Duh: White House to buy office supplies in bulk to cut costs
posted at 11:25 am on September 19, 2011 by Tina Korbe
A little gem from National Journal:
Hoping to trim $600 million in the next four years, several federal agencies and departments will start pooling their purchases of office printers, copiers, and scanners, administration officials told The Washington Post. Starting this week, the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and Treasury, as well as the Social Security Administration, are slated to begin buying these items in bulk from 11 firms. The supplier list includes both larger companies like Canon and Lexmark, and some smaller, veteran- or minority-owned suppliers, The Post reports.
This plan will also force departments to closely scrutinize their equipment stocks. “One of the things we’ve discovered is that agencies don’t have a clue what they have,” Dan Gordon, the Obama administration’s top federal contracting official, told The Post. “They don’t realize how many cellphones and BlackBerrys they have.”
How has this not happened before? Large families know to shop at Sam’s Club or Costco to save money — and most people know to glance in the pantry before a grocery run to make sure they don’t repurchase items they already have. It took federal government officials this long to figure out they could be more cost-effective by buying bulk and taking stock of what they already possess?
But, then, it’s much easier to be free with other folks’ money than with your own.
This week, the president plans to unveil his deficit reduction package. If this early effort at increased efficiency is any indication, the proposals he puts forth will trim mere chump change from the federal budget. But, then, even the hard-won cuts that will supposedly proceed from the Super Committee don’t amount to much. As The Washington Times’ Joseph Curl explains, if politicians actually want to eliminate the deficit, they’d have to cut the federal budget by a third. If they want to be able to make a dent in the debt, they’d have to cut the budget by two-thirds. Maybe it’s not important to eliminate the deficit and debt. At this point, the general consensus is that it’s crucial to at least reduce it because the debt has simply grown too large, but, in the past, economists and politicians used to debate the relative drawbacks and merits of operating at a deficit and acquiring debt. Either way, it’s crucial to be unimpressed by paltry $600 million savings or deficit reduction proposals that do little more than pay lip service to the fact that we have a problem.
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If only America would go back to the idea of ‘apprenticeships’ …………
listens2glenn on April 12, 2013 at 1:26 PM
If only America would stop believing that communist fairy tale about “investing in our children’s future” and cut all universities off public dole…
Archivarix on April 12, 2013 at 1:27 PM
Quite so, as long as government keeps out of it. University education is not for everyone, and half of what colleges offer in course curriculum, for all intent, is useless waste of resources.
hawkeye54 on April 12, 2013 at 1:30 PM
And to think, those rubes at the recruiting office let me have a career with just a GED! And that career is paying for college anyway!
Of course, I did spend some fair chunks of time getting shot at, but totally worth it.
Sgt Steve on April 12, 2013 at 1:31 PM
Some of that is mine, but you know what? I pay mine every month. :)
Bob's Kid on April 12, 2013 at 1:33 PM
Getting a degree in Person-of-Color History, Women’s Studies and How To Hate America, et al., is priceless.
So priceless that the taxpayers should be forced … required … told … [shit] … double-plus-ungood-untaxed to pay the freight of the future Presidents and members of Congress and the Supreme Court.
OhEssYouCowboys on April 12, 2013 at 1:34 PM
It is only a matter of time before democrats put forth the “Student Loan Debt Fairness Act” which will reduce principal balances.
Wigglesworth on April 12, 2013 at 1:36 PM
Beware the government-education complex
tom daschle concerned on April 12, 2013 at 1:36 PM
Easy studant loans for pseudo academic liberal arts degrees are just a pay off to academia for political support. Everyone’s nose is in the trough.
tommyboy on April 12, 2013 at 1:36 PM
.
WHAT ? ! ! ………. I hear tell that’s un-American, today.
By paying off your student loans, you’re only helping the evil banks to capitalize on you.
listens2glenn on April 12, 2013 at 1:37 PM
This going to be a very long term hit on the middle class. Socially destabilizing.
