600 percent:
By on Dec 14th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
600 percent:
The cost of government paper-shredding has increased since President Bush took office. USASpending tracked how the government spent $452,807 on contracts for paper-shredding services in 2000, only to see that number rise astronomically to over $2.9 million in 2006.
(HT: Radar’s John Cook)
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move along, nothing to see here…
December 14th, 2007 at 12:50 pmall those crayon drawings coming from the Oval Office….
December 14th, 2007 at 12:54 pmThat’s funny.
$2.9 mil to shred paper? I’m in the wrong racket.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:55 pmEvidently, there is more than one man-sized safe.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:56 pmTalk about government waste. wow.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:56 pmThat is why we need Republicans for a smaller government!
Oofah.
-GSD
December 14th, 2007 at 12:56 pmLess spending under Republicans!
-GSD
December 14th, 2007 at 12:57 pmSounds like they’re shredding a lot of that paper in Iraq. Unfortunately they’re shredding U.S. currency. Mind you, it’s worth a lot less then it was 7 years ago.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:58 pmif these clowns were treated as we ordinary citizens are, some prosecutor would already have them brought up in charges, by the weight of circumstantial evidence alone.
heck, if we had a functioning Dept. of Justice, it might already have happened.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:59 pmTroll-channeling now:
This extraordinary rise can be explained; you see, in previous administrations, the paper-shredding was government-run, which as everybody can see, was a nightmare of inefficiency and bureaucracy. President Bush wisely privatized this critical function of government, just like he privatized health care at Walter Reed, security in Iraq for the State Dept. and most of the functions of FEMA. All of these successes will form the bedrock of what will be his glorious legacy once all the short-sighted historians who actually lived through his term die off.
How’d I do?
December 14th, 2007 at 12:59 pmIf Al Gore did this you’d just cheer and talk about the necessity of recycling paper (which, incidentally, consumes more energy than just throwing the paper waste away).
Comment by Frank M — December 14, 2007 @ 12:56 pm
Frank you think they shred it for the ecological benefits? That’s probably what you think about them deleting the emails too, it was ecological. Why special kind of stupid are you?
December 14th, 2007 at 12:59 pmHow’d I do?
Comment by ralph the wonder llama — December 14, 2007 @ 12:59 pm
You were late. Frank M already cornered the market on stupid here.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:01 pmI think republicans just get more junk mail because they have better credit.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:01 pmSoooo much evidence to destroy, too few paper shredders to do the job.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:01 pmIf Al Gore did this you’d just cheer and talk about the necessity of recycling paper (which, incidentally, consumes more energy than just throwing the paper waste away).
Comment by Frank M — December 14, 2007 @ 12:56 pm
Ah, yes, Wingnut Tactic Numer 14: propose a hypothetical situation, deduce that an extreme reaction is likely, then criticize your opponent for that (imagined) reaction.
Well done, Frank. Here’s a Gummi bear.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:02 pmIf Al Gore did this you’d just cheer and talk about the necessity of recycling paper (which, incidentally, consumes more energy than just throwing the paper waste away).
Comment by Frank M
Al Gore didn’t do it. idiot. When President Gore does, come back and talk.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:02 pmAnd how much are they paying for wiping off fingerprints?
December 14th, 2007 at 1:03 pmComment by Frank M — December 14, 2007 @ 12:56 pm
Frank you think they shred it for the ecological benefits? That’s probably what you think about them deleting the emails too, it was ecological. Why special kind of stupid are you?
Comment by Shayne — December 14, 2007 @ 12:59 pm
Oh, Frank’s a special kind of stupid. A very special kind of stupid. I think they bred him to be this compliant yet combative. Unfortunately, the demands of those conflicting characteristics cancelled out the option of any reasoning capacity.
The limits of advanced science, I suppose.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:04 pmIf Al Gore did this you’d just cheer and talk about the necessity of recycling paper (which, incidentally, consumes more energy than just throwing the paper waste away).
Comment by Frank M
Right, and if someone complained about the ovens in the german concentration camps you’d claim that hitler was just using renewable resources to heat the camps.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:05 pmComment by Frank M — December 14, 2007 @ 12:56 pm
frankie, you’re projecting again.
(please don’t get angry with frankie folks, he was abused as a child)
December 14th, 2007 at 1:06 pmLook at that bell curve…looks like they’re actually starting to run out of things to shred. Look for one last push at the end of 2008.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:06 pmYou’d think that with all that shredding bush would have gotten his necktie caught at least once…We just can’t catch a break with these clowns.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:08 pmNot to mention the exhorbitant cost of shredding all those emails!
December 14th, 2007 at 1:09 pmcan’t they just buy their own shredders?
