At a time when the nation’s national debt load is exceeding $17 TRILLION, when the President and other petty Federal politicians are crying about the minimal cuts incurred by the sequester, when these same politicians call for higher and higher taxes, the “Wastebook” serves as an excellent counter balance to out of control government spending. We do not have an under taxation problem in this country, we have an overspending, wasteful spending problem in this country, as witnessed by the stupid spending expenses we will have reviewed over the four days.
As you read these examples of stupid spending, consider the following concepts:
- How many of these stupid spending priorities help to find employment for the 23 million unemployed or under employed Americans?
- How many of these stupid spending priorities help to feed or shelter the millions of homeless in this country?
- How many of these stupid spending priorities help to treat the millions of drug addicted Americans in this country?
- Given that no Federal taxpayer money was used to repair the Statue of Liberty several decades ago, why should the same type of Federal taxpayer money be used for these insane expenses today?
- How do these stupid expenses address the major issues of our times such as failing public education, illegal immigration, the lack of a strategic national energy plan, skyrocketing health care costs, etc., issues that affect just about every American?
- The Federal government just reduced the long term benefits it pays out to our veterans but continues to pay for such rubbish as what is documented in the “Wastebook.”
The obvious answer is that these programs address none of these issues. Senator Coburn captures the insanity of such spending in his “Wastebook” publication for 2013:
“Times remain tough in America. The number of people working has dropped to the lowest level in decades. More than 23 million of our fellow citizens do not have good jobs, and wages for many others are stagnant and even declining. Families are struggling to do more with less.
But not everyone in America is living on a smaller budget. Washington politicians don’t even bother to give themselves a budget anymore. For the third consecutive year, Congress failed to pass a budget. And, for the fourth straight year, these compulsive spenders charged more than $1 trillion to our national credit card, pushing us to a $16 trillion debt. Some try to rationalize the excessive borrowing and spending as necessary until the economy gets back on track.
But the increased demand for help is precisely why Washington must be more careful how tax dollars are spent to ensure we can care for those who are truly in need. To do this Washington must set priorities, just like every family. The problem is Washington has all the wrong priorities.
Thousands, millions and even billions of dollars in an annual budget in excess of $3.7 trillion may not seem like much to Washington politicians, but these days a dollar can make a big difference for families on fixed budgets. How many of our friends, families and neighbors could be fed with the nearly $1 million the government spent taste testing foods to be served on the planet Mars? How many nutritious school lunches could have been served with the $2 million in financial assistance provided to cupcake specialty shops?
We are not going to review all 100 hundred insane instances of wasteful spending over the next four days for several reasons:
- We may have already reviewed them in prior posts.
- They are similar to ones we are reviewing.
- The explanation of them would take up too much space.
55. The Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys – (CO) $40,810
The federal government is adding to its monstrous debt by funding a miniature museum. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded $40,810 to the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys (DMMDT) to “create a digital inventory of its collection of 2,180 historic, iconic, and artisan toys.”
56. Studying Little Red Crabs Instead of Little Red Men – (NASA) $237,205
Our nation’s space agency cannot fly people to the moon or even the International Space Station, but it is still studying little red creatures. Not Martians, but Christmas Island red crabs.
This year, a researcher at the University of Washington (UW) used part of a $1.1 million space agency grant to help analyze what triggered the sanguine critters to begin their annual migration from “their inland burrows to drop their eggs in the ocean.” In the salty seawater, the eggs develop, and the next generation of red crabs emerges.
57. Federal Government Paying Salaries to Hundreds of Thousands of Tax Cheats – $3.6 billion
In 2011, the IRS found nearly 312,000 federal employees and retirees were delinquent on their federal income taxes, owing a total of $3.5 billion in unpaid federal income taxes. This represented an 11.5 percent increase in the number of federal employees failing to pay their taxes, and a 2.9 percent increase in the total taxes owed the Treasury by these public servants.
The 2011 figures, the most recent year for which data are available, include 107,658 civilian federal employees owing more than $1 billion in unpaid taxes; 141,980 were military and civilian retirees $2.1 billion in delinquent taxes; and 61,928 were current military with $329 million in outstanding taxes.
It is inappropriate for any individual in violation of the law, including tax law, to retain full time employment with the federal government. And yet, nearly every federal agency and office, starting with the White House, Congress, and even the Treasury Department, continue to employ individuals who are failing to pay their taxes.
59. Brewery gets one on the house – (USDA) $450,000
Uncle Sam gave $450,000 this year to Alaskan Brewing Company to help them install a new environmentally friendly boiler. Alaskan Brewing Company, known across the country for its famous Alaskan Amber, is the 12th best-selling craft brewery in the nation.601 The company sold 130,000 barrels of beer in 2011, an 11.2 percent increase from 2010. In 2012, sales continued to climb to 140,000 barrels of beer.
Alaskan Brewing Company will continue to make tasty beer for the masses, with a big profit boost courtesy of the federal government.
61. Extreme Makeover – (NJ) $141,886
Paterson, New Jersey, doesn’t seem like a town that would be wasting money. With more than half its citizens living below the poverty line, it can’t raise enough revenue to support the costs of running the city. Major infusions of cash from outside sources, particularly the state government, keep the city from bankruptcy. “Without it [state aid], our City will sink,” Paterson’s Mayor Jeffery Jones said in November.
So it was a surprise for some Paterson residents to learn the city council decided to spend over $140,000 in federal housing aid to fix up an vacant property that had already received $260,000 in work by the city. Council members who opposed the spending pointed out that the city officials had spent more on the property than the house was actually worth. (The house’s estimated value is $171,000, according to Zillow.com.)
