Wasted

Bill Gates pays no taxes. The super wealthy have the luxury of tax shelters and deductions and contributions where in they pay nothing, or almost nothing in Federal tax.
We, the basic, hard working Americans, pay our fair share and then some.
I, for one, would pay my share with a smile, if it were used for the good of Americans. Medicare for the elderly, food for the poor, work programs for the displaced unemployed, these are some things I believe in paying for and believe we need and owe our people.

This is not:

The quarterly audit by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, is the latest to paint a grim picture of waste, fraud and frustration in an Iraq war and reconstruction effort that has cost taxpayers more than $300 billion and left the region near civil war.

The audit comes as President Bush is pressing Congress to approve $1.2 billion in new reconstruction aid as part of his broader plan to stabilize Iraq by sending 21,500 more U.S. troops to Baghdad and Anbar province.

According to the report:

Major U.S. contractors in Iraq, including Bechtel National and Kellogg, Brown and Root Services Inc., said they devoted an average 12.5 percent of their total expenses for security.
Bowen’s office opened 27 new criminal probes in the last quarter, bringing the total number of active cases to 78.
Twenty-three are awaiting prosecutorial action by the Justice Department, most of them centering on charges of bribery and kickbacks.

Tell me, is this a waste of your hard earned dollars?