Obama: Reforming gov't contracting rules could save $40bil

S

speedracer

Banned
Heck, if he can deliver on half that number, that's a ton of money. A bil here, a bil there, pretty soon we're talkin bout real money.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090304/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_waste

Obama said he already had spoken with Defense Secretary Robert Gates about the fleet of 28 Marine One helicopters that is now over budget at $11.2 billion, a price that has almost doubled since the Navy started the project.

"It is an example of the procurement process gone amok, and we're going to have to fix it," Obama said last week.

Obama will say that his administration will stop outsourcing to private contractors many services that should be performed by government employees. He also pledged to open contracts to small businesses and eliminate "unnecessary" no-bid contracts that allow preferred contractors to take assignments even though they might not be the least expensive option.

In his remarks Wednesday, Obama also planned to praise McCain and Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan for their work to curb cost overruns in defense contracts. He also will acknowledge Gates' attention to the procurement process.

...

A review of 95 defense projects by the Government Accountability Office, the auditing arm of Congress, found that the projects went over budget by $295 billion over the course of several years.
Click to expand...
I think most liberals that want to "increase" spending in social areas think we can still shrink the total cost of government by cutting away absurd stuff like the Marine One costing an extra $5bil and change because the Navy can't get their shit together. I sure hope this story grows legs.
 
Smoke screen. They "quietly" spend one trillion needlessly and then pat themselves on the back for saving 40 billion over a few years. It's like pissing on the floor and then giving the shake over the toilet.
 
obama isn't even the person who brought up the change, as the article clearly says

"During last week's White House meetings on the nation's financial future, lawmakers and officials bluntly told top Obama aides that government contracts needed to be handled in a better way. The president's own fleet of Marine One helicopters became an illustration of out-of-control spending."

It's not like he even brought it up. And what does he care if companies bilk the government for an extra million or so. It's just "stimulating" the economy :eyeroll:
 
[quote name='Kayden']Smoke screen. They "quietly" spend one trillion needlessly and then pat themselves on the back for saving 40 billion over a few years. It's like pissing on the floor and then giving the shake over the toilet.[/QUOTE]

It has already been proven beyond any doubt that you have no idea what you are talking about.

40 billion is bigger than any particular part of the stimulus that was bitched about, for just one example.
 
Sadly, we all can't be economonical geniuses like you. :cry:

I really should learn to be more oppressive when sharing my beliefs.
 
[quote name='speedracer']Heck, if he can deliver on half that number, that's a ton of money. A bil here, a bil there, pretty soon we're talkin bout real money.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090304/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_waste


I think most liberals that want to "increase" spending in social areas think we can still shrink the total cost of government by cutting away absurd stuff like the Marine One costing an extra $5bil and change because the Navy can't get their shit together. I sure hope this story grows legs.[/QUOTE]

Sounds good except for this part:
"Obama will say that his administration will stop outsourcing to private contractors many services that should be performed by government employees"

That sounds like more expansion of government, something we desperately DONT need, but something that has been rampant in every single bill Obama has signed off on thus far.

Also, considering all the wasteful spending that has been done thus far on pork projects, not to mention the horrendous taxation increases in Obama's new budget on energy and small businesses over the next 10 years, this is too little too late IMO.
 
[quote name='Kayden']Sadly, we all can't be economical geniuses like you. :cry:

I really should learn to be more oppressive when sharing my beliefs.[/QUOTE]

If it makes you feel better you are hardly alone.
 
[quote name='Ruined']Sounds good except for this part:
"Obama will say that his administration will stop outsourcing to private contractors many services that should be performed by government employees"

That sounds like more expansion of government, something we desperately DONT need, but something that has been rampant in every single bill Obama has signed off on thus far.

Also, considering all the wasteful spending that has been done thus far on pork projects, not to mention the horrendous taxation increases in Obama's new budget on energy and small businesses over the next 10 years, this is too little too late IMO.[/QUOTE]

You're touting this line while ignoring, as I've told you before, that a full 1/3 of the stimulus bill comes in the form of tax cuts. Cognitive dissonance much?

As for taking away the privatization of military expenditures, I know how you feel, but I think it's absurd that we allow those seeking profits to have a stake in our military and corrections system. We have built up establishments such that companies have enormous vested financial interest in a state of perpetual war and a state of perpetual warehousing/incarceration of our citizens. Which, to me, seems to be inherently conflictual with the philosophy of the constitution (let alone the ethics).

If you want to privatize the USPS, be my fuckin' guest. It's ok, I guess, if we want to move the profit motive to whether or not we get our "geico" junk mail. But not in prisons or the military. They should be self-sustaining at best (like the North Carolina corrections model), and wholly nationalized at worst.

fuck KBR, fuck blackwater, fuck Corrections Corporation of America. They don't deserve to do what they do.
 
[quote name='Msut77']It has already been proven beyond any doubt that you have no idea what you are talking about.
[/quote]
[quote name='Msut77']If it makes you feel better you are hardly alone.[/quote]


Oddly enough, everyone in the VS forum has the same beliefs regarding everyone else in the VS forum.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']Does anybody want to argue that a Blackwater agent is cheaper than a jarhead or a grunt?[/quote]
Nope. Except, that when I hear on the news that some of them have died, I don't feel so bad.
 
