Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) recently released his annual report: “Wastebook 2012,” which lists the 100 most ridiculous ways the federal government found to throw away “revenues” this year:
“Until Congress has the guts to cut specific programs we will never get our debt under control. As these examples illustrate, it is not nearly as hard to make those choices as many politicians claim. Instead of spending federal dollars to help golfers imagine a smaller hole we should be trying to shrink the hole in our budget.” ~ Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D.
The fiscal cliff is looming, the national debt is well on its way to $17 trillion, individual net worth has dropped over 30% since 2005… and the only solution the D.C. Central Planners can come up with is more taxes, more taxes, mores taxes. Because after all, we can’t possibly do without vitally important expenditures like:
$27 million for Moroccan pottery classes (to improve the economic competitiveness of Morocco)
Moroccans have been making pottery since at least the fifth century B.C., with the earliest urban pottery made after 800 A.D. Perhaps USAID could learn a thing or two about pottery making from Moroccans who have been passing knowledge of the ancient craft from one generation to another for centuries.
$91 million in tax loopholes for professional sports associations – because they’re classified as non-profit organizations
Hardworking taxpayers should not be forced to provide funding to offset tax giveaways to lucrative major professional sports teams and leagues. Based on publicly available information about the NFL and NHL alone, barring major leagues from using the non-profit status may generate at least $91 million of federal revenue every year.
$947,000 to develop menus for a visit to Mars
NASA no longer has a manned spaced fleet and no current mission plans for human space flight to Mars, yet they spend about $1 million annually “researching and building the Mars menu.”
NASA’s quite good at one thing – wasting money ~
$771,000 to maintain an unused, outdated database
Employees found the database to be “outdated, not user friendly, and generally unhelpful.”557 Instead, they opt to use other forms of knowledge-sharing that NASA maintains, including an engineering network, a training academy, seminars, and a magazine.558 The NASA official in charge of the database has acknowledged the agency has no plan for how LLIS will be utilized in the future.
$4.5 billion for junk food – Food Stamp abuse
However, lax controls and mismanagement resulted in billions of dollars being spent not on healthy meals for hungry kids but instead wasted on questionable and, in some cases, illegal expenditures. Approximately $2.5 billion in improper SNAP payments are projected to be made this year, while millions of dollars more will be misspent on silly promotional activities and food with little nutritional value.
And hey, zombies need to eat too ~
The USDA Inspector General found roughly 2,000 dead people are still receiving food stamps in New York and Massachusetts combined. Additionally, its investigation revealed 7,236 people in these states are receiving duplicate benefits, while 286 are on state lists that should exclude them from receiving food stamps.83 84 These unnecessary payments amount to $1.4 million every month.
$300,000 spent by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to promote caviar
Bet you can use food stamps to buy some.
$1.5 billion for free cellphones
Thanks to Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), some Americans are entitled to free or reduced-price cell phone service, and the program is ballooning out of control. What began as an effort in the 1930s to ensure all Americans had access to telecommunications service has morphed into a massive entitlement.
A scam that phone companies get to tap into for subsidies and every other cellphone user gets to help pay for ~
Funding comes through the “universal service charge” tacked on to the phone bills of most Americans.
$322 million for an L.A. courthouse no one wants
The federal government continues to move forward with a plan to construct a 600,000-square-foot federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, despite objections from both Democrat and Republican lawmakers and government watchdogs that the project is unneeded.
$21.6 million to maintain abandoned New Orleans homes seven years after Katrina
City and parish governments were supposed to find buyers in the neighborhoods and through auctions. LLT has almost run out of federal funds, yet it still maintains an inventory of over 3,000 homes.
$2 million overprinting commemorative stamps for “The Simpsons”
Any wonder the Post Office is going broke?
Hey Washington! Here’s a idea:
Before you start demanding more “revenue” from the productive sector, stop funding all this completely counter-productive crappola. It’s not your money!
Related:
2011 Annual D.C. Spendathon
