Executive Branch spent over $340,000,000 on lavish conferences

[iamwhatiseem]

Nah...no spending problem here.
If you have ever been to Washington, DC - you know the city is filled with conference centers and hotels...but those are obviously not good enough for our government officials - far better to fly everyone to Las Vegas for a long weekend - all expenses paid.

And the Dept. of Veteran Affairs - you know the ones that have a stellar reputation for maintaining beautiful top performing V.A. hospitals that take great care of our vets? (not)
In one conference they paid a video team $52,000 to film them making a fun parody of "Patton" for dinner entertainment.
Nah - there is no spending problem in Washington...I trust these officials would never take tax dollars fr granted.


House report says 'big-ticket' conferences cost taxpayers $340M | Fox News

 

[Claudette]

Of course they take our tax dollars for granted. Until they run out of course.

One has to wonder how the Clowns in DC get anything done what with all the conferences, meetings and VK time.

Nope. No spending problems in Govt.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Not to pick on just the Dept. of Veterans affairs...every year there are complaints about conditions inside of Americas veterans hospitals, lack of maintenance and unsanitary conditions are common complaints from vets who have had the misfortune of having to stay there...however...the held 127 conferences at a cost of $72,000,000. In the summer of 2011 - two conferences alone cost more than $6,000,000.

 

[Obamanation]

How many Firemen and Air Traffic controllers would that keep in jobs?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

How many Firemen and Air Traffic controllers would that keep in jobs?

If they made $50,000 a year - 6,800 of them.
This same amount could provide food stamps for 38,000 families....for a year.

The President talked about how the sequester could result in 2000 students not getting student aid...well this would provide 68,000 students with $5000 towards tuition.

You could purchase 900,000,000 hi quality winter coats for homeless.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

BTW - I don't think we will see very many of our liberal friends in this thread.

 

[Claudette]

You know it.

 

[Care4all]

Nah...no spending problem here.
If you have ever been to Washington, DC - you know the city is filled with conference centers and hotels...but those are obviously not good enough for our government officials - far better to fly everyone to Las Vegas for a long weekend - all expenses paid.

And the Dept. of Veteran Affairs - you know the ones that have a stellar reputation for maintaining beautiful top performing V.A. hospitals that take great care of our vets? (not)
In one conference they paid a video team $52,000 to film them making a fun parody of "Patton" for dinner entertainment.
Nah - there is no spending problem in Washington...I trust these officials would never take tax dollars fr granted.


House report says 'big-ticket' conferences cost taxpayers $340M | Fox News

Where in that article did you get "Executive Branch"? Is the Department of Defense the Executive Branch? Is the Department of Veterans Affairs the Executive Branch?

WHY OH WHY do you need to resort to lying in your title??? WHY?

Are you some tabloid writer that thrives on sensationalism and lies? I didn't think you were, but I guess I was wrong.....

 

[editec]

Power corrupts.

 

[rightwinger]

BTW - I don't think we will see very many of our liberal friends in this thread.

If you start with a premise that all conferences are of no value and are a waste of money then yes.......It is a self fulfilling prophesy

Without more information on what the purpose of the conferences was and what the outcomes were it is difficult to say which are a waste of taxpayer dollars

Some conferences are just a big circle jerk of speakers telling how great they are. Others provide useful information on new policies and provide a priceless opportunity for networking

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Nah...no spending problem here.
If you have ever been to Washington, DC - you know the city is filled with conference centers and hotels...but those are obviously not good enough for our government officials - far better to fly everyone to Las Vegas for a long weekend - all expenses paid.

And the Dept. of Veteran Affairs - you know the ones that have a stellar reputation for maintaining beautiful top performing V.A. hospitals that take great care of our vets? (not)
In one conference they paid a video team $52,000 to film them making a fun parody of "Patton" for dinner entertainment.
Nah - there is no spending problem in Washington...I trust these officials would never take tax dollars fr granted.


House report says 'big-ticket' conferences cost taxpayers $340M | Fox News

Where in that article did you get "Executive Branch"? Is the Department of Defense the Executive Branch? Is the Department of Veterans Affairs the Executive Branch?

WHY OH WHY do you need to resort to lying in your title??? WHY?

Are you some tabloid writer that thrives on sensationalism and lies? I didn't think you were, but I guess I was wrong.....

I suggest you delete your post here to avoid embarrassing yourself. Here let me help you... http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Executive.shtml
Sweet Jesus...

 

[iamwhatiseem]

BTW - I don't think we will see very many of our liberal friends in this thread.

If you start with a premise that all conferences are of no value and are a waste of money then yes.......It is a self fulfilling prophesy

Without more information on what the purpose of the conferences was and what the outcomes were it is difficult to say which are a waste of taxpayer dollars

Some conferences are just a big circle jerk of speakers telling how great they are. Others provide useful information on new policies and provide a priceless opportunity for networking

As I said...
1) Washington DC is full of conference centers...they chose instead to fly everyone to the other side of the country instead - all expenses paid.
2) One example shows how they spent $52,000 for dinner entertainment.
3) Some of the conferences cost over $3,000,000 - $3 MILLION!!!

