$125 BILLION IN IMPROPER PAYMENTS

Mr. Obama, I am now convinced that you have gone completely over the edge with your 2012 budget proposal. A big part of your plan to reduce our crushing deficit is to raise taxes. I know it's so you can spend more, you know, the more you have, the more you will spend, but don't you understand that raising taxes removes spendable money from the economy?? If Americans have to pay the government, they have less to spend on things such as food and outrageously priced gas.

Furthermore, if you would just get rid of the fraud, waste and abuse in the budget you wouldn't have to raise taxes.

I am guessing that you are having meetings with advisors in your administration so you must have heard about the $125 billion in improper payments that the GAO listed in their report last week. Or maybe you are so busy meeting and greeting union heads and Earth Day supporters that you don't have time to meet with your cabinet heads.

So in case no one in the White House has told you yet, here is the information that you should be paying attention to:

2009 - federal agencies reported improper payments of $109.2 billion
2010 - federal agencies reported improper payments of $125.4 billion

Both of these years are on your watch, Mr. O.

The GAO defines improper payments as "over payments, underpayments, fraud, and payments that were not property documented." The $125 billion improperly spent was in 70 different programs encompassing 20 federal agencies. Here are the top "wasters" in Washington.

1. Medicare (Health and Human Services Dept.) 34.3 billion
2. Medicaid (Health and Human Services Dept.) 22.5 billion
3. Unemployment Insurance (Labor Dept.) 17.5 billion
4. Earned Income Tax Credit (Treasury Dept.) 16.9 billion
5. Medicare Advance (HHS again) 13.6 billion
6. SSI (Social Security Admin) 4.8 billion
7. Old Age Survivors' And Disability Ins. (Social Security) 3.2 billion
8. Nutrition Assistance (Agriculture Dept.) 2.2 billion
9. National School Lunch (Agriculture Dept.) 1.5 billion
10. Pell Grants (Education Dept.) 1.0 billion

Looks like no department has a monopoly on inefficiency, Mr. O. The reasons listed for the over payments range from medically unnecessary services, insufficient documentation, complexity of laws, unscrupulous claimants, fraud, data transfer errors, payment calculation errors, inadequate verification of information, over payments, non-verification of claimants eligibility, incorrect computation of benefits, and other reasons.

And now I am confused, Mr. O. I do believe you campaigned on the idea that you were going to go to Washington and clean it up, no more "business as usual," you were going to bring "change you can believe in." You were going to root out waste, abuse, fraud, and you even said you would cut our deficit in half within the first two years of being in office.

So why haven't you done what you promised? Were they just empty words? Empty promises? Were you promising anything just to win? I believe so, as you've already begun the political rhetoric and hype for 2012. And every time you open your mouth I am reminded that I cannot believe a word you say.

I genuinely pray that the Americans who voted for you last time remember that your promises mean nothing. They are going to hear the same drivel for the next two years. I just hope that they see the light before Nov. 2012.

SEEING "RED" IN ARIZONA

How would you like to go to AZ and stay at the luxurious Ritz Carlton in Phoenix? The Ritz is located in the city's premier dining and shopping district, according to the hotel's website, with a large selection of upscale restaurants, golf courses and shopping adventures within walking distance. Oh, you say you can't afford such a queenly trip? Well, neither can I, but someone can. Guess Who?

Remember the Stimulus Bill (Recovery Act)? An $816 billion payback with thousands of porkulus projects? Well, hey, this Stimulus Pork Bill mandated the creation of a panel whose ONLY JOB is to consider ways to prevent "fraud, waste and abuse of Recovery Act funds." This panel is a sub-committee of the larger Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board ( known as the RAT board). As you will see, the name RAT is pretty fitting. These panel members were appointed by, you guessed it, Mr. Obama. Probably payback for something they did for him.

Now, two years after the Stimulus Bill was enacted and much of the pork money has been spent, this Fraud, Waste and Abuse Panel is holding a pow wow that is going to cost taxpayers mega-bucks. Do the panel members not understand that having a meeting in a luxurious resort area would be considered Fraud, Waste and Abuse by the millions of Americans who are unemployed? Why couldn't this meeting have been held in Washington, D. C. where the spending mandates come from? Oh, I almost forgot, the temperature in Washington would be, let's see, maybe 20 degrees, while in AZ it's around 75. And you can't golf in Washington at this time of year. Meetings? Oh, heck, let's golf instead.

The truth is I think that government appointees should not be allowed to hold conferences at government expense at any location that normal Americans cannot afford.

But it's the same old, same old: They fill their pockets while they empty ours.

Thank you, Obama, for appointing panel members who still believe in sucking at the government trough. And thanks also for all that "Hope and Change." We're still waiting.