Mason on April 12, 2013 at 1:38 PM
All part of the Dem plan to eventually bail them out with our tax dollars thereby creating another ignorant voting bloc.
rjh on April 12, 2013 at 1:38 PM
Thanks for the attempted virus on this page, Hot Air!
Yeah, might want to look into that.
playblu on April 12, 2013 at 1:38 PM
Universities were already little more than indoctrination centers of the left when I graduated, and that was in the early 90s. They’re even worse now. Try picking up a student paper sometime. Most of them read like DailyKos or Democrat Underground.
Time to cut off the spigot. Unless a student is smart enough to stick with engineering or something practical, a college education is actually counter-productive to being a positive contributor to society.
DRayRaven on April 12, 2013 at 1:38 PM
I have a friend who was totally irresponsible, got 4 degrees amassing ~$130,000 in SL debt. He earned 3 Fine Arts degrees and one in Education. He now works at a public school. The Gubmint offers a payment plant that pegs repayment to earnings. Essentially, he pays about 15% of what he should be paying and after 15 years the gubmint forgives the remainder of the repayment thereby forgiving nearly $100,000 in debt.
There is no justice.
tom daschle concerned on April 12, 2013 at 1:39 PM
I know graduates with such degrees are such highly sought and with colleges unable to meet the demands of business and industry, it opens the door for bringing in people with similar backgrounds from overseas under H1B work visas to fill the vacuum.
hawkeye54 on April 12, 2013 at 1:39 PM
Just for yucks, I’d love to hear Crazy Joe weigh on this (huge) problem. He’d probably advocate required plagiarism for students, in order to improve outcomes (after all, if it worked for him…), required hiring by companies and nationalization of student debt (they’re going to otherwise be unable to ever participate in the consumer-led “recovery”!).
Democrat economic policy is unbelievably bad, in every way.
MTF on April 12, 2013 at 1:39 PM
O/T
RIP Jonathan Winters. He was funny!
http://nation.foxnews.com/jonathan-winters/2013/04/12/comedian-jonathan-winters-dead-87
L
letget on April 12, 2013 at 1:40 PM
Socially destabilizing is the key operative here.
hawkeye54 on April 12, 2013 at 1:40 PM
.
No “red flags” here. What kind of warning did you get?
listens2glenn on April 12, 2013 at 1:41 PM
Miss his style of humor. Far funnier than just about any contemporary so-called comedians.
hawkeye54 on April 12, 2013 at 1:41 PM
.
One of the few 1960s era actors with class.
listens2glenn on April 12, 2013 at 1:43 PM
Hasn’t Obama canceled all that debt yet? Or are we still on gay marriage and guns.
PattyJ on April 12, 2013 at 1:43 PM
.
“All of the above.”
listens2glenn on April 12, 2013 at 1:45 PM
The story needs a Dr. Evil pic.
The Rogue Tomato on April 12, 2013 at 1:47 PM
I grew up watching his show, and Flip Wilson’s and Carol Burnett’s and Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In.
The days of great entertainment are loooooooooooooooooooooooong gone.
Not to mention The Midnight Special and Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert.
Heavy sigh.
OhEssYouCowboys on April 12, 2013 at 1:47 PM
Geez I feel like a rube.
$60,000 as a publish HS science teacher & I don’t have a plan like that. I just consolidated everything at a low interest rate to pay it off in 20 years.
You mean I coulda got off scott free?
Badger40 on April 12, 2013 at 1:47 PM
http://conservatives4palin.com/2013/04/governor-palin-kids-follow-your-dreams-but-be-practical-to-be-employable.html
unseen on April 12, 2013 at 1:49 PM
OKay you have to gimme a break. I went home for lunch today & hafta go back.
~HIC~
Badger40 on April 12, 2013 at 1:53 PM
the liberals aren’t after justice they want revenge.
unseen on April 12, 2013 at 1:54 PM
This not a problem at all. The government can easily fix this glitch by mandating that all private companies must hire at least one college graduate per year that has any degree ending with the word “Studies” until such time as such college grads comprise 15% of that company’s workforce. In addition, all such graduates are to be paid at the company’s highest salary rate. Each employer must also contribute to loan repayment an amount not less than 15% per loan payment per employee.