 

[TNHarley]

Who cares? Least we have the sequestor..

 

[rightwinger]

BTW - I don't think we will see very many of our liberal friends in this thread.

If you start with a premise that all conferences are of no value and are a waste of money then yes.......It is a self fulfilling prophesy

Without more information on what the purpose of the conferences was and what the outcomes were it is difficult to say which are a waste of taxpayer dollars

Some conferences are just a big circle jerk of speakers telling how great they are. Others provide useful information on new policies and provide a priceless opportunity for networking

As I said...
1) Washington DC is full of conference centers...they chose instead to fly everyone to the other side of the country instead - all expenses paid.
2) One example shows how they spent $52,000 for dinner entertainment.
3) Some of the conferences cost over $3,000,000 - $3 MILLION!!!

I've attended quite a few government conferences in my day. Even put on a few. The key cost of conferences was not the room and frills, but the cost of perdiem for the attendees. Washington DC is one of the most expensive perdiem areas in the country. $200 a night for the hotel room and $71 for meals. Add in airfares to get there and you are looking at $2000 per attendee.

I once jokingly suggested that we should have a conference in Vegas instead of the DC area. We actually checked the cost of conference rooms, hotel rooms and flights to Vegas and found it cost about half of what a DC conference cost. Flights, hotels and meals in Vegas are really cheap.

But you know what happens if you have a conference in Vegas, the conservatives go nuts

 

[healthmyths]

BTW - I don't think we will see very many of our liberal friends in this thread.

If you start with a premise that all conferences are of no value and are a waste of money then yes.......It is a self fulfilling prophesy

Without more information on what the purpose of the conferences was and what the outcomes were it is difficult to say which are a waste of taxpayer dollars

Some conferences are just a big circle jerk of speakers telling how great they are. Others provide useful information on new policies and provide a priceless opportunity for networking

No question you are right. I think "networking" is very important and face to face is also.. look at what Yahoo is doing!

It's just that do they have to be held in some of the exotic, high price travel to, staying at locations?

It's just your President said "You can't go take that trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on taxpayers' dime,"
President Obama Again Criticizes Trips to Las Vegas - 8 News NOW

Well what are all these expensive exotic conference trips if not "on taxpayers' dime"?

One of the very glaring major problems with YOUR president is he TALKS the TALK but NEVER WALKS THE TALK!
Or another way of saying it, YOUR president says "Do as I say ,not as I do"!

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Nah...no spending problem here.
If you have ever been to Washington, DC - you know the city is filled with conference centers and hotels...but those are obviously not good enough for our government officials - far better to fly everyone to Las Vegas for a long weekend - all expenses paid.

And the Dept. of Veteran Affairs - you know the ones that have a stellar reputation for maintaining beautiful top performing V.A. hospitals that take great care of our vets? (not)
In one conference they paid a video team $52,000 to film them making a fun parody of "Patton" for dinner entertainment.
Nah - there is no spending problem in Washington...I trust these officials would never take tax dollars fr granted.


House report says 'big-ticket' conferences cost taxpayers $340M | Fox News

And the 28 million per hour they are still spending every single day in Iraq due to the fact Obama insists on continueing to pour money into Iraq and still has over 38,000 contractors on the ground inside Iraq. Cutting 30 billion right off the top is a good way to solve the sequester problem but the Obamas would rather cut the heat off to your elderly, cut the police forces even though they get paid with state money and let illegal aliens out by the thousands into the streets ( as they just did a few days ago ) and then lie to the american public and say they don't know how the prisoners were released. Listen.. it was the biggest jail break in American History and Obama is the one who was behind it. We are not going to make it to 2016 with this guy. The writing is on the wall here and the Soviets are licking their chops in anticipation of how soon they can hit the nuclear sites here that Hillary gave them a grand tour of ( NORAD included ) when they hit their "reset button"...

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

America cannot survive another 4 years of Obama administration. Not possible. This man will go down in history as the final nail in Americas coffin. No question in my mind.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

If you start with a premise that all conferences are of no value and are a waste of money then yes.......It is a self fulfilling prophesy

Without more information on what the purpose of the conferences was and what the outcomes were it is difficult to say which are a waste of taxpayer dollars

Some conferences are just a big circle jerk of speakers telling how great they are. Others provide useful information on new policies and provide a priceless opportunity for networking

As I said...
1) Washington DC is full of conference centers...they chose instead to fly everyone to the other side of the country instead - all expenses paid.
2) One example shows how they spent $52,000 for dinner entertainment.
3) Some of the conferences cost over $3,000,000 - $3 MILLION!!!

I've attended quite a few government conferences in my day. Even put on a few. The key cost of conferences was not the room and frills, but the cost of perdiem for the attendees. Washington DC is one of the most expensive perdiem areas in the country. $200 a night for the hotel room and $71 for meals. Add in airfares to get there and you are looking at $2000 per attendee.

