Wastebook 2011: Your Tax Dollars At Work
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) this week released his annual report on what he considers wasteful government spending. Whether you’re a hardcore fiscal conservative or a big government-loving progressive, common ground should be found in the conclusion that most of the examples Coburn cites can appropriately be considered squandered loot. From the cover letter of his report:
Dear Taxpayer,
Robot dragons, video games, Christmas trees, snow cone machines, and chocolate.
This is not a Christmas wish list. These are just some of the ways the federal government spent your tax dollars this year.
Over the past 12 months, Washington politicians argued, debated and lamented about how to reign in the federal government‘s out of control spending. All the while, Washington was on a shopping binge, spending money we do not have on things we do not need, like the $6.9 billion worth of examples provided in this report. The result: Instead of cutting wasteful spending, nearly $2.5 billion was added each day in 2011 to our national debt, which now exceeds $15 trillion.
A press release from Coburn’s office highlights a few of the spending binges:
• $75,000 to promote awareness about the role Michigan plays in producing Christmas trees & poinsettias.
• $15.3 million for one of the infamous Bridges to Nowhere in Alaska.
• $113,227 for video game preservation center in New York.
• $550,000 for a documentary about how rock music contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
• $48,700 for 2nd annual Hawaii Chocolate Festival, to promote Hawaii’s chocolate industry.
• $350,000 to support an International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy.
• $10 million for a remake of “Sesame Street” for Pakistan.
• $35 million allocated for political party conventions in 2012.
• $765,828 to subsidize “pancakes for yuppies” in the nation’s capital.
• $764,825 to study how college students use mobile devices for social networking.
Even a cursory scan of the full report unearths more hidden gems:
* $120 million in retirement and disability payments for dead federal employees.
* $492,000 to study whether “Tweets” can be trusted.
* $100,000 for a celebrity chef show in Indonesia.
* $339,000 to study “the impact of women on the Icelandic textile industry from the Viking Era to the 19th Century.”
* $17.8 million in foreign aid to … China? Why, yes, of course, China.
* $1 billion in tax credits for energy efficient residential improvements awarded to children, prisoners and others who, um, don’t own homes.
* $175,000 to research connections between cocaine use and risky sex habits of quail.
* $862,000 spent by the IRS on annual rent for the storage of thousands of pieces of unused furniture and equipment.
* $55,000 to study Jordanian student hookah smoking.
* $86,000 for a museum on the history of skiing.
* $2 million to help fund a “multimillion-dollar wine exhibition and culinary center” in the state of Washington.
There are others, of course. Many, many others. All paid for with your tax dollars.
Wonderful.
We need your help! If you like PunditHouse, please consider donating to us. Even $5 a month can make a difference!
Short URL: https://pundithouse.com/?p=8100