December 14th, 2007 at 1:09 pm“Mind you, it’s worth a lot less then it was 7 years ago.”
Comment by Dave C — December 14, 2007 @ 12:58 pm
Ah, the benefits of having a C student in the White House for seven long years.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:09 pm26…make that a “Gentleman’s C” student.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:10 pmComment by Menehune — December 14, 2007 @ 1:06 pm
when they run out of things to shred then they get really dangerous and invade foreign countries.
when the drums stop beating that’s when they attack.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:10 pm“can’t they just buy their own shredders?”
Comment by po — December 14, 2007 @ 1:09 pm
They believe in socialized shredders. But not health care for uninsured children.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:11 pmIt is probably Republicans shredding all of their gay porn.
-GSD
December 14th, 2007 at 1:11 pmcan’t they just buy their own shredders?
Comment by po — December 14, 2007 @ 1:09 pm
Of course not! These are Republicans, which means they are principled and steadfast in their fight against the growth of government bureaucracy… right?
December 14th, 2007 at 1:11 pm“26…make that a “Gentleman’s C†student.”
Comment by Menehune — December 14, 2007 @ 1:10 pm
Ha!
December 14th, 2007 at 1:11 pmIt really pisses me off that they are using my tax dollars to destroy evidence.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:12 pmThese are special US Constitution shredders.
-GSD
December 14th, 2007 at 1:13 pm10 / 1 those shredder contracts were no bid, crony based governizing.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:14 pmIt’s enough to make you wonder exactly what will be in the GWBush Presidential library other than one note asking Condie if he can get a bathroom break.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:15 pm26…make that a “Gentleman’s C†student.
Comment by Menehune — December 14, 2007 @ 1:10 pm
—-
I LOL’ed
December 14th, 2007 at 1:15 pmLots of evidence to shred in this administration. It would probably fill several olympic sized swimming pools. Then again, all they have to do is impeach him and they can be done with this ongoing evidence gathering.
Impeach Bush & Cheney now.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:24 pmMenehune: What will be left to put in the Bush Library? A million copies of his favorite book: My Pet Goat. LOL
December 14th, 2007 at 1:24 pmIgnoranceIsNotBliss: Using taxpayer money to obstruct justice makes us all complicit, n’est pas? Just like the one who orders and pays for the hit, so it goes.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:25 pmWhich is precisely why the people need to unite and mobilize our efforts to rid ourselves of this individual who believes himself to above the rule of law.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:26 pmMaybe some ultra-creative, savvy shredder corporation will manufacture a MegaShredder called simply “BUSHED”.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:27 pmOr perhaps more appropriately - BUZZ THE BUSH!
December 14th, 2007 at 1:27 pmno more frank m?
December 14th, 2007 at 1:27 pmJoeC: Shhhhh! Please don’t wake up sleeping dragons.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:28 pm44… he did the “poo and shoo”.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:29 pmIt’s sad to see the culmination of the Republican Revolution being lost to history.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:32 pmForget about impeachment people.
Even if they actually started the process today, it takes so long that the administration would be out of office before anything could happen.
Sorry, but the window of opportunity is passed.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:34 pmSure Perry, sure - now pass the champagne.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:34 pmI should be working on my homework, but you all are just too entertaining.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:40 pmAll that evidence destruction is hard work and you have to pay well for it, don’t ya know?
December 14th, 2007 at 1:53 pmComment by Frank M: If Al Gore did this you’d just cheer and talk about the necessity of recycling paper (which, incidentally, consumes more energy than just throwing the paper waste away).
This isn’t about recycling paper. It’s about destroying evidence. If the overthrown Gore Administration had been as arbitrary, secretive and dictatorial as Bushco, I doubt we’d be any less skeptical.
Recycling paper, what you say is true as far as it goes. The real upside to paper recycling has to do with the preservation of forests and their extraction of CO2 from the atmosphere.
But you wingnuts don’t really care about things line that.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:54 pmWhatever doesn’t get shredded ends up in the George W. Bush library.
December 14th, 2007 at 2:02 pmIt takes a lot of time and effort to shred the Constitution. Those shredding services are working over time. Recall the news film of shredding trucks outside Cheney’s office a couple of years ago?
How many million e-mails did they destroy? But they also had to take care of any interoffice memos, postits, “while you were out” notes and desk calendars.
December 14th, 2007 at 2:25 pmOBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE!
December 14th, 2007 at 2:49 pmThis is nothing. If you need a paper shredder for your home or office, you better buy one before December 2008.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:47 pmToo bad they didn’t also report on the cost increases associated with destroying electronic documents, like the 10 million e-mails destroyed. That cost would be up by a lot more than 600%.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:19 pm