John Stossel and the 2 million dollar bathroom.

a reply to: Chalcedony

I once worked for government in traffic engineering.

One day my boss asked me to drive to a warehouse they simply forgot was there and do an inventory.

Fourteen million bucks in outdated hardware that ended up being sold to a scrapyard for a couple thousand bucks.

The desert town i live in closed the public swimming pool 10 years ago because it did not meet new state handicapped assessable rules and instead of spending money on it, they just closed it.

Now they are getting $8.5 million of state money to tear out the old pool and build a new pool complex.
This will teach the state about enforcing new state handicapped assessable rules on small towns with limited funds.

originally posted by: rickymouse
You are right, it doesn't have to be collected which would help everyone, even the poor. I was just trying to use an example that would hit the hearts of some of the people that think that it is more appropriate to give the poor food than give them opportunity to make a decent living at a job. Better than giving it to the schools when they don't need it though.

I'm not against helping people out. The problem is that if you take a look at the Government system in place for it, there's so much overhead that maybe $1 in $50 gets where it needs to go. Look at the Rent Assistance because of COVID. Almost none of the money has gone where it is needed, because they are still setting up the bureaucracy to administer it. If it is ever set up, it is going to be the same. They are more concerned about hiring more Public Sector Union employees than they are about the people who may lose their homes.

A local newspaper did an investigation on "poor people". They found so many gaming the system, that it made them question the need for these programs. People were given shopping lists of things to buy with their Government Assistance benefits. They bought them and then sold them to the people who gave them the lists. There are stores that stock their shelves in this manner and restaurants who are supplied by this. Their children get free breakfasts and lunch at school, even during Summer vacation. During the COVID shutdown schools still served meals. There are groups that fill backpacks with food for them over the weekends and holidays. Then there are the churches and other organizations that have free meals through out the week. I'm not disrespecting any of these groups. They think that they are providing a service and yes there are SOME people who need it, but not the majority.

originally posted by: JIMC5499

originally posted by: rickymouse
You are right, it doesn't have to be collected which would help everyone, even the poor. I was just trying to use an example that would hit the hearts of some of the people that think that it is more appropriate to give the poor food than give them opportunity to make a decent living at a job. Better than giving it to the schools when they don't need it though.

I'm not against helping people out. The problem is that if you take a look at the Government system in place for it, there's so much overhead that maybe $1 in $50 gets where it needs to go. Look at the Rent Assistance because of COVID. Almost none of the money has gone where it is needed, because they are still setting up the bureaucracy to administer it. If it is ever set up, it is going to be the same. They are more concerned about hiring more Public Sector Union employees than they are about the people who may lose their homes.

A local newspaper did an investigation on "poor people". They found so many gaming the system, that it made them question the need for these programs. People were given shopping lists of things to buy with their Government Assistance benefits. They bought them and then sold them to the people who gave them the lists. There are stores that stock their shelves in this manner and restaurants who are supplied by this. Their children get free breakfasts and lunch at school, even during Summer vacation. During the COVID shutdown schools still served meals. There are groups that fill backpacks with food for them over the weekends and holidays. Then there are the churches and other organizations that have free meals through out the week. I'm not disrespecting any of these groups. They think that they are providing a service and yes there are SOME people who need it, but not the majority.

People who sell their foodstamps food is not new, it used to be that some people who got them sold the food for fifty cents on the dollar to friends to get money to spend on other things, usually drinking at the bar or eating in a restaurant. That was going on back in the seventies. They would give the hardship story to a relative that they needed money to pay for a bill to get them to buy their foodstamps...actually they would go out and get the food for them with their list. I know it is still going on, nothing has changed.

a reply to: rickymouse

I'll agree. It used to be that if you got caught doing it, you could lose your benefits and maybe face criminal charges. Now they don't even look for it.

How much in kick backs did the official Stossel interview get?

I have to comment on this thread as a licensed builder. I would have loved to have gotten a two million dollar contract building that bathroom and having over a year to finish it. I would have layed all the block and put in the brick myself, with my brother helping. I would have worked for the plumbing contractor and electrician on the job...you can do that, even if you are just a helper with that kind of wage paid to workers. That job could have been accomplished that way for under half a mill which would have given me a mil and a half as my cut. Knock off the overhead and insurance, that leaves a million bucks for a years work.

Of course, I would never ever get involved in bribing or paying off anyone and I don't know anyone who has that kind of pull to even get considered for the job. If someone bid that two million buck job at a million and was honest, their bid would get rejected for not playing ball with those giving the money

a reply to: rickymouse

That sounds like an old joke. A bureaucrat in Chicago is told to oversee a project for a new fence. He puts the job out for bid. A contractor from Ohio is the first to bid. He looks at the plans, pushes some buttons on his calculator and says "One million dollars." The second is a contractor from Indiana. He also looks at the plans, messes with his calculator and says "One and a half million dollars. The third contractor is from Chicago. He comes in and says "Three million dollars." The bureaucrat says "How did you come up with that figure so fast?" The Chicago contractor says "Easy. A million for you, a million for me and we hire the guy from Ohio."

I worked for Halliburton for many years as an engineer and all I can say is this is typical of anything government is involved in. I have seen with my on eyes, scenarios where there was an easier, cheaper, and more efficient way of doing things and it was scrapped because some pin head with no clue what was going on was put in charge.

It's the way of government, whoever is in charge, regardless of experience, is always smarter than everyone else. Then you get the bozo that's some "expert" in a government agency, who's last job before working for government was as a shift manager at Burger King but suddenly they are the Einstein of their field.

Bottom line is that no entity on the face of this earth defines ineptness and stupidity quite like government does.