The $16.00 muffin

[fruhmenschen]

$16 a Muffin: IG Report Finds Justice Dept. Over Spent at Conferences on Food and Beverages
PETE YOST

see link for full story
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... 510ea2acbb
WASHINGTON — Muffins: $16 apiece. Coffee: more than a dollar an ounce. Snacks: $32 per person.

A report issued Tuesday by the Justice Department’s inspector general found excessive spending on food and beverages in an audit of 10 department conferences.

Justice spent about $490,000 on food and beverages at the conferences — more than 10 percent of the $4.4 million total cost of the events.

[Freitag]

Well... without any threat of consequence... I mean... what do you... it's not like...

[82_28]

As having been one who has worked even political conferences on the other end, this is absolutely nothing new. Not saying you shouldn't have pointed it out. But catered, conferenced shit is ALL ABOUT WASTE and wasted money and has been for decades. A $16 muffin ain't shit, seriously. Goes on all the time, every day in every big city in America that holds corporate/government/military conferences and on cruise ships/weddings/pro sports shit, you name it -- money to some is literally no object. When the honchos call for a conference, out come the $16 muffins. And so it goes. Have you seen the catering mark-up for big music touring acts?

[wordspeak2]

Does a $16 muffin taste any better than a $2 one? Do they still use refined white sugar, or some healthier, more subtle sweetener, such as maple syrup or honey? What about a higher-quality flour that the crap that people are used to that shouldn't qualify as "food"? (I think I know the answers)
Is it even a bigger muffin in size?

[Luther Blissett]

Does a $16 muffin taste any better than a $2 one? Do they still use refined white sugar, or some healthier, more subtle sweetener, such as maple syrup or honey? What about a higher-quality flour that the crap that people are used to that shouldn't qualify as "food"? (I think I know the answers)
Is it even a bigger muffin in size?

No.

[Luposapien]

One of my wife's job duties at the insurance company that she used to work for involved planning meetings and conferences, and I remember being shocked at the costs involved with the catering. Maybe not quite a $16 muffin, but one hotel charged something like $36 for a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and $4 for a single can of soda. There was one annual meeting that they held, where they schmoozed lots of big agents, that had a planning budget that was more than her annual salary. It always seemed ridiculously overboard to me, but was particularly galling when she was "downsized" from her job as part of their implementation of cost-cutting measures, especially since the company in question was operating well into the black. I'm willing to bet that they haven't cut back on those meetings where they waste all that money stroking the egos of a bunch of guys (and I mean guys, I think she said they had maybe 2 female agents that were in this group) who already make in excess of a million dollars a year.

[norton ash]

Sometimes, small businesses and services are able to trough on government events and contracts, but that's about the only brightside. I know some indy caterers who LOVE these events for the cash injection... they know it's insane, they're pretty much encouraged to overcharge, and they need the $$.

I think we all know stories from contractors about the golden gov't contract... the one week's work that delivers half the year's income.

[Twyla LaSarc]

I worked in high-class catering for 3 years. Those prices are fucking exorbitant! We also did all the food prep and baking (with higher-quality ingredients) and with delivery, service etc, the muffins might have been $4-5 each, but not astronomical.

These hotels aren't even making this food themselves, they get it from Krispy Kreme, and whoever vends cracker jacks and candy bars. Much of the dinner food is pre-packaged and reheated- a fancier TV dinner, if you will. During my time as a chef, I hated hiring former hotel cooks- so many were human can-openers, looking for the cans and mixes in the pantry with no idea how to actually make something.

This is the shit they should be trimming, not social programs.

[Saurian Tail]

It looks like this story is probably not true.

September 28, 2011

The Mythical $16 Muffin
By Ruth Marcus

WASHINGTON -- About that $16 muffin -- it didn't actually cost that much.

You may have heard about the muffin, how conference planners at the Justice Department blithely forked over that inflated sum -- your taxpayer dollars -- to a Washington hotel for a training conference on immigration law. It seemed a classic tale of government waste, up there with the iconic $600 Pentagon toilet seat.