62. If You Build It, Airlines Will Come? – (FAA) $3,125,000
The St. Cloud Regional Airport is Minnesota’s “Airport of Dreams,” receiving over $24 million since 2000 for improvements and to attract commercial airlines. But unlike Kevin Costner’s baseball diamond in a cornfield, the millions of federal investments in the St. Cloud Regional Airport haven’t lured the all-stars of the airline industry.
Despite $3,125,000 in federal aviation grants for its 9,000 square foot terminal and $750,000 in federal stimulus funds for a passenger boarding bridge, there is no daily commercial service at the airport. To date, the only commercial airline carrier flying in and out of St. Cloud is Allegiant Air’s bi-weekly round-trip service to Phoenix.
63. Need Brains! Fighting Zombies with Pluses and Minuses – (NC) $150,000
This year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) paid an interactive media firm to create a “Web-based, action-adventure, narrative-based, role-playing game where the player defends against zombies in an effort to save the human race.
NSF awarded the game designer $150,000 to craft the zombie experience. Even with enough money to buy thousands of textbooks, the grant designer will not be building a full game. Instead, three “mini-games” will be designed and tested with just 80 middle school students.
65. Cash Cows – (USDA) $19.5 million
Researchers from Kansas State University are worried that cattle and bison may shrink in size over the next 50 years due to global warming. Rising temperatures could cause grass to grow more slowly, in turn resulting in smaller cattle and bison that eat the grass.
Never fear. Some of their colleagues at Kansas State are looking into it, funded by a $9.6 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Scientists from Oklahoma State University, the University of Oklahoma, the USDA, and Tarleton State University will join forces with Kansas State in combating climate-induced bovine weight loss.
68. A federally funded “Moosical” – (NEA) $10,000
Funded by a $10,000 federal grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, “Mooseltoe: A New Moosical” will be touring the nation this holiday season. Taxpayer dollars pay for “Mooseltoe” to feature voices from celebrities from Broadway, television, and movies, as well as costumes from the costume designer of Broadway’s “The Lion King.”
In addition to its original songs, parents will appreciate the 16 characters in “Mooseltoe” that are entertaining their children on the taxpayers’ dime, including three snobby penguins, a mobster snowman, and a fat walrus.
69. Nothing says “Indianapolis Urban Waterway System” like Interpretive Dance – (NSF) $2.9 million
An “outdoor museum” featuring dance, poetry and sculpture will soon be able to help residents of Indianapolis learn more about the city’s urban waterways.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) provided Butler University’s Center for Urban Ecology with $2.9 million to create the “City as a Living Laboratory” initiative throughout Indianapolis. Project officials hope to use the money “to create sites along six Indianapolis waterways where arts and science will be used to educate the public about Indianapolis’s water system.”
70. $158,500 Pile of Rubble
New Orleans is a U.S. city full of historical properties worth preserving. But a new federal program intended to be a “national model of how to succeed in preservation” instead used taxpayers’ money to demolish instead of to preserve historical homes in New Orleans.
In an effort to spare 81 historical homes from the wrecking ball, the City of New Orleans in 2010 redirected millions of dollars in federal block grants to hire an experienced contractor to move these homes from the site of two new hospitals. The contractor would then deliver the homes to local non-profits which would renovate these homes, and then sell them to low-income familie.
But this preservation plan fell apart upon implementation, resulting in $158,500 from taxpayers being spent on one home which was ultimately demolished in October 2013.
When the contractor, Builders of Hope, moved the homes, it removed the roofs from the homes to fit under city’s power lines and sawed off the backs of those houses which were determined to be too long for tight street turns. So the non-profits often received homes without roofs, walls, back halves, and nothing to protect the homes from rotting under New Orleans’ notorious heat, humidity, rain, and wind.
71. Government Funding Gets Spicy with Salsa and Bloody Marys – (USDA) $16,792,508
The United States Department of Agriculture awarded over $16 million to 110 businesses to fund the development of new products. The grants were made through the USDA’s “Value-Added Producer Grants” program, which “help[s] agricultural producers increase their income by expanding marketing opportunities, creating new products or developing new uses for existing products.”
Examples of “new products” included salsa and Bloody Mary mix. Fish Hawk Acres, LLC in Rock Cave, West Virginia was awarded $45,000 in taxpayer funds to market their brand salsa and Bloody Mary mix. Justifying the need for more types of salsa and Bloody Mary mix is challenging. Recent reports note Salsa outsells ketchup in the United States.
Glenmary Gardens in Bristol, Virginia received a $213,000 grant “to expand the processing and marketing of locally grown fruits and vegetable into jellies, ice cream and flavored syrups.”693
73. Footing the Bill for a Bestseller – (NSF) $1,750,000
Facing $356 million in sequestration cuts, researchers and scientists at the National Science Foundation (NSF) faced lay-offs and reduced resources for projects. But instead of allocating funds to critical scientific research being, the NSF awarded a $1.75 million grant to create a PBS documentary that promotes the title and topic of a New York Times best-selling book.
“In Defense of Food” will be a two-hour documentary based on the same-titled book by Michael Pollan and will broadcast on PBS in 2014.
74. Education Grant Funds Used to Settle Lawsuit – (FL DOE) $1.25 million
Federal taxpayer money designated to improve children’s schools in Florida were instead spent to settle a lawsuit between the state and a former contractor. The Florida Department of Education is forking over $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit with Infinity Software Development, a company that was contracted by the state to build an education website.
The $1.25 million settlement was paid from the $700 million “Race to the Top” federal grants from the Department of Education the state received to “improve student achievement in the state.” Earlier this year, the state determined that using federal grant funds to settle this lawsuit was an appropriate use of federal taxpayer funds.
Still one more day to go to cover just the top 100 wasteful spending Federal programs of 2013.
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Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
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