Outrageous Spending: Feds Pay Millions for Lobster Tail, Booze, Toys in End of Year Spending Binge

That's trivial. Imagine what will happen when interest rates skyrocket to 4% or so.

I was thinking about "economic stimulus", zero interest rates and easy money. Borrow at 0% compound interest; it's free money with no reason to pay it back. That must have a destructive effect on business productivity, because you don't have to make a profit any more. Borrow and invent stupid schemes and rent offsite party spaces for $1600 per hour.

Zero Hedge and Wolf Street are hyperbolic noise amplifiers but fun to read, and occasionally right.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics

s about 16% of our annual service of the interest payment on our outsized $

21 Trillion national debt! And it was just one month's plunder of the Treas ury by these worthless people.

or it means you have to make stuff to make a profit, can't just sit on your money

They're already paying nearly 8% on some things. Bonds are already 4%, the more usual stuff 2.5%

Congress does seem oblivious to interest as a fraction of a huge number equates to a huge service payment.

They're relying on some phony idea that as long as interest rates don't grow as fast a GDP, they're good to go. I wonder if that accounts for government spending forming a full 20% GDP.

The feeling seems to be that they know the situation is completely unrecoverable so there's no longer any point in making any attempt to be prudent. China has worked that one out, too. They can see the writing on the wall. Cloward and Piven have got their wish.

--
This message may be freely reproduced without limit or charge only via  
the Usenet protocol. Reproduction in whole or part through other  
protocols, whether for profit or not, is conditional upon a charge of  
GBP10.00 per reproduction. Publication in this manner via non-Usenet  
protocols constitutes acceptance of this condition.

Nice to see you concerned over a *real* problem for a change.

-- This message may be freely reproduced without limit or charge only via the Usenet protocol. Reproduction in whole or part through other protocols, whether for profit or not, is conditional upon a charge of GBP10.00 per reproduction. Publication in this manner via non-Usenet protocols constitutes acceptance of this condition.

r

In that one month alone, they spent 12.5% of the $779 Billion deficit for F Y2018, and the sorry part is almost all that spending was unnnecessary. Then they're doing some other crazy stuff where the deficit is only part of increase in national debt. For FY2018, the total debt increase will be som ething like $1.2 Trillion. Deficits don't equate to national debt increases . But national debt increases definitely equate to greater deficits.

I don't know what they're banking on, but it's probably not going to come t hrough for them.

The only resort they have left is the printing presses. This is the tragedy of the hardcore Zero-Hedgers. They were *so* far ahead of the curve they bought bullion 20 or 30 years ago and just stacked it. Gold and silver produce no yield; they are doomsday investments, so although their call was correct, their timing was hopelessly out. They'd have been way better off buying stawks[1] instead. But timing is something no one can get right unless they are privileged to insider information. And that info is only circulated within a very tight circle indeed.

"Stocks" - but pronounced with a Wall St accent.

--
This message may be freely reproduced without limit or charge only via  
the Usenet protocol. Reproduction in whole or part through other  
protocols, whether for profit or not, is conditional upon a charge of  
GBP10.00 per reproduction. Publication in this manner via non-Usenet  
protocols constitutes acceptance of this condition.

Millons? What's scary is that a million dollars is 1 PPM of a trillion dollars.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics

Considering that those records are for September, 2018 it would seem they did indeed see the writing on the wall - the Republicans were going to loose control of the House and so one had better get their hands on stuff while they still could.

See how things are this September to know if the Dems are any better at reigning in spending than the Repubs.

Someone needs to come up with a better way to manage budgets - the 'Spend It Or Loose It' doesn't work so well...

John :-#)#

"Agencies spent $402 million on food, including the Pentagon, which spent $2.3 million on snow crab, Alaskan king crab, and crab legs, and $2.3 million on lobster tail."

I wonder where the pentagon stored $4.3 million of crab and lobster? Assuming nothing but the best lobster: $243 will deliver 15 lobster tails or $16.20/ea. So, $2.3 million is

142,000 lobster tails. Assuming each general has one lobster tail with every meal, that's: 142,000 tails / 3 meals/day / 365 days/yr = 130 generals. Are there 130 generals in a position to live solely on lobster? Are there that many lobsters available? How many generals and pentagon officials will become sick from shellfish overdose?

