Why Cutting Through Gov't Red Tape Can Be Really Expensive
One more sign–in an infinite series of such signs–that we're all crumbs living in the beard of the wonderfully demented and insane science-fiction novelist Philip K. Dick. This one concerns a scandal at Veterans Affairs about the procurement of literal red tape, which is used to cordon off various situations:
Coker and her boss, Joseph Haymond, were arrested in November after investigators uncovered a scheme to get kickbacks from a company that was selling the red tape to the V-A at inflated prices. The tape is stamped with the word "security" and is intended to deter tampering. Haymond was found dead in his Cannon County home of an apparent suicide the day after he was arrested.
Judge Robert Echols determined Coker received more than 115-thousand dollars in kickbacks and contributed to more than 400-thousand dollars in total losses to the V-A.
More here.
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Maybe they should use the tape on those laptops that keep disappearing.
Oh, yes, how ironic that literal “red tape” was at the center of this “scandal”. Sigh. Not quite sure how this relates to Phil Dick, though. Seems a bit shallow to sound like anything he might’ve dreamt up.
What isn’t phildickian these days?
Thanks for the heads up on the WWDT blog.
Aaahhh!! The blog is really old. I take back my thank you. Sucky!
I’m amazed that someone killed themselves over a hundred thousand dollars. Why, that’s no money at all these days!
It would take at least a twenty-million dollar scandal to send *me* over the brink.