Only in the federal govt: $20K is ‘an acceptable loss’

 

 

Just when you think you’ve seen and heard it all about the idiocy within the federal bureaucracy — something else comes along to take the cake.

I was talking yesterday with a friend who works with a federal agency.  He said he had overseen an internal audit within his office, and found that $20,000 worth of agency property was “unaccounted for.”  My friend said he reported this to his supervisor, who immediately signed off on the audit and described the missing property as “an acceptable loss.”

WHAT ??????

At plenty of small businesses,  having $20,000 worth of merchandise or property simply disappear would be devastating.  For me, and many people I know,  having $20,000 worth of property go “unaccounted for” would be personally devastating — tough to bounce back from.

My friend’s story is especially troubling to me because MY and YOUR tax dollars PAID for that $20K worth of stuff that went “unaccounted for.”   Bureaucrats owe it to all of us — who busted our butts to pay the taxes that bought that stuff that is now “unaccounted for” — to find out what happened to that stuff.  If it’s lost — find it.  If it’s been stolen or misappropriated, nail the culprits to the wall.  Don’t just shrug it off and dismiss it.  It’s just disrespectful.