Thursday, November 11, 2010

Obama Stimulus Panel Probes Stimulus Waste at Ritz-Carlton Hotel

Talk about "tone-deaf"...

Washington Examiner reports:

Members of a key panel created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus bill, have scheduled a meeting on November 22 to consider ways to prevent "fraud, waste, and abuse of Recovery Act funds." The meeting will be held at the super-luxe Ritz Carlton Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona.

The group is the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel, a sub-committee of the larger Recovery Accountability and Transparency board (sometimes known as the RAT board). The stimulus bill set up the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel, or RIAP, to make recommendations to identify and prevent waste of the bill's $814 billion in stimulus spending.

...The Ritz-Carlton is located "in the midst of the picturesque Camelback Corridor, the city's premier shopping, dining and financial district," according the hotel's website. Hungry waste-and-abuse hunters can dine in the "casual elegance, relaxed atmosphere and uniquely inviting ambiance of the European-inspired bistro 24." Or they can enjoy Afternoon Tea in the "uniquely warm and inviting" Lobby Lounge. And at any time, waste-and-abuse watchdogs who also enjoy golf will be "just minutes from some of the best courses in the world," including the Tournament Players Club, the Arizona Biltmore, and several others.

It is another fine example of what one of my friends calls the "Pan-Am" syndrome, where everyone working for a dying entity (whether it is an airline like Pan-Am or the US federal government) grabs everything they can while they still can, right before the collapse - a bottle of champaigne and silverware from the aircraft, an extended holiday in Spain, golfing in Arizona while wining and dining at the Ritz. Hell with the worries of the economy, those are just for the small people unaffiliated with anything "federal government".

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

THIS MEETING IS OBSCENE!! I'M SURE THAT ETEC/ECOTALITY (WHO
GOT $100,000,000 DOLLARS FROM ARRA WILL BE THERE TOOTING
THEIR HORN (for more?). WHY NOT SPREAD THAT SAME MONEY
AMONG 5 DESERVING COMPANIES, OR 10 COMPANIES? OR 20. I
UNDERSTAND THE PROGRAM WAS STAFFED BY PREVIOUS VENTURE CAPITALISTS WHO WERE ORDERED TO 'GET THE MONEY OUT THE DOOR' RATHER THAN SLOW DOWN AND DO THEIR "due diligence". I GUESS THE NEW TERM SHOULD BE 'VENTURE PROFILGATIONISTS" (WHO INDISCRIMINATELY THREW AWAY OUR TAXPAYERS MONEY).
MY 'EMERGING' LITTLE COMPANY NEEDS $1-$2MILLION TO 'EMERGE'.
CLEAN UP YOUR ACT, MR. OBAMA! I'M EMBARRASSED! JW

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

Problem is, "deserving" - by whose standard? I'm sure the companies who received "stimulus" were all deserving in the eyes of Obama admin. GE, Honeywell, etc. If you are not connected to the feds and Obama, you don't even exist. Do you think Obama cares to "clean up" his act? Nah. He's busy watching ESPN.

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