news
We really enjoy reading Michelle Singletary here at the Buzz. She's a personal finance columnist for the Washington Post.
In today's newsletter (read it), she focuses on people who overspend - lottery winners who go bankrupt and goverment parties gone wild.
A snippet:
Top government officials were recently fired for spending more than $820,000 on a conference in Las Vegas, reports The Washington Post’s Lisa Rein and Joe Davidson (read more).
Martha N. Johnson, chief of the General Services Administration, resigned from her position, two of her top deputies were fired and four managers were placed on administrative leave for hosting a training conference that featured a clown, a mind reader and a nearly $30,000 reception.
This is a “significant misstep,” wrote Johnson in her resignation letter. “Taxpayer dollars were squandered.”
You think? They spent like it wasn’t their money.
Here’s how some of the money was spent:
●$44 per person per day for breakfast
●$75,000 for a “team-building” exercise that involved building a bicycle
●$146,000 on catered food and drinks
●$6,325 on commemorative coins in velvet boxes to reward all participants for their work on stimulus projects
●$31,208 “networking” reception featuring a $19-per-person cheese display
●$7,000 for sushi