Dispensable Expenses 

First, we almost never get sick. But today we're battling a fever and fatigue, something that long ago would allow me to tell Mom I can't go to school. Today I will give myself a day off...after I share this example of government's sometimes recklessness. 

      The U.S. Air Force got taken to the cleaners by wildly overpaying for soap dispensers and other aircraft parts. In an inspector general's report, the Air Force overpaid defense contractor Boeing by $149,972 for soap dispensers, part of a larger spare parts order for C-17 cargo jets. 

     The review indicates the Air Force paid nearly 80 times more than the cost of a commercially available substitute. According to the Dept. of Defense, the overpayments on spare parts for the C-17 cost the government nearly $1 million. 

     And that's just one branch of the government, and just one type of planes. 

One more thing before I crash. In 1962-64, because I was a journalism graduate, the Army assigned me and a few other journalists and English graduates - all of us drafted - to a "school" in Ft. Lee, VA. Did I tell you this? We were each sent to various military offices, the kind that would order soap dispensers and whatever else, meet with an officer, take notes, and whatever papers back to Ft. Lee. We wore regular suits instead of Army uniforms. Each officer would prepare a lesson for officers and civilians who would then return to their offices better prepared. We assume. The leader of the school was a general, who I never met, but he gave me a nice letter before I returned to my newspaper job. 

See, buying products for everything the military needs is a big deal, and we hope overpayments are rare. Now, I can lay down and rest.  

               Jimmy