As Barrack Obama expands the role of the federal government beyond even our worst imaginings, I would like to point out something, something that should frighten us: Democrats in Washington, D.C., are not just dishonest, they are outlandishly incompetent.

I’m not talking about partisan differences of opinion here.  This is about nuts-and-bolts, running-the-government, paying-the-bills, and getting-the-necessary-work-done type issues.

I work for the federal government.  For those of you who don’t know, the government’s fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30.  Congress is supposed to pass a budget and have the president sign it in time for government agencies to be able to plan their fiscal year expenditures.  Ideally, on October 1 an accountant like me should be able to close the books on the previous fiscal year, input the budget numbers for the new fiscal year, and ask the agency head where he wants to spend allocated funds.

Hah.  Maybe some time in the past that happened.

In order for me to have budget numbers by October 1, congress needs to pass a budget by July 31, at the latest (their official deadline is April 15), so the different branches of government have time to allocate the budgeted funds to the various agencies, field offices, and programs.  But lately, congress can’t get their act together and stop cramming earmarks into the budget trough soon enough for that.  The dirty little porkers wallow in their mud pit until late September at least, when suddenly the threat of a government shutdown spurs them into action.  Then their little pink legs churn through the mud, their squiggly little tails twitch with excitement, and they take advantage of the nation’s media-driven panic to filch one final gargantuan gulp from the trough—and pass a budget so laden with earmarks it has to be wheel-barreled over to the White House for signing.

George Washington probably spins in his grave every fall watching this travesty happen to the nation he fathered.

Hopefully this process is finished by October 1 so the government can legally keep functioning but it’s a regular occurrence for congress to miss that deadline and have to pass “continuing resolutions” for a week or more to keep things running.  Continuing resolutions allow federal employees to keep getting paychecks but don’t provide for any “new” expenditures.

I said “hopefully.”  Since the Democrats took over, even this tardy poor-excuse-for-a-budget-process isn’t working.

The way it works now, under Democrats, the best anybody in the federal government can hope for is to limp along for the first quarter (three months) trying not to spend money, making no new commitments, and generally enjoying the slack time and the Christmas holidays and our regular paychecks, before finally getting budget allocations in January.

This year, believe it or not, even that pathetic standard wasn't met.

With complete control of congress and the White House, there is no motivation at all for these yahoos to get the job done.  Who is going to press them?  The mainstream media is always in love with the Democrats so they aren’t going to say anything.

When Bush was president he could at least use his bully pulpit to apply some pressure, but Obama?  Obama is a neophyte multiplied by arrogance compounded by inexperience heavily salted by naivety colored by ignorance.

Today it is May 28.  My federal agency still does not have its budget allocations for fiscal year 2009, which ends in four months.  According to our schedule of deadlines, the last day for making purchases greater than $25,000 is June 19.  That means if—and that’s a big if—we get our budget allocations next week, we will have only two weeks to make all expenditures greater than $25,000.  Of which there are dozens.  And we are one of the smallest federal agencies.

Two weeks.  Can you imagine the panic among administrative staff tasked with spending all this money?  Can you imagine the stampede of purchase requests that will ensue across the nation and how many ill-advised purchase decisions will result from this spending frenzy?

I can.  It’s going to be ugly.

It’s your money, people! and, in a week or two, we, your government servants, are going to be throwing it out the door by the shovel-full trying to spend it before the deadline.

That’s why I call it incompetence.  The Democrats are shitting all over the process and they don’t seem to care or feel shame.  Add this boondoggle to the way they passed the Stimulus Bill without reading it, their failure to oversee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and their glaring inability to address their own ethical lapses, and you will see the gross incompetence of the Democrats who are currently running Washington.

Last year’s budget process was a pathetic joke... but did you notice that congress took all of its normal vacation breaks—every single one?


From Reno, Nevada, USA