Wednesday, December 9, 2009

100 Quick and Easy Ways to Waste Your Money

A huge hat tip to my good friend Don Luskin for pointing me to Senator Tom Coburn's compilation of 100 ways in which the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is wasting taxpayers' money. Here is a random sampling of the things that your hard-earned dollars are being spent on:
“Almost Empty” Mall Awarded Energy Grant ($5 million)

Renovations for Federal Building as Expensive as New Building ($133 million)

DTV Advertising Agency Generates Three Jobs ($5.9 million)

Research to Develop Supersonic Corporate Jets ($4.7 Million)

Water Pipeline to a Money-Losing Golf Course ($2.2 million)

Program to Control Home Appliances From a Remote Location ($787,250)

Dinner Cruise Company Gets Terrorism Prevention Money ($943,190)

Broadband Map That May be Obsolete by the Time It’s Complete ($350 million)

Grant to Fund Search for Fossils . . . In Argentina ($1.57 million)

Study on "Hookup" Behavior of Female College Coeds ($219,000)

Money to Airport Authority Cited for Having Problems Managing Federal Money ($9.6 million)

Buffalo Residents Paid to Keep Daily Journal of Malt Liquor and Marijuana Use ($389,357)

California Gets Money to Upgrade Computer System . . . Twice ($60 million)

Obsolete Bridge Converted to Bike Path ($5.6 million)

If you don't refer everyone on your mailing list to Coburn's document listing 100 government boondoggles disguised as economic stimulus, then you are remiss in your civic duties.

Yes, these are the "shovel ready" projects that were absolutely vital in order to keep the economy from falling down a black hole. It's. Simply. Amazing. And downright infuriating!
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4 comments:

  1. W.E. HeasleyDecember 10, 2009 at 2:21 AM

    When Milton Friedman described the four categories of spending, he really was not kidding about the fourth category.

    Friedman’s fourth category of spending, when people spend other people's money on other people, Friedman was arguing that no rational interest exists in the areas of value or quality. Government, according to Friedman, spends money in this fourth category. The spenders ultimately have no vested interest in efficiently allocating funds.

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  2. ColinDecember 10, 2009 at 5:46 AM

    My favorite was the $25,000 for a socially conscious puppet show.

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  3. PaulDecember 10, 2009 at 6:52 AM

    "What do you think a stimulus is?" Obama asked incredulously. "It’s spending — that's the whole point! Seriously.”

    Worked like a charm, eh?

    Did you catch John Stewart's mockery of Obama's "gonna weatherize our way out of the recession" scheme? These kind of attacks do real and lasting damage to The Messiah myth.

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  4. Public LibraryDecember 10, 2009 at 8:27 AM

    This is what our government is and has always been. Was the veil recently lifted from your eyes?

    Even in good times pork goes to funding ridiculous projects not to mention the cronyism in the Defense/Oil industries.

    C'mon folks, socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor. This statement stands the test of time.

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