Kevin Drum patiently explains to the folks at Townhall and NRO that holding a three day convention in a central location for $1071 a person is far from a boondoogle.
That’s unbelievable. SSA must have some world class penny-pinching accountants and event planners on their staff. I doubt there’s a corporation in America that would even try to budget less than two grand a head for something like this.
Considering that said figure includes transportation, meals, entertainment, and whatnot, it is indeed quite the bargain.
One wonders, however, whether the taxpayer got $750,000 worth of value added out of the convention. What sort of “organizational training” do Social Security Administration managers need that involves dancing, skits, and casino gambling?
This isn’t an anti-government rant, per se. This sort of thing happens in the private sector all the time and, as already noted, at higher cost. I’m just generally dubious of retreats, conventions, and the like as productive enterprises.
Photo by Flickr user platinum under Creative Commons license.
