The Government Shutdown And The Taxpayer Boneyard

Dear Government,

Good night and good luck.

You`re going to need it.

The crisis you just got all of us into is way over your head. And it`s all your fault.

No, I`m not playing the victim. I do not depend on you and I hope I never, ever will.

So I am not ill-intended. I am informed. Which means I know exactly WHY this is all your fault. In fact, there are so many reasons that the Internet cannot provide me enough space to list every one of them. Plus, I`d probably be wasting the rest of my life writing them down. And I have already wasted enough on you.

But I just want to say this:

When you know a major political and economical crisis is waiting right around the corner…

When all it takes is a single spark to ignite possibly the most destructive “wildfire” in the history of the U.S.A…

… You`re extremely… EXTREMELY… careful what you spend your money on. Because you`re going to need every cent you`ve got to fix the mess you got us into.

Still, right before the crisis… you chose to spend money on this:

#1: A healthcare program that doesn`t work

I`m talking about Obamacare, of course. So far, only 1 in 100 applications went all the way through.

So not only did you spend obscene amounts of money on a program that`s only going to make matters worse (if it were possible)… but it doesn`t even work! And by not working, it loses MORE money! Let alone putting millions of people in danger… If the system is broken, that means all the personal data it stocks (or loses on the way) is free for hackers and identity thieves to steal.

And the part that bothers me the most is not even the millions of dollars that have been wasted… but the millions that WILL be wasted to “fix” it. Please, let me doubt someone will make this program work perfectly just by pushing a couple buttons… It will take a huge load of money just to understand what the problem is, in the first place. All I`ve seen so far is people blaming other people (or companies, or systems) and promising everything will work like magic in no time.

However, the problems haven`t been fully identified yet, the program is still able to enroll 1 person out of 100, but you`re too busy playing the shutdown game to do something truly useful.

#2: A massive NSA data center that doesn`t work (properly)

The brand new monster of a facility opened in Utah has already had 10 meltdowns in 13 months. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Chronic electrical surges at the massive new data-storage facility central to the National Security Agency’s spying operation have destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of machinery and delayed the center’s opening for a year, according to project documents and current and former officials.”

Just like with the Obamacare program, these meltdowns can leave the entire system vulnerable to attacks. And you`re playing with OUR personal data here. Because that`s what you`ve built the center in the first place. To hoard massive amounts of data. OUR data.

But since you clearly don`t care about that, let`s talk money. You`ve invested $1.4 billion in this humongous construction. $1.4 billion invested in junk. And now, you`ve got one whole year of extra investments in the same junk, to make the junk work.

Yes, let`s spend MORE money we don`t have on unconstitutional programs that don`t work. If this isn`t the most incompetent administration in history, then I don`t know what could be…

#3: New Air Force planes that you don`t need

According to Defense Update, new cargo plans ordered by the U.S. Air Force are sent straight to the storage unit in the Arizona desert. Because you simply have no use for them. You realised the old planes were good enough to suit your current needs. But only after ordering the new, shiny ones.

So now you`re looking for a buyer, so you can get the money you`ve invested back. I`m sorry. To get OUR money YOU invested in something you don`t even need! As government watchers such as Mike O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institute says, buying (more of) these planes would be “simply wasting precious taxpayer money.”

This is exactly what you`ve been doing with our money all this time. You`ve been building boneyards filled with shiny junk that nobody needs. You`re like a spoiled mistress who spends all her husband`s money on fancy dresses she never wears. Well, guess what? It`s just a matter of time until the husband decides to cut you off and divorce. Nobody wants to work for a lazy-ass spender.

By Alec Deacon