Feds’ $4.6B furniture splurge is one more – Latest News
One factor Americans could be sure of: At any given time, someplace on the market, a authorities decision-maker is discovering new and ingenious methods of flushing your hard-earned money.
The newest: Government watchdog OpenTheBooks discovered that the feds spent an eye-popping $4.6 billion on new furniture and decorations for presidency buildings since October 2020, despite the fact that solely half the federal workforce was persistently displaying up for work in particular person as of final 12 months.
In 2023, the Government Accountability Office discovered that 17 of 24 federal companies used 25% or much less of their headquarters’ buildings.
So the feds blew billions in taxpayer money on artwork that just about no one will have a look at and furniture that just about no one will use.
It’s at all times straightforward to spend different people’s money.
Some of the worst splurges:
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$250,000 value of Herman Miller chairs for the US Agency for International Development places of work in Mozambique.
$237,960 for 30 solar-powered picnic tables for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
$1.4 million on artwork and drawings for embassies.
$39,000 for new convention tables for The Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francisco.
$117,250 on 40 Ethan Allen recliners for the US embassy in Pakistan — or about $2,931 every. (And we doubt they acquired a quantity low cost.)
In 2022, 37% of Americans reported they wouldn’t be capable of scrounge collectively an additional $400 in an emergency, so it’s honest to imagine most middle-class households couldn’t afford even one exorbitantly priced Ethan Allen chair, but Uncle Sam determined an embassy in Islamabad must be decked out with dozens of them.
Has no one within the federal authorities ever heard of Ikea?
Beyond the precise waste right here is what it says concerning the feds’ institutional allergy to something approaching fiscal accountability.
Sure, places of work need purposeful chairs, and the case could be made for the occasional portray to spruce up a ready room.
But designer recliners, solar-powered picnic tables (powered for what, precisely?) and $200,000 fashionable summary work aren’t remotely obligatory for the business of working the nation.
But necessity doesn’t matter in case you see the taxpayers as a bottomless piggy bank.
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Belt-tightening? Unheard of. Hunting for a deal? That’s for plebs. Searching out essentially the most economical option? Not my job.
Only essentially the most luxurious, high-end, name-brand gadgets will do for the rear ends of our valuable public staff. (The ones who trouble displaying up for work, anyway.)
No surprise the overwhelming majority of Americans — 76%, in response to a February Harvard-Harris ballot — assist DOGE’s efforts to slash waste.
The feds’ furniture splurge is more proof that there’s no restrict to the outrageous abuse of taxpayer {dollars}; it’s mismanagement and financial folly all the best way down.