[quote name='Kayden']Oddly enough, everyone in the VS forum has the same beliefs regarding everyone else in the VS forum.[/QUOTE]

Well I was talking about other clueless people like cap.
 
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[quote name='Kayden']Oddly enough, everyone in the VS forum has the same beliefs regarding everyone else in the VS forum.[/quote]

Everybody else is willing to have a different opinion without taking it personally and willing to review information that may be detrimental to their ideology?
 
I_UNDERSTAND_COMPLETELY.jpg

[quote name='mykevermin']More posts about us, fewer about the topic at hand.

I INSIST UPON IT![/quote]
 
[quote name='mykevermin']More posts about us, fewer about the topic at hand.

I INSIST UPON IT![/quote]

Yes, sir.

The Crotch, like most Canadians, is so poor he can't afford an avatar in color.
 
[quote name='crystalklear64']I have no knowledge on the subject but sure.

Why not just replace army/marines with the cheaper Blackwater agents![/quote]

Because mercenaries are illegal and what else would we do with lost teenagers that have no direction after high school?
 
Boy, I'm glad I'm just a heavily armed personal/corporate security consultant; I'd hate to do something illegal.

[quote name='homeland']Because mercenaries are illegal and what else would we do with lost teenagers that have no direction after high school?[/quote]
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']Yes, sir.

The Crotch, like most Canadians, is so poor he can't afford an avatar in color.[/quote]Hrmph. Acting so high-and-mighty. We all know that the only reason you Americans can afford it is because you sold off the "u" that would normally be in "colour" and "neighbour".
 
[quote name='mykevermin']You're touting this line while ignoring, as I've told you before, that a full 1/3 of the stimulus bill comes in the form of tax cuts. Cognitive dissonance much?

As for taking away the privatization of military expenditures, I know how you feel, but I think it's absurd that we allow those seeking profits to have a stake in our military and corrections system. We have built up establishments such that companies have enormous vested financial interest in a state of perpetual war and a state of perpetual warehousing/incarceration of our citizens. Which, to me, seems to be inherently conflictual with the philosophy of the constitution (let alone the ethics).

If you want to privatize the USPS, be my fuckin' guest. It's ok, I guess, if we want to move the profit motive to whether or not we get our "geico" junk mail. But not in prisons or the military. They should be self-sustaining at best (like the North Carolina corrections model), and wholly nationalized at worst.

fuck KBR, fuck blackwater, fuck Corrections Corporation of America. They don't deserve to do what they do.[/QUOTE]

Shaq-Fuing said (really, do you think that makes people take you more seriously?), and back on topic after that rant of yours, yes there will be a "tax cut" for some for 2 years (others will see increases - the main people seeing the increases are those who pay the most taxes). But then it appears it is anyone's guess where taxes will go after that - most likely up to pay for all of the programs Obama is proposing. What is definite is that energy costs will go up - heating, electricity, gas for your car. The response to this by Obama's administration is: "if American's do not change the way they use energy, yes costs will likely go up." Now that is something to shaq-fu about; push your environmentalist agenda elsewhere instead of my wallet.

Also, if you own a small business, good luck. Incentives go away and taxes go up. I was actually planning to open a small business in the near future, but it looks like Obama is going to make that a lot more difficult.
 
Why is "tax cut" in quotes? It is a tax cut, no? A tax cut on 95% of American citizens is not a "real" tax cut to you, such that it requires "quotation marks"?

As for energy costs increasing, OPEC's already remarked that they've cut production to spike their profit margin - not to mention that oil prices are, per barrel, 33% of their peack under the Bush administration, and at the pump, 50% of the peak there. Just sayin' that this argument is foolish, as energy costs aren't contingent upon taxes or the stimulus plan.

As for small businesses, you're not mentioning anything real or empirically-based. Just some trite "trickle-down" dogma that simply remains unproven after nearly 30 years of such policies. But don't let a damning lack of evidence, and the current economic crisis we're in, rattle your faith. I'm sure we can cut taxes back to 1% of everyone's income and grow the economy to such great heights that tax revenue will more than pay off the entirety of our national debt (which, it should be said, is only the fault of the Democrats, and not the Republicans who were in charge for 75% of the accumulation of said debt). Of course you think this; I wouldn't doubt your faith as an unwavering, nonempirical, true believer.
 
contracts that allow preferred contractors to take assignments even though they might not be the least expensive option.
Click to expand...

Poor wording there. Even on CAG, the least-expensive option is not always the best one. Carnival Games Mini-Golf for $29.99 or Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn for $49.99?
 
Fire Emblem? You've been listening to Crotch for too long.

Next thing you know you're gonna be in favor of dual English/French street signs.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Fire Emblem? You've been listening to Crotch for too long.

Next thing you know you're gonna be in favor of dual English/French street signs.[/QUOTE]

No need to listen to crotch to love Fire Emblem. Although I'm still trying to finish Order of Ecclesia before starting the FE DS remake.
 
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