President Obama’s Recovery.gov reminds me of my days in Congress when the White House would have its set of numbers, Congress would come up with its budget numbers and the auditors at the General Accounting Office had an accounting of the real damage.
“StimulusWatch.org was built to help the new administration keep its pledge to invest stimulus money smartly, and to hold public officials to account for the taxpayer money they spend. We do this by allowing you, citizens around the country with local knowledge about the proposed “shovel-ready” projects in your city, to find, discuss and rate those projects. These projects are not part of the stimulus bill. They are candidates for funding by federal grant programs once the bill passes.”
In other words, the Mercatus Center is telling us the rest of the story — and the rest of the debt!!!
Hidden debt, for sure, and not something you will find on Recovery.gov.
Follow The Money: Bailout’s Need for Accountability and Transparency
“When you see where the money is going,
America will trust where they money is going.”
As the debate over the “rescue” package demonstrates, we need put teeth in the laws, to hold bank board members and officers accountable for the use of government.
However, the issue of accountability is not being properly addressed by Congress.
The New York Times this weekend took aim at the issue of “clarity” with the Federal bailout: Calls for Clarity in New Bailout for U.S. Banks
The G.A.O. report warned that unless future agreements allowed the Treasury Department to follow the money, the government might “have difficulty taking action” against firms that squander bailout money. What’s more, it said, the public may never know whether TARP achieved its stated goals of stabilizing the banking system, spurring new lending and providing relief to homeowners on the brink of foreclosure.
What does accountability mean? It’s a word tossed around by a lot by politicians but it must be based on an effective accounting system that allows — as The Times states — the taxpayers to “follow” the money. As a Congressman, I received a quarterly report where every check was written on the record — the public record — but this alone is not accountability. That is like saturating people with too much information.
As for the bailout, we should have started in October with a system that said, “We’re going to give you money but you can’t commingle government bailout funds with other corporate operating capital funds.”
No money for your friends. No money for dividends. No money for corporate jaunts. No money for bonuses. We should see that all money from TARP is going into a separate accounting system, something like a charge and discharge statement. When you see where the money is going, America will trust where the money is going.
Meet ‘Joe the Accountant’ Former U.S. Rep Calls For Fiscal Accountability BY JOHN GOLDEN
Joe the Accountant Meets Joe the Congressman
Joseph J. DioGuardi, a 68-year-old accountant, Albanian rights lobbyist, citizen advocate for fiscal truth and accountability in government, John McCain fundraiser and card-carrying ex-member of the U.S. Congress, often is a man on the fly. He speaks on the move with a frustrated reformer’s lasting zeal for his cause and a campaigning politician’s habit of self-promotion.
Former Congressman and President of Truth In Government, Joe DioGuardi holds "Congresstional Credit Card".
OUR FIVE POINT PLAN:
1.Develop a fair and accurate budgeting, accounting,and reporting process. Convert the current cash basis accounting system used in the annual Congressional budgeting process to the system of "Generally Accepted Accounting Principles" (GAAP) required of publicly traded corporations by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
2.Publish clear and accurate information on the finances of the federal government annually. Use GAAP to disclose all spending and commitments to spend, ensuring our national debt to foreign sources is clearly delineated.
3.Make the Chief Financial Officer's function a Cabinet-level position and remove financial management and reporting functions from the Treasury Department and transfer them to that position. Engage independent auditors.
4.Create a new independent body like the Federal Reserve System to promulgate a sound budgeting and accounting that will prevent political manipulation and conflicts of interest.
5.Tell Congress to implement meaningful reforms now.
Unaccountable Congress: It Doesn't Add Up is a must-read for directly challenging Congress. Learn more..