Except, as it turns out, the receipt on which the Justice Department's inspector general based that assessment was written in a kind of catering short-hand. The muffin billing actually included: free meeting space, complimentary coffee, fresh fruit, assorted baked goods, taxes and tip. In short, a decent price for a continental breakfast.

Is there wasteful spending in government? Of course -- and some of it was detailed in the inspector general's report. It should be investigated and eliminated, not least because it does damage far in excess of the amounts involved, eroding public confidence in government's ability to spend its money wisely.

Worse, though, episodes such as the tale of the $16 muffin give politicians an excuse to focus on fiscal trivia instead of the serious challenges that would remain -- even if no government worker ever again scarfed down a taxpayer-funded breakfast pastry.

As if on cue, there was Texas Gov. Rick Perry at a conservative conference in Florida invoking the mythical $16 muffin in arguing against a serious proposal by President Obama to rein in costly federal health care spending. Yes, Perry was against reining in entitlement spending, about which more in a bit.

"You know, there was a report revealed this last week that bureaucrats in Washington were spending money on $16 muffins," Perry said. "Don't tell me there's not waste to be cut, and don't ask us for more of our money, Mr. President.

continued ...

[Wombaticus Rex]

^^But, but...NUMBERS NEVER LIE!!!

[justdrew]

http://www.cracked.com/article_19449_6-images-abandoned-weaponry-you-wont-believe-are-real.html

[DoYouEverWonder]

^^But, but...NUMBERS NEVER LIE!!!

Numbers don't, people do. And anyone can manipulate the numbers to prove their claims.

[norton ash]

Bill O'Reilly was on about the $16 muffin on Jon Stewart last night, and Stewart countered that $16 muffins are really fuck all compared with Wall St. bailouts.

Anyway, it's obvious now who's floating the muffin meme.

[82_28]

Bill O'Reilly is the exact kind of careless asshole who attends and keynotes events that cater overpriced shit and bills it to whomever and gets the check for his speaking fee. He doesn't give a shit and the the fact that he does "give a shit" about this is just more Bill O'Reilly being a lying cocksucker. I simply do not understand how this guy has stood the test of time since that destruction Al Franken leveled on him about 10 years ago. Yet, on he goes.

[fruhmenschen]

You can make all the fun you want of the $16.00 muffin
but there are a lot of people working in the Dept of Justice
who need to replace vital body fluids on a regular basis.
Wink, nod, know what I mean?

Can we place an order for two muffins please?

1st muffin
FBI Agent Accused Of Masturbating In Public
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index. ... _pris.html
May 25, 2007 09:02 PM
FBI Agent Accused Of Masturbating In Public

Posted by, Marissa Pasquet KOLD News 13 News Editor

FBI Special Agent Ryan Seese, 34, is facing sex offense charges after a cleaning woman said she found him masturbating in a women's lavatory on campus, according to a University of Arizona police spokesman.

2nd muffin
see link for full story
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/27/siu.fb ... index.html
CNN exclusive: FBI misconduct reveals sex, lies and videotape

By Scott Zamost and Kyra Phillips, CNN Special Investigations Unit
January 27, 2011

Editor's note: Some content in this report may be offensive to readers. For more on this CNN exclusive story, watch Kyra Phillips' full report on "The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer" tonight starting at 5 p.m. ET.

Washington (CNN) -- An FBI employee shared confidential information with his girlfriend, who was a news reporter, then later threatened to release a sex tape the two had made.

A supervisor watched pornographic videos in his office during work hours while "satisfying himself."

And an employee in a "leadership position" misused a government database to check on two friends who were exotic dancers and allowed them into an FBI office after hours.

These are among confidential summaries of FBI disciplinary reports obtained by CNN, which describe misconduct by agency supervisors, agents and other employees over the last three years.

Read the FBI documents obtained by CNN