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Yesterday I called attention to ubiquitous pressure on the public purse.  Today I add this note.  Rita Crundwell served for over twenty years as comptroller of the small city of Dixon, Illinois (population 15,700).  She has plead guilty to stealing more than $53 million over the course of her career.  $53 million.  $2,650,000 average in each of 20 years.  As a taxpayer, I ask "How can the loss of such an enormous sum not be noticed?"  Politicians all promise to fight fraud, waste and abuse.  They count on such a campaign as a source of funds to spend elsewhere.  But somehow, it doesn't happen.  Ms. Crundwell may stand out as a particularly aggressive fraud, but she is just the tip of the iceberg.