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com 
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

t

Not really. The article lists some numbers about the total spending in the last month of the physical year and then talks about some line items which are designed to get you riled up. But it is actually about mostly nothing .

An example is the millions spent by the DoD on fancy seafood. Divide the d ollars by the number of people in the military and it's not even the cost o f a dinner at Denny's for each of them, much less an amount anyone in the F ederal budget process should get worked up over. Notice they don't say any thing about what was spent on seafood in the other 11 months...

Why are people so easily fooled into thinking something is a problem? I'm not saying there isn't waste or that there aren't problems, but this articl e doesn't actually show any problems and is simply designed to get people w ound up.

Then some people like getting wound up.

Rick C.

I see you fell for the articles false premise too. You divided the numbers as if this amount was consumed across the full year. How do you know they don't buy this much every month?

You are aware that once in a while they do serve such food to enlisted men too, no?

Rick C.

This says ~100,000 tons of american lobster caught in in 2010.

George H.

Thanks. Assuming the pentagons high priced lobster wasn't imported, that would be: 2000 lbs/ton * 115,651 tons = 231 million-lbs-of-lobster Maine live lobsters run about 1.5 lbs each, so that's: 231 million lobsters / 1.5 lbs/lobster = 154 million-lobsters caught in 2010. The pentagon order grabbed: 142,000 tails / 154 million-lobsters = 0.09% of the annual US lobster supply. Therefore, the pentagon purchase is unlikely to create a national shortage or raise the street price of lobster tails.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com 
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

Yep. I calculated that the $2.3 million would buy 142,000 lobster tails. Wikipedia says there are about 2 million people in the military including the reserves. That's about $1 per person and 0.07 lobsters per person. Y're right if the purchase was intended to provide lobster for everyone in the military. However, if it was only for the top brass, $2.3 million would be the cost of stuffing 130 generals with lobster 3 meals per day and every day of the year, or 390 generals with lobster dinner every day of the year. I don't see the pentagon spending the cost of about 100 smart bombs (about $25,000 each) to supply lobster for the ranks, but suspect they might do that for the brass.

Good point. I couldn't find a number.

Because big numbers tend to scare people. It takes practice dealing in mega-dollars and kilo-lobsters. Most people lack the experience. Ask someone how many billion dollars are in a trillion dollars and enjoy the reaction.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com 
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

Perhaps it's a devilish plot to starve out any Jews in the military? ISTR they're not allowed to eat that kind of seafood. :-D

--
This message may be freely reproduced without limit or charge only via  
the Usenet protocol. Reproduction in whole or part through other  
protocols, whether for profit or not, is conditional upon a charge of  
GBP10.00 per reproduction. Publication in this manner via non-Usenet  
protocols constitutes acceptance of this condition.

The administration's "philosophy" were that being a career public-servant was "the swamp" and it was there to drain it.

At the top levels that didn't quite play out all, the Trump administration did what every Republican administration does which was summon up old ghouls like John Bolton from their crypts to live again.

But at the mid and low level in the various departments like the EPA and HUD it's run like Saddam Hussein's government; the only function those positions have in the Trump administration is to be used as rewards to cronies who definitely believe the purpose of government is to live high on the hog at taxpayer expense. that's what cronies do! it's their mission in life

You mean gullible.

Somebody got rich from the money they spent, it just wasn't them.

Or when you have a large pool of suckers to draw from...

unt

he last month of the physical year and then talks about some line items whi ch are designed to get you riled up. But it is actually about mostly nothi ng.

dollars by the number of people in the military and it's not even the cost of a dinner at Denny's for each of them, much less an amount anyone in the Federal budget process should get worked up over. Notice they don't say a nything about what was spent on seafood in the other 11 months...

m not saying there isn't waste or that there aren't problems, but this arti cle doesn't actually show any problems and is simply designed to get people wound up.

You do understand that this $97 Billion is 2x the entire defense budget of Germany and more than 1/2 the entire defense budget of China? And you say i t's not problem? Maybe because you benefit from it, eh? The core of the problem with U.S. defense spending is not the actual amount s, it's that they get so little in return for the money. The taxpayer is ge tting ripped off by paying 10x what they should for the same goods and serv ices. It's not easy spending a trillion bucks every year, and that's why Do D alone employs 124,000 acquisition personnel to help them do it.