There. All fixed and not a dime in new taxes. Isn’t governmentry fun?
/S
ROCnPhilly on April 12, 2013 at 1:54 PM
I can attest to this. I was on the verge of becoming a “soft” Democrat just before 9/11. When 9/11 happened, pretty much everything changed for me politically.
Doomberg on April 12, 2013 at 1:55 PM
Hell, I got my undergraduate degree in ’80 and, even then, an engineering degree was about the only 4 year degree that was worth a damn. An MBA was, already, a dime a dozen.
So, I went to law school and graduated in ’83, at a time when you couldn’t swing a dead cat, without hitting a lawyer.
This shit has been going on for a very long time – except I paid my student loans.
We’ll be paying theirs, too.
OhEssYouCowboys on April 12, 2013 at 1:56 PM
Good stuff, Badger, good stuff.
OhEssYouCowboys on April 12, 2013 at 1:58 PM
Here in the US, several industries still have apprenticeship programs. But many if not all of those industries have been so crippled by excessive government regulation that young people are deciding it’s not worth the effort to even try to get into those industries in the first place.
Del Dolemonte on April 12, 2013 at 1:59 PM
I have my shiny bachelors degree, yep it sits in a file somewhere. Meanwhile my various technical certificates, military training, and loads of OJT that I sought out on my own are providing me and my family with a high standard of living.
Enough with the fools who major in English, Philosophy, or any of the made-up “fields” that were created to give leftist douchebags something to do such as “Gender Studies”. If they want to major in such things they should sign an agreement saying you will never ever be forgiven of your loans in any way nor can you ever be given welfare, job assistance, or food stamps.
Bishop on April 12, 2013 at 2:03 PM
Yep, vocational schools/programs, or anything that would give them some practical skills (desirably tech ones) that are so needed in this economy and in the future. Unfortunately as air-headed and mindless as they are, they will continue to choose idiotic liberal arts programs that only teach marxism, gender studies, class warfare and other useless crapola, while giving them 0 practical skills. And they will continue to work at mcdonalds or in low level admin positions that don’t require a degree, while (not) paying their student loans. All in line with the One’s logic and idea of a functional economy.
jimver on April 12, 2013 at 2:03 PM
The company I currently work for sent maintenance new hires to school and paid for it. Crushing regulations and skyrocketing energy costs have squeezed damn near every benefit out.
tom daschle concerned on April 12, 2013 at 2:03 PM
.
That’s what they get, for failing to support the commie education system.
listens2glenn on April 12, 2013 at 2:08 PM
Undergraduate students have a limit of around $24K total borrowing, they don’t just hand over more cash than this.
Graduate students have a higher limit. However, grad programs are for the most part career directed, they don’t let you in unless you are somewhat motivated.
The children of the middle class, might have non government loans arranged with the co-sign of their parents, these are real bank loans.
Parents of undergrads, might be government or bank loans, but in the past you were not seeing the amounts because parents with a home were encouraged to use their home equity loan. These loans are NOT in the picture today, which means parents AND students are looking for loans.
I am concerned with the hype over the student loan debt for the nation being high. We have just passed a small baby boomlet that went from 1982-1992, which increased the number of students, and we know this because our kids were told there were more kids competing for the best spots in college due to demographics of this age. There are more students with loans. There are more parents with loans (see above,) and costs have gone up, but still, todays student, living at home with his parents or in her parents basement should be able to pay off $5K per year on these loans from their minimum wage job. That they are not choosing to, is the problem
I think that if they media is making an issue of it right now, the media has some ulterior motive.
When the government took over the loans, instead of the 3% loans that they forced outside lenders to loan at, they set the rates for students in the new Nationalized loans at 7-8% interest, payable to the government. They ripped the kids off once they were getting the money. Those are the students without jobs now.
