The federal government is owed $35 billion in fines from criminals and from civil cases, the majority of which comes from white collar criminals, who only pay 7 percent of restitution. According to the Associated Press, this amount is five times higher then it was a decade ago. Much of the uncollected money comes from violations of federal regulations, such as violations of mine safety laws. In most cases the federal government has waived the fines in favor of compliance, such as in the case of violations at nuclear facilities throughout the country. Anti-nuclear activist Greg Mello calls this, “kind of an exercise in absurdity.” The Government Accountability Office, an independent investigative office, has warned that the failure to enforce penalties and fines will undermine the effectiveness of enforcement agencies. Of course, this 2004 Denver Post story may shed some light on why the federal government is failing to take punitive action against violators.

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Rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region is proving especially costly thanks to a dysfunctional contracting system. To understand how taxpayer money is wasted Reuters asks the key question, “How many contractors does it take to haul a pile of tree branches?” The answer: “at least four: a contractor, his subcontractor, the subcontractor’s subcontractor, and finally, the local man with a truck and chainsaw.” If you want to get a roof patched you are going to need to get six contractors: “At the bottom tier is a Spanish-speaking crew making less than 10 cents for every square foot of tarpaulin installed. At the top, the prime contractor bills the government 15 times as much for the same job.” Watchdog groups and the Government Accountability Office have criticized the process claiming that it has cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars while the smaller subcontractors are being cheated by the large contractors.

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