Today, when MOST people are skimping for their next meal, are you glad your gov does this?

Feds Go Spend-Crazy at Year's End

Due to wasteful spending regulations, federal agencies are not permitted to carry over surplus funds from one fiscal year to the next.

So as the year's end approaches, the agencies go on a wild spending spree to use up any unspent funds before they are forfeited to the Treasury.

"Agencies are encouraged to spend every last dime in their budgets to justify their current funding levels, in an attempt to avoid becoming a target for future spending cuts in Congress," said Diana Furchtgott-Roth, former chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor and current director of Economics21 at the Manhattan Institute.

As the Sept. 30 end of the 2013-2014 fiscal year approached, the IRS suddenly found the need to spend $2.41 million on "toner products."

The Department of Homeland Security felt compelled to pay $251,016 for "Aeron Mesh Task Chairs," and $15,198 for two pianos.

The U.S. embassy in New Delhi, India, spent $20,362 on alcoholic beverages, bringing the outlay for booze by the State Department to nearly $100,000 in September. The department also spent nearly $25,000 for 50-inch LED HD televisions for the embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The Department of Veterans Affairs spent more than $1.8 million on artwork.

Last year, Veterans Affairs allocated $562,000 for artwork as the end of the fiscal year approached in September, the Fiscal Times reported.

And there is a lot more I could not fit here!!