Most Outrageous Ways Government Wasted Tax Dollars In 2010

AquaAthena

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Feb 16, 2010
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* 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.

* The National Science Foundation provided more than to $200,000 to study of why political candidates make vague statements.

* The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) spends $175 million every year to maintain hundreds of buildings it does not use, including a pink, octagonal monkey house in Dayton, Ohio.

* 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 Government Printing Office (GPO) is using a “video game space mouse” (and nearly $60,000 in taxpayer funds) to teach children the history of printing.

* In July, nearly half a million taxpayer dollars went to the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, where wine tasting and castle tours were among the events planned for the conference participants.

* 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 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 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) took the term “cold case” to a new level in 2010. The agency spent over $20,000 in taxpayer money “to unravel the anonymity of a 2,500-year-old mummy.”

* The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent nearly $442,340 million to study the number of male prostitutes in Vietnam and their social setting.

* This year, taxpayers forked over $60,000 for the “first-of-its kind” promotion of the Vidalia onion in conjunction with the movie, Shrek Forever After. ”

* The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded over $600,000 to the Minnesota Zoo to create a wolf “avatar” video game called “WolfQuest.”

* A $700,000 federal grant paid for researchers to examine “greenhouse gas emission from organic dairies, which are cause by cow burps, among other things.”

You can read Wastebook 2010 in its entirety here.



Read more at the Washington Examiner: Coburn report details most outrageous ways government wasted tax dollars in 2010 | Washington Examiner
 
this report shows roughly $1.16 billion. or 1.05% of the federal budget. now im not agreeing that all government money is spent wisely or correctly, but even had they say cut this 1.05% of the budget (based on $1.1 Trillion) we still wouldnt be anywhere near a balanced budget. thats like making $100,000 a year and cutting $1,000 out of your budget.

Repubs are gonna have to tackle social security, medicare, medicaid and defense in order to balance the budget. not one repubs has come out in public yet talking about how to cut or reform them programs in order to bring down spending and the deficit.

do you have any links or posts about that?
 
Just the tip of the iceberg
iceberg-clevenger-small.jpg
 
While this may just be the tip of the iceberg-it's a good place to start cutting ridiculous spending such as the ones the OP points out. It may not do a lot in the grand scheme of things-but it's a start, AND it's spending virtually everyone can agree is useless.
 
this report shows roughly $1.16 billion. or 1.05% of the federal budget. now im not agreeing that all government money is spent wisely or correctly, but even had they say cut this 1.05% of the budget (based on $1.1 Trillion) we still wouldnt be anywhere near a balanced budget. thats like making $100,000 a year and cutting $1,000 out of your budget.

Repubs are gonna have to tackle social security, medicare, medicaid and defense in order to balance the budget. not one repubs has come out in public yet talking about how to cut or reform them programs in order to bring down spending and the deficit.

do you have any links or posts about that?

But that 1000 would pay 1/24th of my annual mortgage payment....nothing to shake a stick at.
Not to mention that the list is partial and just shows rediculous spending...not fraud and overspending on viable projects.
 
still until a repub talks about tackling SS, medicare, medicaid and defense, its all just talking points.
 
still until a repub talks about tackling SS, medicare, medicaid and defense, its all just talking points.

Why is that?

What about starting somewhere and take it from there?

Why must a full solution be developed before we start taking action?

Why is it that a football team can be in a rebuilding mode, but our country must make full changes all at once?

Seems to me that you are the one stuck on a talking point.
 
still until a repub talks about tackling SS, medicare, medicaid and defense, its all just talking points.

Phase our SS and Medicare.... take the axe to Medicaid IMMEDIATELY... and audit defense spending eliminating payments to non-delivering contractors, hold contractors responsible with penalties that include forfeiture of payment etc, reduce civilian red-tape in the military, cut pet projects until the TOTAL of the federal budget and intergovernmental spending is under control....

Good enough for you???

But the thing is the lefties will not hear of it
 
still until a repub talks about tackling SS, medicare, medicaid and defense, its all just talking points.

Why is that?

What about starting somewhere and take it from there?

Why must a full solution be developed before we start taking action?

Why is it that a football team can be in a rebuilding mode, but our country must make full changes all at once?

Seems to me that you are the one stuck on a talking point.

when it comes to the budget though, it is the only talking about.

SS, medicare, medicaid, defense and interest on the debt account for approx 85% of the federal budget. even if you were to cut out the entire other 15% you still dont balance the budget or reduce the deficit.

if you arent willing to make any cuts or reforms in these programs, then it isnt worth talking about.
 
still until a repub talks about tackling SS, medicare, medicaid and defense, its all just talking points.

You are such a bullshitter. A bullshitter extroindiare' you know full well if a Republican even breathed tackling SS medicare and medicaid you morons on the left would immediately go into a full throttle howl about how "fucking cold and cruel" Repbulicans are. DUmbAss.
 
* 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.

* The National Science Foundation provided more than to $200,000 to study of why political candidates make vague statements.

* The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) spends $175 million every year to maintain hundreds of buildings it does not use, including a pink, octagonal monkey house in Dayton, Ohio.
* 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 Government Printing Office (GPO) is using a “video game space mouse” (and nearly $60,000 in taxpayer funds) to teach children the history of printing.

* In July, nearly half a million taxpayer dollars went to the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, where wine tasting and castle tours were among the events planned for the conference participants.

* 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 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 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) took the term “cold case” to a new level in 2010. The agency spent over $20,000 in taxpayer money “to unravel the anonymity of a 2,500-year-old mummy.”

* The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent nearly $442,340 million to study the number of male prostitutes in Vietnam and their social setting.

