Marenco
12-24-2015, 06:54 PM
New Study Shows How the U.S. Government is the “2nd Largest PR Firm in the World”
Open the Books is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization focused on providing transparency in government. I’ve highlighted their work in the past, most recently related to how the EPA wasted $92.5 million of taxpayer money on high-end, luxury furniture over the past decade. Their latest report is even more disturbing.
It relates to the amount of money the U.S. government spends on PR, which in total amounts to nearly $4.5 billion over the past eight years. Open the Books split this spending up into two main categories. The first is $2.347 billion in salary and bonus payments to federal employees, and the other is $2.02 billion spent on outside contractors.
The organization released a 40 page report with their findings, which can be read in full here.
If you’re pressed for time, I’ve provided some highlights below.
Enjoy...
At OpenTheBooks.com we’re constantly pushing agencies at all levels of government – state, local and federal – to disclose their spending. Our motivation is clear, simple and straightforward. Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent.
Federal agencies, however, not only resist transparency but often pretend to be transparent when, in reality, they are engaged in self-promotion. Too often, they use their charge to disclose information as a cover for public relations campaigns that are designed to advance their interests (i.e. their desire for more funding and higher salaries) rather than the public interest.
After $4.5 billion in federal public relations spending over the past eight years, have we reached a point where the people’s consent is being manufactured by our government?
Today, government public relations are thriving at the federal, state and level levels. In fact, using public data released by the 2006 “Google Your Government Act” (Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act), for this report, we quantified $4.37 billion in federal government public relations (PR) expenditures since 2007.
Federal PR spending is comprised of $2.347 billion in salary and bonus payments to federal employees with the job title of “Public Affairs Officers,” plus, $2.02 billion spent on outside contractors for additional services (FY2007-FY2014).
For more: http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/12/17/new-study-shows-how-the-u-s-government-is-the-2nd-largest-pr-firm-in-the-world/
Open the Books is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization focused on providing transparency in government. I’ve highlighted their work in the past, most recently related to how the EPA wasted $92.5 million of taxpayer money on high-end, luxury furniture over the past decade. Their latest report is even more disturbing.
It relates to the amount of money the U.S. government spends on PR, which in total amounts to nearly $4.5 billion over the past eight years. Open the Books split this spending up into two main categories. The first is $2.347 billion in salary and bonus payments to federal employees, and the other is $2.02 billion spent on outside contractors.
The organization released a 40 page report with their findings, which can be read in full here.
If you’re pressed for time, I’ve provided some highlights below.
Enjoy...
At OpenTheBooks.com we’re constantly pushing agencies at all levels of government – state, local and federal – to disclose their spending. Our motivation is clear, simple and straightforward. Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent.
Federal agencies, however, not only resist transparency but often pretend to be transparent when, in reality, they are engaged in self-promotion. Too often, they use their charge to disclose information as a cover for public relations campaigns that are designed to advance their interests (i.e. their desire for more funding and higher salaries) rather than the public interest.
After $4.5 billion in federal public relations spending over the past eight years, have we reached a point where the people’s consent is being manufactured by our government?
Today, government public relations are thriving at the federal, state and level levels. In fact, using public data released by the 2006 “Google Your Government Act” (Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act), for this report, we quantified $4.37 billion in federal government public relations (PR) expenditures since 2007.
Federal PR spending is comprised of $2.347 billion in salary and bonus payments to federal employees with the job title of “Public Affairs Officers,” plus, $2.02 billion spent on outside contractors for additional services (FY2007-FY2014).
For more: http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/12/17/new-study-shows-how-the-u-s-government-is-the-2nd-largest-pr-firm-in-the-world/