Tom Coburn, MD, a senator from Oklahoma, complied a report called "Wastebook" about government spending and waste."As 2010 ends, millions of Americans are still struggling to find work. Even those lucky enough to have jobs have had to tighten their belts. Yet, Congress continues to find new and extravagant ways to waste tax dollars. Our national debt is the greatest threat to our national security according to our own military leaders. I hope this report will give taxpayers and concerned citizens the information they need to hold Washington accountable. As dysfunctional as our politics can seem, our system still works when ordinary citizens get informed and engaged," Dr. Coburn said.
Here is some of the wasteful spending he identified from 2010.
~taxpayers shelled out $615,000 so the University of California at Santa Cruz could digitize Grateful Dead photographs, tickets, backstage passes, fliers, shirts and other memorabilia~ $175 million a year so the Department of Veterans Affairs can maintain buildings it doesn’t use, including a pink, octagonal monkey house in Dayton, Ohio
~$1 million to zoos to post bits of poetry to plaques on zoo premises
~The National Science Foundation provided more than to $200,000 to study of why political candidates make vague statements
~The National Science Foundation directed nearly a quarter million dollars to a Stanford University professor's study of how Americans use the Internet to find love
~The city of Las Vegas has received a $5.2 million federal grant to build the Neon Boneyard Park and Museum, including $1.8 million in 2010. For over the last decade, Museum supporters have gathered and displayed over 150 old Las Vegas neon signs, such as the Golden Nugget and Silver Slipper casinos
~Medicare paid out over $35 million to a vast network of 118 "phantom" medical clinics, allegedly established by members of a criminal gang to submit phony reimbursement claims
~The Internal Revenue Service paid out $112 million in undeserved tax refunds to prisoners who filed fraudulent returns, according to the Treasury Department's Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA)
~The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent nearly $442,340 million to study the number of male prostitutes in Vietnam and their social setting
Your thoughts?
If you would like to email or send a letter to Dr. Coburn for Government in Action, you may do so. http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactsenatorcoburn?p=ContactForm
This is so dumb i'm more than sick of hearing about how much we are in debt and how we will never get out of it. Okay then why does our country just keep spending money like its going out of style? I don't understand why the government things it okay to just start up all these new heath care forms and other stupid little things like that to try and help out us the people but its not working. The only thing that they are doing is wasting more and more money.
ReplyDeleteI think this is so dumb they complain about us being in debt.. And their the one that is wasting our money when people could have jobs... Dumb high class people think their doing the right thing.. ha ha ha............
ReplyDeletei think that the government can find better things to spend their money on then all these little stupid things that don't really help and just rack up are debt in the world.
ReplyDeleteThat is just crazy the amount of money they are spending on stuff that we could really do without. Like the museum in Las Vegas, no one needs to see old signs that aren't used anymore.
ReplyDeletenut cases they should watch where the are putting money. maby they should stick to what has worked instead of puting it into worthless places
ReplyDeleteI think the government needs to stop spending money on these insignificant things. They could easily balance the budget if they stopped funding all these things.
ReplyDeleteI think that they need to sit down and get rid of health care reform, in the long run its costing us more money. And another thing they need to stop is spending on stupid projects.
ReplyDeleteI think if the government wants to get out of debt, they maybe should consider NOT giving valuable money to USELESS crap. It's beyond annoying to continuously hear about oh no we are going to reach the limit, how are we going to fix this.. Quit giving away money to studies that dont matter and museums that everyone could care less about....
ReplyDeleteI think its ridiculous what the government spends money on! They need to get out of debt, but yet they spend money on stupid stuff! Hopefully someday the government will learn to balance the budget a little better!
ReplyDeleteI think its dumb how much talk about debt there is. It's always the same, how we're in debt and are never going to get out. I think we should find a way to stop adding so much to the debt since it goes up every second every day.
ReplyDeleteIt's ridiculous what our government spends money on. As if we need to study male prostitutes in vietnam. I agree with Megan that we shouldn't be giving money to useless studies.Our government needs to cut out all the little useless things they spend money on and start paying off the debt!
ReplyDeletewell i think everything is stupid i shouldn't even comment on this !
ReplyDeleteOur government needs to completely stop spending money. Cut the jobs that aren't useful, stop wasting away money on foolish things like the ones listed above. Then maybe we can come out of debt even just a little bit!
ReplyDeleteI agree completely that the government needs to stop foolish spending! I think that we need to work on bringing our country out of debt because someday the huge debt is going to have a big impact on our country!
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy they always talk about our national debt and how we will never get out of debt. Yet we spend so much money on useless stuff when we can be repaying our debt.
ReplyDeletethis is dumb. the government needs to quit this ridiculous spending on nonsense. we have a 6.2 billion deficite.!! thats what we should be concerned about
ReplyDeleteRidiculous. Government needs to quit complaining about how far in debt we are and just do something about it. Instead of using the money for useless stuff. They need to realize what they're actually doing and how unimportant it is.
ReplyDeleteTHe government needs to look at what they are spending money on before they spend it, like really you would have to be pretty stupid to give all the money away that they do in the fashions shown above.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the government needs to stop spending their money and use it for something that is actually needed. They should really try using the money for something useful and not using half our governments money on something that is useless
ReplyDeletethis is really dumb, we could be using that money for useful things but instead we are using it on really dumb stuff
ReplyDeleteI think it is crazy that the government is so useless with our money. They make such a big deal about how our country is in so much debt but they go out and spend the money on stuff that we can easily do without. I think we could get out of our debt if we stop being so careless with our money overtime.
ReplyDeleteNone of the above have anything to do with health care reform.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not the government's money~ it's YOUR money. :) If you don't like it, write a letter.
If they really want to get out of debt then what they cut should not be what we need. Like jobs, health care, education. Them are things that we all need to have a good life and if they cut them. We will not have anything. It will all be gone. They need to cut funding for the stuff we don't need and the things that are bad for anyone like smoking and drinking. They could get more money if they raised the taxes on them.
ReplyDelete