(10-03-2011 03:26 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:55 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:46 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:31 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:27 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Today it's a dime, tomorrow it's half a billion to a bogus solar cell plant.

Problem with people spending other people's money is that it doesn't stop at a dime.

When I travel for business I take advantage of that to the MAX. Who doesn't?

People whose incomes vary based on the bottom line. Of course, no gov't entity ever has an incentive to cut costs.

Very few people if any on this board or in the nation for that matter can spend enough money on a business trip to affect the bottom line of their organization. I think this entire argument is petty. Granted the Government spends too much money and this is just one example but its a SMALL one. There are bigger fish to fry. We all know what those are.

It's not the $ amount that's important, it's more the attitude. When you have an incentive to save on non-critical spending, you do so. When you don't have an incentive, you don't, and it can add up. Sure, it's just $600K "event planning services" here, a few million there, but when you take the aggregate of all the money that is wasted across the vast expanse of bureaucracy in DC, it's a staggering amount. But I guess we should just let it go because it's not a big deal by itself.

I agree.

(10-03-2011 03:30 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 03:26 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:55 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:46 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:31 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  When I travel for business I take advantage of that to the MAX. Who doesn't?

People whose incomes vary based on the bottom line. Of course, no gov't entity ever has an incentive to cut costs.

Very few people if any on this board or in the nation for that matter can spend enough money on a business trip to affect the bottom line of their organization. I think this entire argument is petty. Granted the Government spends too much money and this is just one example but its a SMALL one. There are bigger fish to fry. We all know what those are.

It's not the $ amount that's important, it's more the attitude. When you have an incentive to save on non-critical spending, you do so. When you don't have an incentive, you don't, and it can add up. Sure, it's just $600K "event planning services" here, a few million there, but when you take the aggregate of all the money that is wasted across the vast expanse of bureaucracy in DC, it's a staggering amount. But I guess we should just let it go because it's not a big deal by itself.

I agree.

Way to continue to miss the forest because you're standing in front of a tree.

Status quo til we die, b1tches!

(10-03-2011 03:43 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 03:30 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 03:26 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:55 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:46 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  People whose incomes vary based on the bottom line. Of course, no gov't entity ever has an incentive to cut costs.

Very few people if any on this board or in the nation for that matter can spend enough money on a business trip to affect the bottom line of their organization. I think this entire argument is petty. Granted the Government spends too much money and this is just one example but its a SMALL one. There are bigger fish to fry. We all know what those are.

It's not the $ amount that's important, it's more the attitude. When you have an incentive to save on non-critical spending, you do so. When you don't have an incentive, you don't, and it can add up. Sure, it's just $600K "event planning services" here, a few million there, but when you take the aggregate of all the money that is wasted across the vast expanse of bureaucracy in DC, it's a staggering amount. But I guess we should just let it go because it's not a big deal by itself.

I agree.

Way to continue to miss the forest because you're standing in front of a tree.

Status quo til we die, b1tches!

Of all the TRILLIONS of dollars wastefully spent each year why focus so much on this? I just don't see the relevance...sorry if that upsets you. Its a FREAKING muffin for pete's sake. GET OVER IT. Unravel your panties and take up a cause worth fighting for...not muffins.

(10-03-2011 03:46 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 03:43 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 03:30 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 03:26 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:55 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  Very few people if any on this board or in the nation for that matter can spend enough money on a business trip to affect the bottom line of their organization. I think this entire argument is petty. Granted the Government spends too much money and this is just one example but its a SMALL one. There are bigger fish to fry. We all know what those are.

It's not the $ amount that's important, it's more the attitude. When you have an incentive to save on non-critical spending, you do so. When you don't have an incentive, you don't, and it can add up. Sure, it's just $600K "event planning services" here, a few million there, but when you take the aggregate of all the money that is wasted across the vast expanse of bureaucracy in DC, it's a staggering amount. But I guess we should just let it go because it's not a big deal by itself.

I agree.

Way to continue to miss the forest because you're standing in front of a tree.

Status quo til we die, b1tches!

Of all the TRILLIONS of dollars wastefully spent each year why focus so much on this? I just don't see the relevance...sorry if that upsets you. Its a FREAKING muffin for pete's sake. GET OVER IT. Unravel your panties and take up a cause worth fighting for...not muffins.

Mail me a check for $500 right now. You waste way more than that every year on frivolities. Stop being a ***** and do it.

(10-03-2011 04:26 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 03:46 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 03:43 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 03:30 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 03:26 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  It's not the $ amount that's important, it's more the attitude. When you have an incentive to save on non-critical spending, you do so. When you don't have an incentive, you don't, and it can add up. Sure, it's just $600K "event planning services" here, a few million there, but when you take the aggregate of all the money that is wasted across the vast expanse of bureaucracy in DC, it's a staggering amount. But I guess we should just let it go because it's not a big deal by itself.

I agree.

Way to continue to miss the forest because you're standing in front of a tree.

Status quo til we die, b1tches!

Of all the TRILLIONS of dollars wastefully spent each year why focus so much on this? I just don't see the relevance...sorry if that upsets you. Its a FREAKING muffin for pete's sake. GET OVER IT. Unravel your panties and take up a cause worth fighting for...not muffins.