I once jokingly suggested that we should have a conference in Vegas instead of the DC area. We actually checked the cost of conference rooms, hotel rooms and flights to Vegas and found it cost about half of what a DC conference cost. Flights, hotels and meals in Vegas are really cheap.

But you know what happens if you have a conference in Vegas, the conservatives go nuts

I call bullshit. (not you, on the necessity of conferences where all expenses are paid)
I am a businessman, and have been for a few decades. Before video conferences, webinars etc. I used to travel 4-5 times a year to attend conferences and expos. My personal travel budget some years pushed $10,000.
That was then.
Since 2008, I have went to ONE conference. Five years...one conference.
And I am by far not alone. Large conferences and distant meetings are a thing of the past.
I sit through and conduct dozens of webinars and vid conferences now. It is obviously cheaper and has fantastic advantages over traditional conferences.
This is what businesses do WHEN THEY FOOT THE BILL.
But of course the government has no expenses they are responsible for. They have a limitless supply of our money - and when they run out of that - they borrow more.

This is a perfect example of government waste and excess. You know it, I know it.

 

[rightwinger]

As I said...
1) Washington DC is full of conference centers...they chose instead to fly everyone to the other side of the country instead - all expenses paid.
2) One example shows how they spent $52,000 for dinner entertainment.
3) Some of the conferences cost over $3,000,000 - $3 MILLION!!!

I've attended quite a few government conferences in my day. Even put on a few. The key cost of conferences was not the room and frills, but the cost of perdiem for the attendees. Washington DC is one of the most expensive perdiem areas in the country. $200 a night for the hotel room and $71 for meals. Add in airfares to get there and you are looking at $2000 per attendee.

I once jokingly suggested that we should have a conference in Vegas instead of the DC area. We actually checked the cost of conference rooms, hotel rooms and flights to Vegas and found it cost about half of what a DC conference cost. Flights, hotels and meals in Vegas are really cheap.

But you know what happens if you have a conference in Vegas, the conservatives go nuts

I call bullshit. (not you, on the necessity of conferences where all expenses are paid)
I am a businessman, and have been for a few decades. Before video conferences, webinars etc. I used to travel 4-5 times a year to attend conferences and expos. My personal travel budget some years pushed $10,000.
That was then.
Since 2008, I have went to ONE conference. Five years...one conference.
And I am by far not alone. Large conferences and distant meetings are a thing of the past.
I sit through and conduct dozens of webinars and vid conferences now. It is obviously cheaper and has fantastic advantages over traditional conferences.
This is what businesses do WHEN THEY FOOT THE BILL.
But of course the government has no expenses they are responsible for. They have a limitless supply of our money - and when they run out of that - they borrow more.

This is a perfect example of government waste and excess. You know it, I know it.

If it makes you feel better, the government has also cut way back on the number of conferences and the number of employees allowed to attend. Most of the government conferences I attended were far from lavish. The ones hosted by Defense Contractors were quite lavish. But the ones hosted from agency funds were pretty spartan. We were expected to kick into the kitty to pay for coffee and doughnuts

Personally, I tried to avoid conferences after the initial thrill wore off. But I am not willing to declare them all as a waste of taxpayer dollars.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I've attended quite a few government conferences in my day. Even put on a few. The key cost of conferences was not the room and frills, but the cost of perdiem for the attendees. Washington DC is one of the most expensive perdiem areas in the country. $200 a night for the hotel room and $71 for meals. Add in airfares to get there and you are looking at $2000 per attendee.

I once jokingly suggested that we should have a conference in Vegas instead of the DC area. We actually checked the cost of conference rooms, hotel rooms and flights to Vegas and found it cost about half of what a DC conference cost. Flights, hotels and meals in Vegas are really cheap.

But you know what happens if you have a conference in Vegas, the conservatives go nuts

I call bullshit. (not you, on the necessity of conferences where all expenses are paid)
I am a businessman, and have been for a few decades. Before video conferences, webinars etc. I used to travel 4-5 times a year to attend conferences and expos. My personal travel budget some years pushed $10,000.
That was then.
Since 2008, I have went to ONE conference. Five years...one conference.
And I am by far not alone. Large conferences and distant meetings are a thing of the past.
I sit through and conduct dozens of webinars and vid conferences now. It is obviously cheaper and has fantastic advantages over traditional conferences.
This is what businesses do WHEN THEY FOOT THE BILL.
But of course the government has no expenses they are responsible for. They have a limitless supply of our money - and when they run out of that - they borrow more.

This is a perfect example of government waste and excess. You know it, I know it.

If it makes you feel better, the government has also cut way back on the number of conferences and the number of employees allowed to attend. Most of the government conferences I attended were far from lavish. The ones hosted by Defense Contractors were quite lavish. But the ones hosted from agency funds were pretty spartan. We were expected to kick into the kitty to pay for coffee and doughnuts

Personally, I tried to avoid conferences after the initial thrill wore off. But I am not willing to declare them all as a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Fair enough, not to split hairs...but I never assumed ALL of the money spent on conferences is a waste. However, I would go out on a limb and say they could have easily accomplished the same tasks for a third of that cost.