* This year, taxpayers forked over $60,000 for the “first-of-its kind” promotion of the Vidalia onion in conjunction with the movie, Shrek Forever After. ”

* The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded over $600,000 to the Minnesota Zoo to create a wolf “avatar” video game called “WolfQuest.”

* A $700,000 federal grant paid for researchers to examine “greenhouse gas emission from organic dairies, which are cause by cow burps, among other things.”

You can read Wastebook 2010 in its entirety here.



Read more at the Washington Examiner: Coburn report details most outrageous ways government wasted tax dollars in 2010 | Washington Examiner

Is it up for rent?

How many rooms is it?
Would it be wron for me to keep my kids in the cages?
Deos it glow?
How soon can I move in?
 
still until a repub talks about tackling SS, medicare, medicaid and defense, its all just talking points.

Why is that?

What about starting somewhere and take it from there?

Why must a full solution be developed before we start taking action?

Why is it that a football team can be in a rebuilding mode, but our country must make full changes all at once?

Seems to me that you are the one stuck on a talking point.

when it comes to the budget though, it is the only talking about.

SS, medicare, medicaid, defense and interest on the debt account for approx 85% of the federal budget. even if you were to cut out the entire other 15% you still dont balance the budget or reduce the deficit.

if you arent willing to make any cuts or reforms in these programs, then it isnt worth talking about.

And the best way to balance the budget is to first eliminate excess spending and fraud. Then see what is out of balance and take it from there.

WHen I forecasted a bad year for my company, my wife and I sat down and immediately found things we could eliminate from our weekly spending. We then found the target revenue needed to carry what was left over and we monitored it weekly. Sure enough, we saw that my income was going to be less than the amount required so we sat down again and decided how to handle it.

It really is a process. I suggest you reconsider your stance on this. We need to push our politicians to FIRST find out what we NEED...and the best way to do that is FIRST elimninate the unecessary spending.

Sorry, I see your as a typical left talking point.
 
still until a repub talks about tackling SS, medicare, medicaid and defense, its all just talking points.

Phase our SS and Medicare.... take the axe to Medicaid IMMEDIATELY... and audit defense spending eliminating payments to non-delivering contractors, hold contractors responsible with penalties that include forfeiture of payment etc, reduce civilian red-tape in the military, cut pet projects until the TOTAL of the federal budget and intergovernmental spending is under control....

Good enough for you???

But the thing is the lefties will not hear of it

actually neither the left or the right wants to make any cuts to those programs because so much of their base relys upon it.

if you cut SS you affect just about 40 million americans who receive benefits, if even just half of those people rely on it, you effectively just put 20 millions americans on the street.

96 million americans use medicare or medicaid of their primary form of health insurance. if you cut that program out, you will put to much strain on the already strained health care system, it could possibly collapse.

now you can see why its a tough problem to tackle
 
still until a repub talks about tackling SS, medicare, medicaid and defense, its all just talking points.
What are the Democrat positions concerning "tackling SS, medicare, medicaid, and defense"? They still control the Senate right?

all spending bill start in the house.

and it was the republicans who campaigned on the idea of cutting spending and cutting the deficit. not the democrats
 
still until a repub talks about tackling SS, medicare, medicaid and defense, its all just talking points.

Phase our SS and Medicare.... take the axe to Medicaid IMMEDIATELY... and audit defense spending eliminating payments to non-delivering contractors, hold contractors responsible with penalties that include forfeiture of payment etc, reduce civilian red-tape in the military, cut pet projects until the TOTAL of the federal budget and intergovernmental spending is under control....

Good enough for you???

But the thing is the lefties will not hear of it

actually neither the left or the right wants to make any cuts to those programs because so much of their base relys upon it.

if you cut SS you affect just about 40 million americans who receive benefits, if even just half of those people rely on it, you effectively just put 20 millions americans on the street.

96 million americans use medicare or medicaid of their primary form of health insurance. if you cut that program out, you will put to much strain on the already strained health care system, it could possibly collapse.

now you can see why its a tough problem to tackle

No one said it is easy and no one said there is a solution.

But one thing for sure...if we eliminate waste and fraud, we will be one step closer.

But it seems that your argument is since there is no big solution, we may as well ignore the little thiungs as well.

To me? That is foolish.
 
still until a repub talks about tackling SS, medicare, medicaid and defense, its all just talking points.

Phase our SS and Medicare.... take the axe to Medicaid IMMEDIATELY... and audit defense spending eliminating payments to non-delivering contractors, hold contractors responsible with penalties that include forfeiture of payment etc, reduce civilian red-tape in the military, cut pet projects until the TOTAL of the federal budget and intergovernmental spending is under control....

Good enough for you???

But the thing is the lefties will not hear of it

actually neither the left or the right wants to make any cuts to those programs because so much of their base relys upon it.

if you cut SS you affect just about 40 million americans who receive benefits, if even just half of those people rely on it, you effectively just put 20 millions americans on the street.

96 million americans use medicare or medicaid of their primary form of health insurance. if you cut that program out, you will put to much strain on the already strained health care system, it could possibly collapse.

now you can see why its a tough problem to tackle

No.. it is not a tough problem to tackle.. unless you are someone who wants a 'feel good' 'touchy feely' government that thinks it exists to take care of individual needs, wants, and responsibilities of citizens

Taking money out of the federal red tape machine would have more monies in the hands of earning citizens.. monies that can be spent or even given to charities that help the needy more efficiently

Much of our citizenry and our government MUST get out of this mantra that the government exists to mommy the old, sick, lame, and lazy
 

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