The fog of government
And I thought the City of Richmond was incompetent for its inability to close out its financial books in a timely manner!
Heed this opinion from the federal Government Accountability Organization (GAO) on Uncle Sam’s financial statements for 2014 and 2015: “Certain material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting and other limitations on the scope of … work resulted in conditions that prevented GAO from expressing an opinion on the accrual-based consolidated financial statements.”
Three major departments — Defense, Agriculture and Housing & Urban Development, controlling 34% of assets and 19% of spending — accounted for the most questionable financials, according to Government Executive Magazine. But accounting issues pertaining to Medicare cost control also prevented GAO from expressing an opinion on sustainability financial statements on HHS’ Statement of Social Insurance on accounts worth about $27.9 trillion.
Bacon’s bottom line: The federal government will run a $544 billion budget deficit this year…. we think. It could be more, it could be less. What’s a few billion dollars?
(Hat tip: Tim Wise.)
