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Sen. Grassley Says Heads Should ‘Roll’ Over Non-Existent $16 Muffin Scandal

pbrauer

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Is his staff so incompetent that they didn't check this out?

A Justice Department inspector general audit released last week has generated a lot of buzz on Capitol Hill over the suggestion that the agency has been spending too much on food at taxpayer-funded conferences. Some have interpreted the report to mean that DoJ spent as much as $16 per muffin at one event — which is pure fiction.
But to hear Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) tell the tale, this is the worst example of extravagant “elitist” spending in government since Marie Antoinette declared, “Let them eat cake!” The Iowa conservative even said yesterday that heads should roll over the incident:
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Sen. Grassley Says Heads Should ‘Roll’ Over Non-Existent $16 Muffin Scandal | ThinkProgress
 
Republicans are the ultimate red herring finders when it comes to government waste. Every Republican I know constantly uses this kind of piddly **** as examples of how to "balance the budget". It's like a guy chastising his wife about spending too much because she went out and got a latte that morning, when he goes out and buys a $50,000 bass boat. That same is true with the uproar on the right about Solyndra. Its 500 million, yeah thats some real money, but its tiny compared to what the Pentagon will waist in any given month. They wipe their ass with that kind of taxpayer money. Yet you never heard a big Republican uproar when during the Bush years a government audit found that the Pentagon was so wasteful they could not account for 1 trillion dollars of the taxpayers money.

Personally, when I am faced with a huge problem at work, I look at the big stuff first, and I pretty much ignore red herrings like 16 dollar muffins until I have taken care of the big stuff that actually matters.
 
I have heard that some women can sell a muffin for hundreds of dollars.
 
Republicans are the ultimate red herring finders when it comes to government waste. Every Republican I know constantly uses this kind of piddly **** as examples of how to "balance the budget". It's like a guy chastising his wife about spending too much because she went out and got a latte that morning, when he goes out and buys a $50,000 bass boat. That same is true with the uproar on the right about Solyndra. Its 500 million, yeah thats some real money, but its tiny compared to what the Pentagon will waist in any given month. They wipe their ass with that kind of taxpayer money. Yet you never heard a big Republican uproar when during the Bush years a government audit found that the Pentagon was so wasteful they could not account for 1 trillion dollars of the taxpayers money.

Personally, when I am faced with a huge problem at work, I look at the big stuff first, and I pretty much ignore red herrings like 16 dollar muffins until I have taken care of the big stuff that actually matters.

and this is exactly why we are in debt. Its just $xxx. Your statement of "big stuff that actually matters", indicates to me that you think the small stuff doesn't matter. It all matters big or little. If you added up all the small stuff, wonder if it would be big enough.
I have said in other posts that the Feds need to get the US fiscal house in order. Yet so many want to give them more tax money.
 
and this is exactly why we are in debt. Its just $xxx. Your statement of "big stuff that actually matters", indicates to me that you think the small stuff doesn't matter. It all matters big or little. If you added up all the small stuff, wonder if it would be big enough.
I have said in other posts that the Feds need to get the US fiscal house in order. Yet so many want to give them more tax money.

If you are in congress, or if you are a group lobbying congress for less spending, then you only have so much time and political capital to invest in getting what you want. You can either choose to use that limited political capital to go after 16 dollar muffins which is a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, itty bitty, tiny, little, piddly, amount of government waste compared to the big stuff, or you could use that limited political capital wisely and keep your eye on the prize and go after the big stuff that actually matters in the end. Politicians love for their constituents to get all up in arms over crap like 16 dollar muffins, because they distracts them from hundreds of billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse.

When we are trying to cut spending in my department, we go after the big stuff before we start chasing pennies. That is how any successful business works.
 
All waste should be addressed. It's why we need across the boards cuts. The thing is, even when their are cases of large wastes of money, nobody is held accountable. It's only a muffin.....It's only a scrapped multi million dollar weapons program.......it's only multi millions we can't account for......
 
i got a three dollar muffin Friday morning, and it was half frozen. would have gladly paid at least two more for a quality muffin at room temp. if it's $16, it had better have certain plant extracts in it, come with an Irish coffee, or both.
 
heads should roll for putting on costly events such as this...there is no need for them.

No ****. $39k for food and beverages for a 5 day conference should spark outrage in everyone, regardless of what your political affiliation is.
 
I thought conservatives got very upset about this sort of violent, threatening rhetoric? That's what they said about the union dude. Heads should roll? Why, he seems to be threatening to decapitate people!!!!!

:roll:
 
and this is exactly why we are in debt. Its just $xxx. Your statement of "big stuff that actually matters", indicates to me that you think the small stuff doesn't matter.

Actually it doesn't matter. A 0.005% increase in total medicare costs would eliminate the kind of savings we'd get from cutting this (apparently fake) expenditures. If you bothered to read the links (which you clearly haven't), you'd know that they did not pay $16 for muffins.

It all matters big or little.

No, not really. Until you hack down medicare, social security and the military, nothing really matters. We could eliminate all discretionary spending and we'd still be in debt for ages.

If you added up all the small stuff, wonder if it would be big enough.

Something tells me you don't really understand the budget.
 
All waste should be addressed. It's why we need across the boards cuts. The thing is, even when their are cases of large wastes of money, nobody is held accountable. It's only a muffin.....It's only a scrapped multi million dollar weapons program.......it's only multi millions we can't account for......

Id much rather pay 16 bucks a muffin that have the GOP vote to keep giving billions of my money to corporations that are rich making huge record breaking profits and just add it to the bigshots bonus's like BIG OIL SUBSIDIES...the GOP will give away billions for what they want...then harp on little chit...
They need to stop trying to bs us
 
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