members of Congress have more leeway than executive branch officials or individuals in publicly held companies, who operate under stricter conflict-of-interest rules that generally prevent them from taking actions that might benefit businesses or institutions where their relatives work. The legislators set and enforce their own rules, giving themselves broad latitude to take steps that can end up directly benefiting their immediate family." http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/capitol-assets-some-legislators-send-millions-to-groups-connected-to-their-relatives/2012/01/10/gIQAyrzdxQ_story.html?hpid=z4
----------------------"Some members of Congress send tax dollars to companies, colleges and community groups where their spouses, children and parents work as salaried employees, lobbyists or board members, according to an examination of federal disclosure forms and local public records by The Washington Post.
A U.S. senator from South Dakota helped add millions to a Pentagon program his wife evaluated as a contract employee. A Washington congressman boosted the budget of an environmental group that his son ran as executive director. A Texas congresswoman guided millions to a university where her husband served as a vice president.
Those three members are among 16 who have taken actions that aided entities connected to their immediate families....
Members of Congress have more leeway than executive branch officials or individuals in publicly held companies, who operate under stricter conflict-of-interest rules that generally prevent them from taking actions that might benefit businesses or institutions where their relatives work. The legislators set and enforce their own rules, giving themselves broad latitude to take steps that can end up directly benefiting their immediate family." http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/capitol-assets-some-legislators-send-millions-to-groups-connected-to-their-relatives/2012/01/10/gIQAyrzdxQ_story.html?hpid=z4
The tendency for government officials to misuse public funds is unfortunately not limited to federal government workers in the Washington, DC area. The Washington Post has also reported that about 60 former D.C. workers have cashed unemployment checks they were not entitled to.
Shortly after the first Washington Post story appeared "the District government suspended nearly 90 employees for receiving the payments. Another 40 former employees were also implicated. City officials estimate that $800,000 in benefits were doled out to working city employees since 2009." http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-wire/post/dcps-bus-drivers-among-top-offenders-in-city-unemployment-fraud-nathan-says/2012/02/08/gIQAuMABzQ_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_buzz
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Even County government officials in states surrounding the DC area take advantage of their access to taxpayer funds. Documents obtained by The Washington Post show that 95 Fairfax County, Virginia workers returned to the Fairfax County payroll for at least part of last year or longer after participating in a retirement option that allows early pension payments to be deposited in interest paying accounts for three years before actual retirement. Several employees who took the option last year are eligible to earn more than $100,000 a year in salary as they continue working for the County.
"The [Fairfax County] Board of Supervisors has launched a broad review of retirement benefits as many state and local governments find themselves struggling to fund current needs and the promises made to former employees. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) wants to shift some state pension costs to counties; Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) has asked state workers to contribute more to their retirements. In Fairfax, critics have argued that pension costs could become unsustainable." http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/for-some-fairfax-public-employees-retirement-means-collecting-a-nest-egg--and-returning-to-work/2012/01/25/gIQApShDvQ_story_1.html
We can, at least, be thankful that Virginia's Governor recognizes one logical solution to the pension cost liability that state and local governments face in the current slow economy. As noted above, Gov. McDonnell is actually asking the government workers themselves to help pay for their retirement benefits.
Contributing to your own benefits and carefully spending your organization's funds to avoid waste and excessive costs are practices that are common in the private sector because continuing deficit spending outside of government leads to bankruptcy or business failure. Unfortunately, governments have no such swords hanging over their operations since they think they can just raise taxes or keep selling bonds to China to fund continuing public operations and payrolls.
In the meantime, if government workers cannot be frugal and prudent in their use of the public's money, it would be nice if public workers would at least pay the taxes they owe and follow the law on unemployment benefits.
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