Mail me a check for $500 right now. You waste way more than that every year on frivolities. Stop being a ***** and do it.

Another irrelevant post from an angry Libertarian.

(10-03-2011 04:27 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 04:26 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 03:46 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 03:43 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 03:30 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  I agree.

Way to continue to miss the forest because you're standing in front of a tree.

Status quo til we die, b1tches!

Of all the TRILLIONS of dollars wastefully spent each year why focus so much on this? I just don't see the relevance...sorry if that upsets you. Its a FREAKING muffin for pete's sake. GET OVER IT. Unravel your panties and take up a cause worth fighting for...not muffins.

Mail me a check for $500 right now. You waste way more than that every year on frivolities. Stop being a ***** and do it.

Another irrelevant post from an angry Libertarian.

Another point evading post from a status quo perpetuating neo-con.

If I told you it cost $100byn to build an aircraft carrier, would you dispute me and show that it really only cost 99.975byn to do so? That $25mm is money that could be spent elsewhere, but most people don't really have a concept of what an aircraft carrier costs. How about if I told you a stripped down FORD F-150 was $25k? You may or may not know that this was probably about 8 grand over what it should be. How about a $16 muffin. EVERYONE knows THAT is too much. Is it perhaps a victim of creative accounting... free coffee but $16 per muffin? Maybe.

The excuse not to cut spending is ALWAYS that you're taking "food out of the mouths of children" or "healthcare away from seniors"... when the reality is, we're merely trying to make the government be as frugal as the economy is asking us to be before it comes and takes even MORE money, making us compromise again. If I have to give up on Starbucks and put non-dairy creamer in my office pot, then they should be looking to come in way UNDER their food guidelines. How do we do that? Cut their funding and demand that they not lower payments to recipients. Let THEM figure out where the cuts will come from. I'm betting most of them will give up the muffin... whether it cost $16 or $6.

You can't simply choose not to make people accountable because it is hard.

(10-03-2011 02:25 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:23 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  I really don't see what the big deal is here. The average cost per person was probably put on just a few line items for easy accounting.

You've clearly never worked in accounting.

You clearly never have either if you think that every business always labels every item on every invoice in only the most accurate of ways. Again, you're an idiot, and every right-winger on here using a false story to push their government waste meme is also an idiot.

(10-04-2011 11:03 AM)UM2001GRAD Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:25 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:23 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  I really don't see what the big deal is here. The average cost per person was probably put on just a few line items for easy accounting.

You've clearly never worked in accounting.

You clearly never have either if you think that every business always labels every item on every invoice in only the most accurate of ways. Again, you're an idiot, and every right-winger on here using a false story to push their government waste meme is also an idiot.

Yes I have. Have you? No, you are an academician, and are talking out of your ass, as usual, because you are completely void of any real world knowledge or experience (or any redeeming qualities as a human being, for that matter). Again, you are making things up because reality is not in your favor. I never said anything about "listing every item on every invoice" or accuracy, but they damn sure don't simplify to the point of listing everything that was supposedly included, especially tax and gratuity, as "Muffins."

Again, I'm STILL waiting for your ignorant ass to explain how this wasn't justified to the auditors. How did it have to come to the hotel making a statement well after the fact (and after the Obama administration said they'd "look into it")? And why would a far left moron like yourself accept the word of a big, evil corporation as fact over an audit by a third party? And what about the $600K event planning services and other findings by the audit?

Tick, tick, tick...continue to avoid the obvious, common sense answers because it doesn't fit your narrative.

(10-04-2011 11:03 AM)UM2001GRAD Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:25 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:23 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  I really don't see what the big deal is here. The average cost per person was probably put on just a few line items for easy accounting.

You've clearly never worked in accounting.

You clearly never have either if you think that every business always labels every item on every invoice in only the most accurate of ways. Again, you're an idiot, and every right-winger on here using a false story to push their government waste meme is also an idiot.

WTF do you know about the business world when you're tucked away in Liberalville University? While a single accounting code might be used to specify what part of a budget to bill a meeting to, you can bet your liberal ass that the accountants want to see an itemized invoice because they know an auditor will want to see them because he knows the IRS will want to see them.

Tell me again, what subject do you teach? Jesus Christ, even my telephone and gas bills break out all the specific fees and taxes. That you work in the field of education is friggin scary.

(10-04-2011 11:16 AM)smn1256 Wrote:  

(10-04-2011 11:03 AM)UM2001GRAD Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:25 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(10-03-2011 02:23 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  I really don't see what the big deal is here. The average cost per person was probably put on just a few line items for easy accounting.

You've clearly never worked in accounting.

You clearly never have either if you think that every business always labels every item on every invoice in only the most accurate of ways. Again, you're an idiot, and every right-winger on here using a false story to push their government waste meme is also an idiot.

WTF do you know about the business world when you're tucked away in Liberalville University? While a single accounting code might be used to specify what part of a budget to bill a meeting to, you can bet your liberal ass that the accountants want to see an itemized invoice because they know an auditor will want to see them because he knows the IRS will want to see them.

Tell me again, what subject do you teach? Jesus Christ, even my telephone and gas bills break out all the specific fees and taxes. That you work in the field of education is friggin scary.

ungrad is a pathetic idiot at that. Another mendacious poster who thinks he knows everything, but in reality he is just a fraud and a crybaby.