Huge math error in Katrina supply giveaway

Huge math error in Katrina supply giveaway

www.cnn.com

(CNN) -- Federal officials vastly overestimated the value of hurricane relief supplies given away earlier this year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reported Monday.

The General Services Administration, which manages federal property, over-counted cases of toilet paper, plastic sporks and other cutlery, by mistakenly counting a single item as being worth as much as multiple items contained in a package of goods.

The original GSA estimate of $85 million should have been $18.5 million, according to figures released by GSA and FEMA.

The household goods were supposed to go to people whose homes were destroyed by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. But the items were stored in warehouses in Louisiana, and then Fort Worth, Texas. A recent CNN investigative story exposed that those materials never made it to storm victims.

GSA officials were asked recently to reassess the total cost of donated items in what the agency called a routine audit.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Ok. So after reading article after article on Iraq War profiteering, and all the crimes attached to that, this story stinks of the standard practices employed in Iraq, only transposed to a major American city in crisis. For the purposes of comparison here's an article on Iraq war profiteering from the BBC

Now I realize that this news article doesn't exactly point the flashlight to a profiteering connection. But the part of the article that explains how the figures were grossly inflated was a practice employed by con artists and frauds in Iraq.

It makes me wonder if the same people attached to Iraq war profiteering have anything to do with what I suspect might be the same situation in New Orleans.

Even BlackWater USA plays a role in this, I wonder what other connections there may be..And, is there a national intelligence community connection like those two CIA operatives mentioned in the BBC article...

Your thoughts?



www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 21-7-2008 by projectvxn]

slim and none says those funds get re-allocated correctly...this is nothing new though, the US gov't has been playing with their COG for years

Originally posted by HighwayDrifter
slim and none says those funds get re-allocated correctly...this is nothing new though, the US gov't has been playing with their COG for years

I hope you're right, for the sake of the American tax payer who has been robbed blind by contractors and individuals in Iraq and here at home. All I'm saying is that this story sounds very similar to the other article I posted in terms of peculiarities involving how things are itemized and moved around.

The Reagan administration helped the drug-smuggling Contras more in the 80s then they did to Katrina victims in our own country. Compounded with all the other travesties during the Katrina disaster, I must say I am hardly surprised.

You said it.

What I think this thread needs is some information. I'm looking for connections between organizations operating in Iraq as well as New Orleans. Then I intend to follow the money. I don't think this is something unrelated.

So what happened to that other ~70 million dollars?

I know it's unpatriotic of me to ask, but I gotta know...

That's what I'm trying to dig up. If this money has gone to "preferred contractors" and no goods or services have yet to be delivered then we can rest assured something has gone wrong.

YOu know, since one of our valued members works for the GSA, I would be very interested in Jhills' view on this topic.

Any way you could convince this user to join the conversation? I'd love to know what a GSA employee has to say as well.