Who knew the US government accepted loan repayments in peanuts? And what happens to the $74 million dollars worth of peanuts that come in? They could pay politicians with it…
Other waste identified by Senator Flake in Wastebook: PORKémon Go, includes a study that found girls are more likely to play with Barbie dolls than boys are. Nearly $2m was spent on holograms of dead comedians. The IRS, not so surprisingly, says the IRS doesn’t waste tax dollars. Flake points out they spend $12m on an email archiving service in 2014 that they never even installed.
If the US government spent $12 million on using the sun to model the climate instead, it would be about 0.1% of what they’ve spent on models driven by CO2 which still don’t work after 20 years of tweaking.
Public relations and advertising amounted to a total of $1.4 billion. US national Debt is nearly $20 trillion.
Press Release
Among the 50 examples of egregious federal spending uncovered in Flake’s 2017 report are a program that accepts peanuts for loan repayments, a computer that binge-watches Desperate Housewives, and a study into what happens when you put a fish on a treadmill.
Highlights from Flake’s 2017 edition of Wastebook include (click links to view related footage and other content):
- $1.7 million for a comedy club starring holograms of dead comedians
- $74 million for a program that allows taxpayer-backed loans to be repaid with peanuts
- $1.5 million to test the endurance of a fish on a treadmill
- $5 million to study the partying habits of fraternities and sororities
- $460,000 for a computer to binge-watch “Desperate Housewives” and “The Office” in order to learn human behavior
- $3.5 million to learn why people are afraid of going to the dentist
- $817,000 to study monkey drool
- $3.4 million for hamster cage fight matches
- $300,000 to study if girls or boys spend more time playing with Barbie dolls
- $450,000 to determine if dinosaurs could sing
- $12 million for an IRS unused e-mail archiving service
Read the National Enquirer or download the PDF. Weep. Be glad someone is tracking this.
h/t Willie S