Government Spares No Expense....

[PoliticalChic]

Critics: $2.3M Detroit library project a symbol of waste amid budget crisis
Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News
Detroit —Detroit Public Library officials say finances have grown so bad they could close most neighborhood branches, but in a few weeks plan to unveil a revamped wing of a main library that even administrators say spares few expenses.

The South Wing is stocked with 20 yellow and orange European lounge chairs that cost $1,092 apiece, artistic pendant light fixtures and two alcohol-burning fireplaces. The project morphed from a $300,000 furniture update to a $2.3 million overhaul with new floors, study rooms, lighting and built-in, wood-framed book shelves.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110422/METRO/104220381/Critics--$2.3M-Detroit-library-project-a-symbol-of-waste-amid-budget-crisis#ixzz1KHHfoVU3

Kind of makes one think of the ways the current administration used the 'stimulus' funds:

1. The federal building in Cleveland is getting an aluminum and glass wrap, at a cost of $121 million. The fix is projected to save $700,000 in heating and cooling costs. Thus, it should pay for itself in the 22nd century. Chicago Tribune, Blair Kamin, “Stimulus Dollars Turn Federal Buildings Green,” 1-31-11.

2. Northwestern University received $713,000 to create “machine-generated humor,” jokes. For real. ARRA Awards Granted to Northwestern University || Office for Research | Northwestern University.

3. A tunnel for turtles to cross Highway 27 near Tallahassee, Florida, for $3.4 million. Whitney Ray, “A Tunnel for Turtles to Cross the Highway,” WJHT

4. Wayne State University in Michigan gets “ $2.6 million in U.S. tax dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job.” U.S. Will Pay $2.6 Million to Train Chinese Prostitutes to Drink Responsibly on the Job | CNSnews.com

5. “Montana's state-run liquor warehouse, to receive $2.2 million in stimulus cash to install skylights. The project is part of the $27.7 million the state has been awarded for energy programs.” GOP Senator Slams 100 Stimulus Projects - CBS News

6. “The Oklahoma Department of Transportation spent nearly $90,000 to make sidewalks ADA compliant in the small Muskogee County town of Boynton….some of the sidewalks lead to nowhere,… Coburn also pointed out that the Boynton-Moton Public School is strapped for cash. The district is having trouble paying the $9,300 gas and electric bills.” New Boynton Sidewalk Makes List of Top Wasteful Stimulus Projects - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |

7. “The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $219,000 stimulus grant for psychology professor Michael Carey to study the "hookups" of 500 freshmen women….sexual encounters between adolescent partners who have no expectation of romantic commitment. But there is little scientific investigation of it. The research will measure the prevalence of hookups in the first year of college and explore the mental and physical health consequences of it.” News - Stimulus funding for Syracuse University sex study questioned

8. “The report, Summertime Blues, has one example of Obama Stimulus money being used to study the effects of how “monkeys react under the influence of cocaine.” Obama Stimulus Money to Study Monkey Cocaine Use | RedState

9. “…a project to study American voter’s perceptions of the Stimulus... ‘Understanding Perceptions of the Economic Stimulus (Dallas, TX & Houston, TX) - $193,956…”Obama Stimulus Money to Study Stimulus | RedState

 

[Wiseacre]

I see this stuff and wonder how the Dems can justify their demands for higher taxes. Couldn't they spend it on technical colleges and institutes that help people get retrained into a job? You know, stuff where we get a lasting benefit?

 

[xsited1]

A friend of mine sent this article to me this morning. I want me an $1,100 European lounge chair, dammit! GIMME, GIMME, GIMME!

 

[william the wie]

I'm not trying to excuse this crap but a certain amount of dumbass stunts will be funded in a multi-Trillion dollar budget. What is irritating in the extreme are the continuing boondoggles that last decades:

In the vast majority of cases a household's residence wastes more energy than all of their vehicles combined. How often have you heard that in commercials, PSAs and the like for going green?

A decent sized chunk of the Defense budget goes to manning and maintaining bases with no mission to speak of, most famously an obsolete missile base in northern Italy.

This list could go on but this is all stuff that is reasonably famous and has been for decades.

 

[PoliticalChic]

I'm not trying to excuse this crap but a certain amount of dumbass stunts will be funded in a multi-Trillion dollar budget. What is irritating in the extreme are the continuing boondoggles that last decades:

In the vast majority of cases a household's residence wastes more energy than all of their vehicles combined. How often have you heard that in commercials, PSAs and the like for going green?

A decent sized chunk of the Defense budget goes to manning and maintaining bases with no mission to speak of, most famously an obsolete missile base in northern Italy.

This list could go on but this is all stuff that is reasonably famous and has been for decades.

As you correctly point out, the biggies are related to defense, so to speak.

1. H.W. Brands writing in “American Colossus: The Triumph of American Capitalism, 1865-1900.” makes an interesting point: “Brands’ First Law of History: Sooner of later, every nation gets the foreign policy that it can afford.” Early in our history, wars were smaller, somewhat ‘frontier wars:’ the Revolution, 1812, the Mexican War…the Civil War may be considered an exception. Even the Spanish-American began as a Caribbean skirmish, and expanded into across the Pacific.

2. The by-product or our wars, nation-building and occupation, are the greatest costs: the cost of the Iraq war has been estimated at $1 trillion to $3 trillion. The nation-building aspect accounts for about 80 percent of the total. Orszag testimony at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/86xx/doc8690/10-24-CostOfWar_Testimony.pdf

So, Willie, can I assume that you would agree with the following?

3. Doesn't the following seems a good basis for deciding how and when our military will be used?

a. We will not deal with other nations beyond the manner with which they deal with us.

b. We will not prop up corrupt and dangerous governments simply because they have enemies that are also our enemies.

c. We behave in accordance with our values rather than the need for commodities that a nation has.

d. If we must fight, we will fight to win, rather than ‘humanely,’ or in some ‘symmetrical’ manner: minimizing damage is not a consideration of war.

e. We will not rebuild nations that we have been forced to go to war with.(Above idea from Beck and Balfe, “Broke,” p. 323.)

 

[Trajan]

I can speak to the mind set on some of these the bases; once they leave that is we or whomever is utilizing them, the native gov. then takes them back cancels the perpetuity lease, if we ever need them again we'll likely never get them back. In their minds is better to squat and keep them. *shrugs*

 

[william the wie]

I can speak to the mind set on some of these the bases; once they leave that is we or whomever is utilizing them, the native gov. then takes them back cancels the perpetuity lease, if we ever need them again we'll likely never get them back. In their minds is better to squat and keep them. *shrugs*

Trajan there are enough unused islands in US possession that forward basing on foreign soil is stupid.

 

[Annie]

I've got to admit, I've always lived in towns that had excellent libraries and I've always taken advantage of them.

With that said, not one of them overspends on chairs, desks, art work. In fact, the WPL that is my current home, had to cut back on hours due to tax revenue collections. Now that collections are rising slowly, they are asking the patrons if they wish for return to expanded hours or more expenditures on new materials. That's local government.