The problem is NO JOBS not student loan payments.
Fleuries on April 12, 2013 at 2:09 PM
C’mon people, don’t be naive: this is the 2016 Presidential Campaign Issue(tm) being set up. Obama and the Dems will campaign on forgiving all that student debt so that “our children” aren’t saddled with the debt that they took on. Any Republican or other normal human who dares to question the beneficence offered by the Dems (and perhaps stands up for those responsible enough to save up to pay for college) will be demagogued, and the media spin will once again create a “Republicans hate the young, middle class, and women” story line.
Results: Dem win and a further race down the sewer towards economic collapse and consequent statist rule.
FiveG on April 12, 2013 at 2:11 PM
Palin is 100% correct on this. They make it seem like you can get a job just by having a degree. If your parents are terrible at finances, and you are the first in your family to go to collge, you’re gonna have a bad time. You will be woefully ignorant of how the system works.
It is impossible these days to pay for school with a part time job – that is unless you are willing to have it take 15 years at $7/hr.
That said, military jobs are indeed a form of government spending and quite possibly could be construed as “make-work” jobs and cannot support an economy.
We are in a disasterous position and it is unlikely many of these graduates will ever work in gainful positions. All of the girls I know are bartenders or nannies despite being hardcore feminists. Ha!
antisense on April 12, 2013 at 2:12 PM
Not true.
tom daschle concerned on April 12, 2013 at 2:14 PM
Completely false. Federal subsidized and unsubsidized loans can go far higher than that. They are cut off after something like 340+ credits on a quarter system, which is the equivalent of 6-7 years of school or so.
On minimum wage, $5,000 per year is about half of the student’s income, even if they lived at home. All to pay for an intangible loan. They need to end federal loans for school unless they can gradaute students quicker and for less debt than they are now.
Associates degrees, (commonly looked at as the refuge of white trash), are worthless according to most employers. Bachelor’s are dime a dozen. PhDs in life sciences, (a hard science), are struglging to find work. It is a messy thing.
antisense on April 12, 2013 at 2:19 PM
same here OhEssYou, was in general studies keying on history and lit when it dawned on me I wouldn’t make a damn dime when I got out. About to start a construction management degree and my OU dad (engineer too) suggested civil engineering instead. Never flunked out, crammed that 4 year degree into 5 working several part time jobs.
That eventually allowed me to pay full ride for my kids. We’re so proud they came through with no debt we still smile about it. And yes, one is an engineer (A&M).
Still like to read history and lit in my own time though.
DanMan on April 12, 2013 at 2:19 PM
DanMan, you did good. Great foresight, on your part.
I only wish that the math hemisphere of my brain had worked. But calculus, trigonometry, et al., were a pox on me.
You bulldog’d your way through, and are to be commended.
OhEssYouCowboys on April 12, 2013 at 2:29 PM
Wait, they’ll have to start at the bottom rung and work their way up? Unpossible!
rbj on April 12, 2013 at 2:35 PM
Universities have become such a bastion of filth and the refuge of people who hate all things good. It’s time for conservatives to create groups like Anonymous whose goal and purpose is to hack universities and make their lives miserable. Delete personnel records, empty bank accounts of our tax dollars, and wipe out decades of essays on free gender expression. Wouldn’t that be fun?
JoseQuinones on April 12, 2013 at 2:53 PM
Have fun storming the castle!
Opposite Day on April 12, 2013 at 3:00 PM
To Tom Daschle
http://studentaid.ed.gov/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized
College Board College search lists the average amount of debt for students at a particular college (I chose BC) :
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/boston-college?searchType=college&q=BostonCollege
On this screen in the left frame, the bottom number says average indebtedness of students (not parents) for four years is $20K. This is often the same at state schools that know you can borrow in this program. That is why it is often said that a student will personally pay the same to go to an expensive school as to a taxpayer subsidized state school. The FAFSA tells all the schools to charge this family a certain amount, and this borrowing is subtracted first plus any Pell grant amounts.
