Bailout: How did your representative vote?

Bailout: How did your representative vote? Go to GOPUSA to see how your representative voted. Find out which ones stood up for conservative values.

E-mail this story to a friend Have comments? Send them to the editor. Printer Friendly Version Subscribe for Free!

Page 2 of 2

The accounting systems for a lot of government entities, perhaps most, are often so bad they can't be audited. Amazingly, in many instances, they don't even keep track of the funds they receive. Three examples graphically illustrate the point:

A June 2001, a report titled, "Government at the Brink," issued by the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, stated, "The Education Department reported in its financial statements that it had $7.5 billion in the bank, when it actually owed that money to the U.S. Treasury," a discrepancy of $15 billion.

How is it possible to lose billions of dollars without even having a clue as to where it went? Think that's not possible? Think again! In August 2005, the Sacramento Bee reported, "In 1994, Congress found problems with the Interior Department's administration of 260,000 Indian trust accounts containing $400 million. The Indians allege the department mismanaged oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties from their lands dating back to 1887," failing "to account for billions of dollars belonging to about 500,000 Indians."

A July, 2001 article titled, Billions Missing at Education, by Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid, stated, "In addition to the $15 billion discrepancy at the education department, the report says that the Internal Revenue Service 'does not know how much it actually collects in Social Security and Medicare.'"

Perhaps the most alarming aspect of the Irvine/Kincaid report is their observation that, "Neither the federal government as a whole nor many agencies can pass a basic financial audit. The books don't add up, major expenditures are missing, large amounts of property and equipment can't be located, and often, agencies don't even know how much they have."

If we don't force our politicians to stop treating public monies like personal slush funds and demand straight, accurate accounting, we may ultimately be forced to openly repudiate our debts or cause hyperinflation by printing too much money, which will wipe out tens of millions of our citizens financially.

It has happened many times before in other nations: Germany in the 1920s, Greece during WWII, Hungary after WWII, and Argentina in 1989, to name a few. And, "Hyperinflation in Mexico eventually forced prices so high that (the president) had to replace the peso . . . In short, (in 1993) he stripped three zeroes from the peso." (Wikipedia)

And, it can happen in America if we don't put a stop to fiscal irresponsibility. We came perilously close to disaster during the Carter administration when interest rates soared to 21%.

---

NOTE: Read more of Harris Sherline's commentaries on his blog at "opinionfest.com."

--------------------

Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.

>> Back -- Page 1 2

++ Discuss this topic in The Forum

Current rating: 5.0 out of 5.0 (6 total votes)