
<p>While the American people are on their annual holiday spending spree, Uncle same is doing the same – but not to stuff goodies into the stocking hung carefully on the mantel. It is apart of an annual ritual of fiscal irresponsibility – known informally as “fourth quarter dumping.”</p>



<p>Normal folks are usually happy to find a little money left over after paying all the bills – something to put into the bank for a rainy day. ; But if you are part of the vast government bureaucracy, leftover money is a very unhappy circumstance. ; It means that all that taxpayer money you requested last year was more than you needed – which is almost always the case.</p>



<p>Even worse … if your department or agency has money left over the appropriators in Congress may get the idea that you do not need as much money next year – and certainly not the increase you requested in the future budget.</p>



<p>So, what do they do? ; The go on a madcap spending spree – literally looking for places to spend the money by acquiring services, products and personnel that they do not need. ; This is a season of harvesting for government contractors who are more than willing to play Santa Claus and fill Uncle Sam’s last-minute list of goodies.</p>



<p>There is a fellow named Adam Andrejewski who keeps an eye on these kinds of shenanigans. ; Approximately ten years ago, he founded Open The Books to monitor and make public all government spending. ; He promised to post “every dime in its time.” ;</p>



<p>It was an ambitious idea and a Herculean task – and many did not think Andrejewski could get it done.  ; But he did. ; Through Open The Books (OpenTheBooks.com), citizens can check out the spending of virtually every government in America – including school boards. ; Well … except one major budget.</p>



<p>It should come as no surprise that the hold out is California. ; They really do not want the voters and taxpayers to know how they spend their money. ; Open the Books is currently suing the State to get access to the information. ; They had to do that in a few other instances – and they always won in court. ; That should make the folks in Sacramento very nervous.</p>



<p>In an interview with <em>Real Clear Policy</em>, Andrejewski revealed just one example of how irresponsible the “use-it-or-lose-it” year-end spending really is.</p>



<p>Andrejewski noted that the Department of Health and Human Services (H&;HS) was given $2.8 trillion for fiscal 2021. ; In the first 10 months, the Department spent $1.8 trillion. ; That left a cool $1 trillion in the till – more than enough to close out the year and then some.</p>



<p>H&;HS was spending and average of $180 billion per month. ; At that rate, they would only need about one-third of the leftover money – or $360 billion. ; But instead, H&;HS will be spending the entire $1 trillion in the last two months – or $640 BILLION MORE THAN THEY NEED.</p>



<p>Now consider this. ; H&;HS is only one of myriads of departments and agencies playing this same game – literally wasting trillions of dollars of the taxpayers money every year. ; And … this practice goes on at state and local governments.</p>



<p>This is such an outrageous waste of taxpayer money that you would think that the media would shine a bright light on this practice – deploying their investigative teams. ; You might think that members of Congress would by running around with their hair on fire when seeing how the bureaucrats are abusing the appropriation process. ; But no … just crickets.</p>



<p>Of course, maybe it is one of those situations that us just part of the process – cannot be fixed. ; Not so. ; Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst has proposed legislation that would limit the spending in the last two month to the average monthly spending in the first ten. ; Pretty simple. ; And if that were the law today, you and I would have saved $640 billion from the H&;HS budget alone. ; Potentially trillions from the entire federal government.</p>



<p>This is not a new problem. ; I complained – and wrote – about the practice of “fourth quarter dumping” way back in my White House days almost a half century ago. ; I wonder how much taxpayer money would have been saved if the Ernst proposal had been enacted back then?</p>



<p>No big news networks report about it. ; No one seems to care about it – at least no one besides Andrejewski and Ernst. ; If YOU care about it, check out OpenTheBook.com and send a letter-to-the editor of your local newspaper.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

Uncle Sam on major Christmas spending spree
