Page 20 - That’s Crazy ebook

That’s Crazy

As I provided the logistical support for those meetings, I started

sitting in those meetings and began to listen and understand how the
government functions and all the money that was available through

these contracts. I would always get a kick out of asking people what
they thought the function of the government was, no one could ever

provide a clear-cut answer. As I sat through the meetings, I began to

understand that the role of the government was to manage money.

Through my layman’s eyes, the government primarily takes our

tax dollars and passes them on to Congress, who then decides how to
spend our money. Once Congress has determined how they want to

spend the money, it is then distributed to the Federal agencies and the
agencies are responsible for dispersing and managing the money.

The money is dispersed in two ways, through contracts and
grants. I look at it as recycled dollars, because those same dollars are

awarded to businesses to provide support for the mission of those
agencies. We were often called “Beltway Bandits.” Many of us travel

around the Washington, DC beltway on these contracts, working for
this company and that company.

I also understood separate portions of those tax dollars go to the

states in the form of block grants. When I realized how the system
worked, I knew I had to position myself to obtain some of those
millions of dollars in contracts and grants.

I began to keep my eyes on the prize by honing my skills as an

event planner. However, I was not prepared for the internal politics

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