For years, a particularly enthusiastic entrepreneur pitched his book that purported to show how Americans could get government cash for free â free except for the cost of his book, anyway. It turns out that getting free cash from Uncle Sam is even easier than he promised. The Commerce Departmentâs Inspector General did an investigation of the Patent and Trademark Office after receiving whistleblower complaints about waste, and discovered that dozens of employees got paid for years of arduous duty ⦠such as watching TV, surfing the Internet, and doing their laundry.The best part?