Fleuries on April 12, 2013 at 3:02 PM
Have fun competing with illegals for jobs!
RDE2010 on April 12, 2013 at 3:05 PM
Student loans = just another way of income redistribution to the progressive hacks
Maybe someday young peeps will wake up and see the crap they have been sold but I am not holding my breath.
losarkos on April 12, 2013 at 3:08 PM
“Rich Dad, Poor Dad” author Robert Kiyosaki:
ITguy on April 12, 2013 at 3:29 PM
Absolutely.
Look into the internals of Financial Aid Offices at many major colleges/universities, and you will find that stundents from lower income families are given more grant money, while students from higher income families are given more student loans.
Two students can go through the same classes and graduate at the same time, but the one who came from a higher income family will be burdened with significant loans, while the one who came from the lower income family will come out with a much smaller loan burden (or literally no loan burden at all).
The student doesn’t choose his or her parents, and unless their parents are going to pay off their student loans for them, the students are penalized in direct relation to their parents’ income level. The more the parent(s) make(s), the more the student is burdened with higher loan amounts. The less the parent(s) make(s), the more the student is rewarded with lower (or non-existant) loan amounts.
It is absolutely a form income redistribution and “social justice”… academia is lifting up those who came from lower income backgrounds, and bringing down those who came from higher income backgrounds.
ITguy on April 12, 2013 at 3:41 PM
BINGO.
antisense on April 12, 2013 at 3:46 PM
I paid my way through college with a little help from mom.
I lived at home and commuted instead of paying rent in my college town.
Didn’t spend college loan money on spring break in the Bahamas.
Didn’t spend loan money on booze/partying.
Chose my major with an eye to a real job after sitting out a couple of years post high school.
In other words, the real and perceived high cost of education can be mitigated by using your noggin.
LetsBfrank on April 12, 2013 at 4:33 PM
You are either a liar or unintelligent.
9500
10500
12500
12500
=$45,000
tom daschle concerned on April 12, 2013 at 4:50 PM
that’s the way you do it
My dad was the first in our family to go to college. His dad died at the beginning of WWII and the Navy put him through school and he went in as an ensign at the end.
I bucked what my dad had provided and tried working straight out of high school. At 25 I followed your credo to get through a college degree in my hometown. Ultimately 4 of the 6 of us graduated with a degree and the other two at least went and had credits. I thank my parents for their guidence.
As I mentioned, my wife and I were blessed to be able to put our kids through on time and in budget (whew! didn’t think so then)
Truth is my wife is probably the smartest of us all and did not get to go after being accepted at Berkley, UCLA and UT. She also taught me to be a conservative as well as our kids. And she grew up in Newton Centah, Ma.!
DanMan on April 12, 2013 at 5:00 PM
I attended a wedding of one my son’s friends about a year ago…he came out of med school with a $350k debt (oral surgery) and his wife is at $150k (anasthesiology ?). They are both in residencies in Dallas now. You have some puny numbers.
btw, how many young people will commit to 12 years of school and that kind of debt with Obamacare now in place? Only the dumbest ones.
DanMan on April 12, 2013 at 5:07 PM
Apology to fleuries. You didn’t deserve that. The numbers I come up with are at least 2x your numbers, and I am using government source.
tom daschle concerned on April 12, 2013 at 5:11 PM
University educations cost so much precisely because of all the federal grants and loans that make it unnecessary for a university to cut costs.
It would be poetic justice if this became a big enough problem that a law was passed allowing all student loan holders to pay back half or a quarter of what they owed.
But, of course, what will really happen is that the government will offer a big bailout to the universities instead, helping the people who owe money on their student loans, and the universities getting the money — but all paid for by the taxpayer.
At least, the ones who still have jobs.
Circling The Drain on April 12, 2013 at 7:08 PM
What to see an overweight lazy person? Go to a university office.
tom daschle concerned on April 12, 2013 at 9:50 PM
Playing by the rules?
pffft….so racist.
98ZJUSMC on April 13, 2013 at 1:04 PM