But according to Wastebook – an annual report on wasteful government spending, you can often find Uncle Sam’s dollars in strange places, like the pockets of urban gangsters and terrorist wannabes.
In a documentary called “Gangland” on Youtube, an anonymous member of the 'Crips' brags about his life in the notorious LA street gang:
“A Crip, being a dedicated Crip is something that [leaves] you constantly seeking out for unity every day, power, cause you never get enough of it. Man, it’s like a mother***n’ fever.”
With power comes money, but while for many crime rings in the US the main sources of income are gambling, drug trafficking and extortion, it appears that some of them also have their eyes on government money.
According to the American Association of Colleges, federal student aid has become an attractive target for criminals because there is no need for a credit check, and there are few restrictions on how the money can be spent.
Besides the notorious Bloods, Crips and other gangs, the battle for the hearts and minds of troubled youth is often being won by jihadist terrorist groups. And there you can often see Uncle Sam’s funds as well. In February, 2015, two college-aged Muslims from Minnesota – 21-year-old Hamza Ahmed and 19-year-old Mustafe Musse, obtained $1,000 in federal aid money to buy plane tickets so they could travel to Syria and join ISIS.
The case of the “Minnesotan jihadists” is not unique. US Senator Jeff Flake wrote in his 2015 report on wasteful government spending that in a single year “more than 34,000 participants in crime rings improperly received federal student aid.”
The design of Flake’s report, which is called “The Farce Awakens” revolves around an idea from the opening scene of “Star Wars – Return Of Jedi,” where Darth Vader is inspecting the construction site of the Death Star and finds out that his master's diabolical project is behind schedule. Here’s Flake himself, presenting his report before the Senate:
“The commander in charge first claimed there was no delay. Then he said to Darth Vader that it would be impossible to meet the schedule without resources. And Darth Vader warned the commander that the Emperor was “much displeased” with the apparent lack of progress, noting that “the Emperor is not as forgiving as I am”. Now government projects being over budget, behind schedule, or out of this world are not just a problem for the Emperor in that “galaxy far-far away.” They are a problem right here on Earth.”
In his recent interview with CBS, Flake said that in recent years the number of cases of crazy government spending has been decreasing.
However, a fresh example shows that the madness is far from over. In 2015, the US Agency for International Development, or USAID, spent $2 million on the promotion of Lebanon as a tourism destination, while the US State Department was actively urging US citizens to stay out of the country because of terrorist threats and suicide bombings.
So whether US taxpayers will be able to strike back, putting an end to such outrageous government spending – remains to be seen.
