Waste and fraud...

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

...are still parts of the economy.

Consider. Regardless of your political affiliation, if there is an economic downturn and jobs are a problem as is tax flow to the treasury, fed and states, and so forth, if you, as president, propose to pay for you new program to boost the economy by reducing waste and fraud, all you are doing is robbing Pete to pay otter, so to speak.

If I am over billing the government for, say, medicare reimbursements, I'm still doing something with that money; paying employees, taking a vacation, getting a new dirt bike, going to dinner, you name it.

If you eliminate those dollars coming to me, I fire people, I go to dinner less, I don't get a new bike, etc, and everyone suffers accordingly down stream.

That doesn't excuse waste and fraud, far from it. It simply illustrates the reality of government programs, especially in hard times; they have NOTHING to do with profit and loss or asset and liability functions of a business or a household. They are government. A single penny of waste and fraud, when found and eliminated, should go directly back to the people as unnecessary taxes.

You can't fund a new program with fantasy savings.

[RPMDAD]

I'm sure otter would like the additional pay. " robbing Pete to pay otter " :-)

[Lenny]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

...

You can't fund a new program with fantasy savings.

But you can claim there's a budgetary surplus when it's based on fantasy growth. Klinton's "surplus" depended on Enron, World.com and other dishonest companies continuing to function and generate inflated profits. When the .com bubble burst and Enron become a four-letter word, the props were knocked out from under Klinton's 'Surplus.'

[MMDad (Premo)]

Healthcare fraud accounts for about $100 Billion per year. If you add that to excess tort costs and the cost of "defensive" medicine, there would be no reason to "reform" healthcare.

Just think, fix those two things and no more problem. Almost makes me wonder if there is something more to this whole reform movement.

It couldn't possibly be about control, could it?

[vraiblonde]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

If I am over billing the government for, say, medicare reimbursements, I'm still doing something with that money; paying employees, taking a vacation, getting a new dirt bike, going to dinner, you name it.

If you eliminate those dollars coming to me, I fire people, I go to dinner less, I don't get a new bike, etc, and everyone suffers accordingly down stream.

Stop it! STOP IT!! Trickle-down doesn't work! Haven't you been paying attention???