U.S. Taxpayers Could be Bailing out European Banks as Debt Crisis Worsens

As the European debt crisis picks up steam and batters world markets, various reports are surfacing that the US taxpayer is on the hook for billion of dollars in bailout funds via the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The United States provides approximately 20% of IMF funding, which means the taxpayer could pay $8 billion to prop up Greek banks.'

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Millions of Anti-Terror Cash Spent on Luxury London Flats For Police Chiefs

Britain’s most powerful police body, which is run as a private business, has spent millions of pounds meant for counter-terrorism work on luxury London flats for senior officers.

The spending on an undisclosed number of apartments in the Westminster area is understood to be about £1.6million a year.

The money is taken directly from taxpayers’ cash given to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) by the Home Office to tackle the terrorist threat across Britain.

The funding – £33million last year – is supposed to be used to beef up regional police forces’ anti-terrorism response and pay for crucial equipment and facilities.

Instead, ACPO’s Terrorism & Allied Matters (TAM) committee, headed by Assistant Commissioner John Yates, has used millions of pounds from the budget to pay for flats.'

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All Aboard the MPs' Gravy Planes: Taxpayers' Millions Spent on Exotic Trips That Never Need to be Declared

Grinning and exuberant, he looks like any holidaymaker as he tucks money into a dancing girl’s costume.
It might not be everyone’s idea of fun. But after a day of whale watching and Fijian beaches, anyone might find themselves caught up in the moment. Lord Lea certainly did.
Last month, he was one of two peers who, along with six MPs, spent a couple of weeks visiting Tonga, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Fiji.

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Stamp Duty, Watches, Breakfast in Cannes: How Council Chiefs Spend Your Money

First it was MPs, then BBC executives - and now the sometimes comic, sometimes extravagant expenses of council chief executives have been revealed.

A Mail on Sunday investigation based on Freedom Of Information Act requests has laid bare the claims of more than 100 chief executives over the past four years.

The results reveal claims on council taxpayers of some £622,058.57. Apart from lavish meals, luxury hotel stays and millions of miles of petrol claims, the executives have been reimbursed for such delights as noodles, a sports watch, membership of a club 140 miles away and stamp duty.

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Australian Government Spends $17 million To Get Farm Animals To Fart less!

In its ongoing quest to reduce the emissions of gases blamed for climate change – and placate grumbling green activists – the Australian government has earmarked $17 million for research into how to prevent the country’s 120 million farm animals from emitting so much methane.

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Come on Steevin get into action!

Unlimited Bailout For UK Banking Scam

The Treasury has formally announced a scheme to allow banks to exchange cash or shares for a Government guarantee on their "toxic" debts, transferring any losses they suffer from the banks to the taxpayer.

However, the Chancellor admitted he can't estimate how much taxpayers' money will needed in the latest bailout.

"We're doing it, because if the banking system collapsed, every single one of us, the economy would come down with it. I don't think anyone would argue you ought to let that happen," he said.

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Taxpayers Face Years of Debt in Bank Salvage Deal

Taxpayers are poised to take on the "toxic" debts of High Street lenders in a new bank rescue deal that could cost the Treasury billions of pounds.

Under the "pay as you go" plan, details of which were still being hammered out on Saturday, the Government will create a new insurance scheme that would see liabilities of up to £200 billion potentially kept on the public books for years.

Taxpayers would not face an immediate upfront cost but could be hit with payments in future if banks' assets fell below a certain level.

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Hello? Any Brain cells left out there?? Wake up and say NO!

Waste Watch

A council spent £25,500 on lunches for just 85 staff members taking part in a course on leadership skills.

Croydon Council paid a total of £306,000 for the workers to take part in the nine-day in-house training scheme. Of that sum, the budget for staff lunches was £300 a head – equivalent to £33.33 for each of the nine lunches. By comparison, a three-course fixed-price lunch at The Grill restaurant at London's Dorchester hotel costs £27.50.

The council would not say what food and drink was served, but Pam Parkes, divisional director of human resources, said: "I don't think it is expensive. Most people expect when they go on a course to have a tea or coffee. Tea is not cheap, we do not grow tea, we have to buy it. It does cost someone to make the lunches."

She added: "We strongly believe this is a cost-effective investment that will pay off in terms of expertise and savings in the medium to long term."

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Common Purpose course?