With a recession spanning nearly a decade and only vague hints of the American economy being returned to its former state, Americans have started noticing what the government is really doing with their hard earned tax dollars. Some say the government is amicable and only here to help, while others swear we are all having the wool pulled over our eyes by a spend-happy, corrupt government. Though these positions are too extreme for most people, there is the occasional glimpse of the corruption of government and waste of money that makes even those in the amicable camp think twice.
The most recent report of this comes from the secret service. Secret Service agents being questioned about a scandal in Colombia; that seems like a good example of the waste of government funds. What the questioning has uncovered thus far is that 12 secret service agents were sent to Colombia to wait upon and prepare for the President’s arrival. Instead of doing just that, however, they came up with something a bit different to do to pass the time. The 12 agents hired local prostitutes and took them to their hotels. This may have gone completely unnoticed had all of the agents paid the women and sent them on their way, however, one agent felt his prostitute didn’t deserve the agreed upon price and the two began to fight in the hallway of the hotel. In fact, their verbal negotiation became so boisterous it was heard throughout the hotel. This now lead to people coming to investigate and, ultimately, to the latest government scandal being uncovered.
After hours of questioning, every single agent came up with a different story. Though, with time, the investigators started to see who was at fault and who deserved repercussions. Six of the 12 agents are now out of the Service and the other 6 are still being investigated.
The question on the minds of many Americans is why was any of this even allowed to happen? Why are government funds are being spent to send American Secret Service agents to foreign countries where they have so much “down-time” they find the time to party with local prostitutes? Why are American taxes fueling a corrupt system? Obama said, on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” “… The Secret Service is incredible” and he blamed only a few “knuckleheads” for the recent scandal.
If this was only discovered because of one slip-up, the loud fight in the hallway, what else are American dollars being spent on that we are not finding out about? Mr. Terry Hickman, AHS social studies teacher stated, “I think this does happen more often then we think.” Also, what will this do to Obama’s bid for election? Mr. Hickman believes, “This could come back on him.” Some political analysts agree that this ignorance could cost Obama in the ballot. It has definitely given the American government a very large, very public black eye.
