Spending Money Like It Wasn't Theirs

A random audit of U.S. Department of Agriculture credit cards found that helping the nation's farmers requires some odd goods and services. Employees used government credit cards to, among other things, make a down payment on a car, pay tuition for bartender school, buy Ozzy Osbourne concert tickets, and pay for lingerie and tattoos. All told, investigators found some $7.7 million in personal charges accrued during one six-month period. They had audited just 300 of the department's 55,000 credit cards.