SOMEBODY THROW THESE BOOK-COOKING CROOKS IN JAIL:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Concealing debt and operating costs. Flouting court orders by shredding documents. Failing to properly track assets and liabilities.

These misdeeds have blackened corporate America’s eye and prompted criminal investigations and the wrath of Congress and President Bush.

Yet these same accounting failures and sleights of hand have for years been common practice in the federal government, fiscal experts say. . . .

The financial statements of many federal agencies are in such dismal shape that the General Accounting Office (GAO) — the investigative arm of Congress that audits federal accounts — has been unable to provide an opinion on the government’s finances for the past five years.

You knew this was coming, didn’t you?

(Via Bill Quick).