The VA Bought $20 Million in Art While Vets Died

I’m mad as hell, and I’m not about to take it lying down.

Over the weekend, I read a few stories about the outrageous spending by the Veterans Administration (VA). That is, some $20 million in excessive spending over the past decade.

Now this spending wasn’t on exorbitant administrator salaries, excessive employee perks, or even on fat expense accounts.

That $20 million was on art.

According to the watchdog group OpenTheBooks.com, the VA’s expenditures came during the following sordid period for the embattled agency:

While up to 1,000 veterans died waiting for VA healthcare; while many calls to the suicide prevention hotline were answered by voicemail; while the healthcare claims appeals process was described as "the hamster wheel"; and while the VA created 40,000 new positions, but hired only 3,600 doctors (2012-2015) …

If you’re not mad right about now, then you have no heart — and very little sense.

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Of course, I know Uncommon Wisdom Daily readers have both heart and brains. That’s why I figured you need to know about how the VA is using your precious tax dollars.

I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or even a Democratic Socialist — this kind of wasteful government spending simply must stop. Especially considering it’s coming from the budget of an agency that can’t even properly schedule a doctor’s visit for the men and women who put their lives on the line to fight for America.

Now, if you want more fuel for that anger, I offer you the following verbiage from OpenTheBooks.com. It highlights some of the more outrageous expenditures on art:

Included in the expenditures is a 27′ artificial Christmas tree for $21,500 delivered to Chillicothe, OH and two sculptures costing $670,000 for a VA facility in California that serves blind veterans. Blind veterans can’t see fancy sculptures, and all veterans deserve to see a doctor.

The graphic below, also from OpenTheBooks, breaks down the annual expenditures on artwork by the VA since 2004.

I’m a fan of art, and I like aesthetically pleasing buildings and structures.

Yet I am pretty sure there are plenty of artists who would donate and/or offer to create objects d’art for the worthy cause of helping to beautify a VA facility.

I certainly don’t think the federal government needs to spend an average of about $2 million a year on art for VA facilities. No matter how beautiful that art may be.

I am pretty sure the brave patients at the VA could use another $2 million per year for more beds, more medical supplies, increased physician and nurse staffing — or maybe even just a little shorter wait to see somebody in their time of need.

This is the sentiment expressed by Adam Andrzejewski, CEO of OpenTheBooks.

In a Forbes piece I read this weekend, Mr. Andrzejewski was quoted as saying:

"Instead of hiring doctors to help triage backlogged veterans, the VA’s bonus-happy bureaucracy spent millions of dollars on art."

That same article reported on the results of a study done by Andrzejewski. That study revealed the VA added 39,454 new positions to their payroll between 2012 and 2015. But fewer than one in 11 of these new positions (3,591) were "Medical Officers" — i.e., doctors.

Today, nearly 500,000 sick veterans are still wait-listed for an appointment because there just aren’t enough doctors.

Ok, now I am really mad.

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So, what is to be done about this situation?

Here Andrzejewski offered a rather interesting fix to the egregious spending situation, one that I endorse.

He said that rather than eliminating art purchases entirely, the VA should buy art created by veterans. This would have the double benefit of saving the VA money, and directly helping veterans.

It is this kind of thinking that we need more of, and certainly we need less bureaucracy. Veterans would benefit … and the VA could potentially save some money avoiding the boutique art market.

Is this likely to happen?

Unfortunately, you know already know the answer.

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Are you riled up about how the VA spends nearly $2 million a year on art while our veterans are dying? If so, let me know by leaving a comment on our website or by sending an e-mail. And if you’re as mad as I am, don’t hold back. You can also Join us at the Sound Dollar Campaign, where together we are making our voices heard loud and clear.

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It was the seventh day of losses on the Dow Industrials, which slid 0.5%. Meanwhile the Nasdaq broke its five-day winning streak, losing 0.9%.

On the S&P 500, all sectors but energy finished the day in the red. As our energy expert JR Crooks pointed out earlier this week, energy stocks still have yet to catch up with crude’s recent move lower. Speaking of which …

• Crude oil closed below $40 in front of tomorrow’s weekly inventory and production report from the Energy Information Administration. The September contract settled at $39.51 per barrel. • Meanwhile gold traded to its highest level in two years. Weakness in the U.S. dollar, an interest rate cut in Australia, a rate cut expected to come on Thursday from the Bank of England, and Japan’s approval of $73 billion in new spending helped to drive the safe-haven metal higher. • Amazon (AMZN) saw its market cap rise above ExxonMobil’s (XOM). This makes the online retailer the fourth-biggest company by market cap at more than $360 billion. The top three companies in terms of size are Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOGL). • A U.S. ‘Car Recession.’ Last Thursday, Ford (F) reported its fifth-straight monthly decline in car sales. Shares have skidded 14% lower during the past four days. The end of the "car boom" may very well be nigh, as General Motors (GM) said its auto sales were down 2% in July. In Tuesday’s session alone, each stock gave up 4.3%.

Good Luck and Happy Investing,

Brad Hoppmann

Publisher

Uncommon Wisdom Daily