Not by a long shot!!!!
Hey, we got wars to pay for dammit!
You know, they can't process them for you, Amurka, but they can gouge you for it!!!
What a fucking SHIT GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!!
"Senators say US is gouging on cost for passports; $30 portion paid to the post office is called excessive" by Larry Margasak/Associated Press November 3, 2007
WASHINGTON - The US government has overcharged Americans by more than $100 million a year in its fee for new passports, according to cost figures uncovered by congressional investigators and analyzed by two senators and the Associated Press.
The two senators said Americans have been quietly gouged since 2002. The report they initiated showed the costs incurred by the State Department and the US Postal Service, for accepting passport applications, were considerably less than the fee charged.
The $97 adult fee for new passports is set by the State Department, which denied yesterday that it overcharges anyone.
Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman:
"We are not trying to gouge the American public. We always want to make sure we're providing a good and high-quality service for the American people. We are comfortable [the $30 fee] represents our actual costs."
They never stop lying, do they?
The costs surfaced only months after thousands of Americans fell victim to passport processing delays, finding their vacations, weddings, honeymoons, and business trips ruined - and their nonrefundable deposits gone.
So FUCK YOU, Amurka -- from the government that LUVS YOU!!!!
The senators demanded a State Department accounting of where the passport profits have gone, at a time when more Americans than ever are required to have the travel documents as an antiterrorism measure.
Well, I think we all know where the $$$$ has gone: I-R-A-Q!
The revelation of the costs has angered some of the people who had passport problems this year, as well as at least one major travelers' group.
Linda Kocher, of Wahpeton, N.D., who ended up paying twice for three passports after the initial passports she ordered failed to arrive on time for a family vacation:
"It's outrageous. You always trust the Post Office. You think they're not trying to make any money off me. That's baloney."
Most Americans apply for their passports at post offices. For handling the applications, the Postal Service gets to keep part of the fee and - according to the GAO figures - make a handsome profit.
Un-flippin'-believable!!
David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association:
"It's the combination of excessive fees plus the long wait that's most galling to passengers. It's just another way the federal government has ill-served passengers. Airline passengers are taxed and feed more than any other group. To see that we're being gouged on top of that is most irritating."
So when is SOMEONE going to DO SOMETHING about all this?
