Katrina fraud stretches far beyond Gulf

[simonsebs]

Katrina fraud stretches far beyond Gulf

Please read and respond

[MJ_KC]

There are certainly a lot of bad(insert expletive of your choosing) people in this world. The problem is that we are prevented from handing out a harsh enough punishments to make people not want to do this in the future.

[nudeM]

It certainly makes people wonder if they will dig into their pocketbooks again if stories continue to surface like this one. Fraud is fraud, no mater how you look at it, and all it takes is a few a$$h$$$s to screw it up in the future.

I hope they arrest these people and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law, just to set examples.

[MJ_KC]

I would like to see some public floggings.

[nacktman]

I say let them keep any monies they got!
I also say let's give them something else as well ... a hammer or maybe a shovel.
How about, let's give them a brand new job.
They want something for nothing and easy money I say let them have it.


Then we have them go to New Orleans with that brand new hammer or shovel and rebuild the city as their new job.
Oh, and, have them do so at the going rate of pay for prisoners until they have repaid every cent plus penalties and interest.
I believe that going rate is $1.00 a day.
Then we'll see how much they like getting something for nothing and easy money.

[Naturist Mark]

I hope everyone realizes that this story of "Katrina Fraud" is bulls**t meant to distract us.

No, I'm not saying that a bunch of people didn't abuse the system to make false claims. I'm saying they are NOTHING compared to the GARGANTUAN corporate fraud foisted on the American taxpayers by Bush cronys.

We spent $100 Billion to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Yet 20 months later 90% of New Orleans remains untouched. The levies are not yet up to the inadequate pre-Katrina standards, the pumps don't work if there is water in them. Halliburtin is paid $30 a ton in a no bid contract to remove refuse, and subcontracts it through a series of shell companies, until the contractor at the end of the line is paid $5 a ton to do the actual work - and is happy to get that much!

You are being manipulated folks. The media is cooperating with the robber barons by directing your outrage at the pick pockets while they continue to rob the bank with the banker's blessing.

-Mark

[nacktman]

Mark, I was meaning ALL the "easy money" grubbers ... the 'pickpockets' would been done in a year or two while the 'robber barons' twould n'er be done with their restitution.

[MJ_KC]

I would have to say that there is no distraction involved at all. All of these things are going on regarding fraud and mismanagement of funds and they all need to be dealt with, not just mis-deeds by large corporations.

[Naturist Mark]

Originally posted by MJ_KC:
I would have to say that there is no distraction involved at all. All of these things are going on regarding fraud and mismanagement of funds and they all need to be dealt with, not just mis-deeds by large corporations.

Good on you.

But the media is throwing red meat to the public while avoiding the major criminality. It isn't by accident.

-Mark

[Sanslines]

I would have to say that there is no distraction involved at all. All of these things are going on regarding fraud and mismanagement of funds and they all need to be dealt with, not just mis-deeds by large corporations.

Waste and fraud have been going on forever and at all levels. If all government was ever held to corporate standards, government would have gone beyond bankruptcy many years ago. If you watched the 60 Minutes segment last night on how powerful the pharmaceutical company lobbies are, you would see just how out of control things have become. Presently, the Veteran's Administration is able to legally use their clout to negotiate for lower pharmaceutical prices. Medicare is not legally able to do so and the issue revolved around legislation that would enable Medicare to do so (thereby substantially lowering pharmaceutical costs). During the voting session at the Capitol, pharma reps would openly badger and hound the reps in order to influence their vote and have this bill defeated. Far too many of the reps were also engaged in arranging deals where they would go to work for the pharma companies or their lobbies at huge salaries after they left the House or the Senate. This 60 Minutes Segment just goes to show the enormous lobbying effect that pharmaceutical companies have and that they directly control legislation to their benefit and continued enormous profit generating machine. In the end, who really cares for we all know that Medicare is an endless pot of money that can never be exhausted no matter how much money is paid out. Why we ONLY have to keep raising taxes to keep the system going and the pharmaceutical companies happy with ever growing enormous profits. In the end, it is the American taxpayer that will keep paying .......and paying......and paying.......... When will we stop this madness??

[MJ_KC]

I wouldn't mind seeing some severe restrictions put in place regarding when and where lobbyists can perform their arm twisting.

Make the legislators and members of the executive branch wait several years before they can perform any work or receive compensation from anyone who gave them anything while in office.

I know it isn't going to happen, but as long as they receive a promise of a high paying job for pushing through a piece of legislation, nothing is going to change.

[missouriboy]

Democracy sows the seeds of its own destruction when the citizens discover they can vote themselves benefits from the public purse.

Everything else is just "tactics."

[Naturist Mark]

Democracy sows the seeds of its own destruction when the citizens discover they can vote themselves benefits from the public purse.

Everything else is just "tactics."

So for the last 30 years citizens have been voting to give themselves less benefits and lower salaries? Is that just a problem with tactics?

-Mark

[Sanslines]

Addendum to the above posting concerning Pharmaceutical Lobbying:

Source: Washington Post

103 National Institute of Health scientists are under investigation for possible ethical violations. The investigations concern Pharmaceutical Company funding for research and (hopeful) certification of new pharmaceutical drugs that will directly benefit the pharmaceutical companies.

[missouriboy]

Originally posted by Naturist Mark:
So for the last 30 years citizens have been voting to give themselves less benefits and lower salaries? Is that just a problem with tactics?

-Mark

???

I dunno. My remark about tactics was about the methods people use to get benefits from the public purse. Lobbying is just one tactic. But the underlying problem is the system of government that permits benefits from the public purse in the first place.