One of the problems with the establishment in Washington, D.C., is that they do not treat the taxpayers’ money as if it were their own. Actually, the problem is not limited to Washington–how many politicians offices have spend thousands of dollars simply on drapery? Just as an example, in November 2013, The Boston Globe reported that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who spent $27,000 on new drapes and furniture for his office early in his first term, has authorized a $9 million project to dramatically upgrade the office before he leaves in 2014. The Biden White House has made a recent purchase that illustrates the problem of not shopping carefully.

On March 11, The Washington Free Beacon reported the following:

The Office of Management and Budget spent $2,735 in October for the order and delivery of the 12′ by 9′ rug, the government documents show. The custom Bora Bora rug in the chosen color of “Starfish” was sold to the agency for $1,972, with additional costs attributed to freight, delivery, and padding.

A Washington Free Beacon investigation found that the White House budget office likely got ripped off, and could have purchased an identical rug for far less than what it paid. The Bora Bora rug is manufactured by Fabrica and cut into custom sizes by retailers. New York-based carpet retailer Kanter’s Carpet & Design Center told the Free Beacon it charges just $1,600 to custom-build a 12′ by 9′ Bora Bora rug, a price the company said includes binding, pads, and local delivery.

That may seem like a small thing, but it illustrates how careless the government and its minions are with taxpayers’ money. That’s $1100 that could have been used toward the deficit. It would only be a drop in the bucket, but how many other ‘drops in the bucket’ are out there?

At a time when Americans are being severely hurt by inflation, it would be nice if the White House would curtail its spending a little.