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Pentagon Lost Billions, Pennies At a Time
Hugh Pickens writes "MSNBC reports that in 1969, Walter T. Davey, an aeronautical engineer at North American Rockwell, discovered he was being overpaid by roughly 2 cents an hour, or one-third of 1 percent of his pay. Davey submitted the discovery to his superiors and suggested a simple fix. 'It was so simple to correct,' said Davey, a 79-year-old retired Air Force colonel, 'just change a few digits in the coding software.' The Project on Government Oversight, which reviewed Davey's findings last year, estimated the change could save taxpayers $270 million a year. Multiply by 40 years — the length of time since Davey made his discovery — and the figure grows to an astounding $10.8 billion. Legislators ignored Davey's letters, federal auditors deferred to Congress, and lobbyists 'descended on it and tore it into a piece of Swiss cheese' but legislators aren't eager to challenge the powerful defense lobby about a figure that's a relative pittance in the overall defense budget — even if it exceeds $100 million annually. 'A lot of people have taken advantage of the system to reap as much in taxpayer dollars as possible,' says Scott Amey, general counsel for the Project on Government Oversight. 'But when you're going up against the contractor lobby — whether you're an individual across the country or a public interest group or a government employee — it's a tough road.'"
he made $6.00 an hour, and he was complaining about being overpaid?
nice.
"Ok! Ok! I must have, I must have put a decimal point in the wrong place or something. Shit! I always do that. I always mess up some mundane detail."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/
Sounds like the plot to Office Space but in reverse order.
This sounds like a "King of the Hill" episode, writ large.
"No, Peggy, you don't understand! They're OVERPAYING ME! I'm stealing from the government, I tell you what! And I can't get them to stop! It keeps me up at night, I tell you what!"
Forty years later: A Colonel shows up at Hank's door.
- "Mr Hill? We've responded to your letter, and it turns out you were right. We have been overpaying you all this time."
- (sighs.) "I always knew this day would come." (hold out his wrists) "I'll come along quietly."
- "No, no, Mr. Hill! You don't understand. We're implementing the fix you suggested. It'll save the government millions of dollars a year. We just wanted to thank you!"
- "Oh. Huh. Well, thank you sir. But in that case, can I at least give you back the money?"
- "I beg your pardon?"
- "Wait here." (Hank goes to his garage, wheels out a 50-gal drum on a hand truck.) "I've been putting the extra pennies in here since 1969, I tell you what. And now I'm ready to return it."
- (smiles) "No, you go ahead and keep that. We're cool." (leaves)
- "Alright! I can go to college now!"
- "Bobby, go to your room!"
- "I'm 45 years old! You can't make me go to my room!"
- "Now, mister!"
- "Aw.."
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
None of that money was backed by gold, so it actually never existed!
To better understand it, you should read the explanations in the backside of the chart. Awesome!
Taxpayers: "This is not a mundane detail, pHus10n!"
Larry, Moe, and Curly?
I know you have come to kill me.
Shoot, coward. You are only going to kill a man.
That comes out to about $1024 per hour. (Is that a kilobuck or megabuck?
It's a kibibuck, obviously.