Another Example of How Your Tax Dollars are Spent During a Recession
on January 29th, 2009 at 1:31 amOutrage as DOC drops $77,000 on flat-screen TVs for cons
By Jessica Van Sack
news.bostonherald.comThe Bay State’s hard-core killers, rapists and thieves will get to watch this Sunday’s Super Bowl on 117 brand-new high-definition flatscreen TVs purchased with the OK of state prison honchos, the Herald has learned.
The cash-strapped and over-crowded prison system spent a mind-boggling $76,958 for the swanky sets this month even as Gov. Deval Patrick moves to lay off state workers and slash local aid in the face of the worst financial meltdown in a generation.
[...]
The state, meanwhile, is struggling to close a whopping $2.5 billion shortfall in this year’s budget – and could face a seismic $4 billion gap in next year’s spending plan.
Said Steve Kenneway, president of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union, “I think you can find a better use for $77,000 than to go out and buy TVs for guys who are used to stealing them.” (more…)
And another example 4 ya.
Phantom caretaking, fake jobs used to defraud taxpayer-funded system
On paper Angela Hale is a child-care provider.
She reported taking care of the same five kids seven days a week while their mom supposedly worked at a lawn-care service, even in the winter months.
The government paid Hale more than $30,000 last year for her child-care business.
It appears the government got duped. Hale didn’t care for the kids at times she said she did, nor did the mom legitimately work, the Journal Sentinel found.
The newspaper spent four months investigating the $340 million taxpayer-financed child-care system known as Wisconsin Shares and uncovered a trail of phony companies, fake reports and shoddy oversight.
