On February 25th the Heritage Foundation released a 12 page report entitled “Federal Spending by the Numbers 2008.” The report includes overall budget and spending trends, discretionary and entitlement spending along with “pork” projects (also known as “earmarks”). In explaining “earmarks” (on page 10) researcher Brian Riedl states that “earmarking is a corrupting process. It effectively gives individual lawmakers their own pot of tax dollars to distribute to organizations of their choosing. Consequently, politics and campaign contributions now play a larger role in government grant distributions, at the expense of statutory formulas and competitive application processes. The FBI is investigating whether many lawmakers have made earmark decisions for personal profit.”
Let me cite a half dozen illustrations of the 30 wasteful spending examples as found on page 11.
Someone please tell me this first example is a mistake.
1. The Pentagon recently spent $998,798 shipping two 19-cent washers from South Carolina to Texas and $293,451 sending an 89-cent washer from South Carolina to Florida. This must be a typo. If not every one connected to those decisions should be fired.
2. The National Institute of Health spends $1.3 million per month to rent a lab that it cannot use
3. The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were refundable
4. Congress recently spent $2.4 billion on 10 new jets that the Pentagon insists it does not need and will not use
5. Fraud related to Hurricane Katrina spending is estimated to top $2 billion. In addition, debit cards provided to hurricane victims were used to pay for Caribbean vacations, NFL tickets, Dom Perignon champagne, “Girls Gone Wild” videos, and at least one sex change operation.
6. Audits showed $34 billion worth of Department of Homeland Security contracts contained significant waste, fraud and abuse.
To see or obtain a copy of the report simply go to the following link.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/upload/FederalSpendingByTheNumbers2008.pdf
Maybe it’s time to enact Term Limits for the members of Congress who scratch each others backs especially as it relates to the approval of pork projects.
PS: In 2008, the federal government will spend $25,117 per household, collect taxes of $21,604 per household, and run a budget deficit of $3,513 per household. Page 3.
Any questions?
It’s hard to imagine how the Democrats could waste more money than the Republicans – time to throw out the rascals.
#1
I’m sorry. Which party holds the majority in both houses? This seems more like bi-party theft rather than one party or the other. It should be interesting to see how each of our “3” presidential hopefulls voted on each of these expenditures.
anon 3:39 and 4:04
Let me suggest that you either read or printout the 12 page Heritage Foundation report.
There is so much more data that I simply could not include.
Both parties share the blame for the out of control expenditures and failure to provide oversight.
Is this a real publication? 12 whole pages? Must be a durn smart Republican! And I thought you prided yrselves on yr Anti- intellectualism!
Item #1 is indeed true. It’s easy to rip off the govt. when your dealing with military contracts, there is very little oversight and the money is flowing. Did they also list the BILLIONS that Halliburton absconded with [ before they moved to Dubai and out of the reach of congress].
anon 6:54 pm
Rather than give you a glib response let me walk you to the Heritage Foundation from their web site http://www.heritage.org
As you obviously have access to a computer to read this post you could easily have checked them out before embarrasing yourself. Just an observation.
“The Heritage Foundation’s 35th Anniversary:
A History of Achievements
Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institute–a think tank–whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
We communicate our message to our primary audiences: members of Congress, key congressional staff members, policymakers in the executive branch, the news media, and the academic and public policy communities.”
You can’t hold a candle to any of the Heritage Foundation leaders with regard to “intellectualism.”
Have a great weekend.
anon 7 a.m.
Having worked closely on both sides of military contractors, as an employee in procurement and manufacturing, and later a supplier, I can agree with your general comments. One major military program I was involved with was “cost plus” but illustration number one is over the top.