Pork Report October 29,2009: National Science Foundation Edition
by The Pork ReportNational Science Foundation studies gossip and workplace politics in elementary school
$1.47 million grant from the National Science Foundation will fund a 3-D virtual recreation of the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair
National Science Foundation funds self-help for Members of Congress
$1.57 million stimulus grant to search for fossils… in Argentina
Thirty companies ranked among the most egregious offenders of state and federal laws awarded more than $1.2 billion in federal stimulus contracts
Taxpayers paid $24,000 per car under federal Cash for Clunkers program
Group accuses Senate committee staff of unfairly applying earmark procedures by refusing to sponsor a project in the home state of the committee’s chairman while directing federal dollars to an institute in another state for his political friends
Homeland Security Department awarding many research projects without competition or peer review
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364 Comments
The National Science Foundation is the biggest waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen.
As far as the Cash For Clunkers program. Anyone that thought the program would only cost the amount given for each "clunker" is a fool. Of course that $4,000 average rebate will cost $24,000. You can't get a much better example here of the wasteful cost of running government. A $4,000 rebate costs $20,000 to provide. Even the mathematically challenged can see that this is a total waste of tax money.
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These all sound like good uses of money to me. . . if I was an idiot. . . or a Congressman.
These sorts of things show us why we need a line item veto.
"Self-help for members of Congress"?!
Aren't they helping themselves enough already?
No they do not.
Line-item veto made sense back when we had honorable Presidents like Reagan who would cut excessive spending.
Now we have Barry, who would use it as a weapon to punish those who don't vote for his agenda, and as a tool to more precisely reward his supporters, than the current up-down mechanism of Congressional budgeting allows.
Besides, Congress currently barely gets along with their normal horse trading. How will negotiations and the building of support move forward, when an overly-partisan President can microscopically destroy all deals with mere pen strokes?
A line-item veto is one of those things that really makes sense only when your guy is in office. It can and would be abused by some presidents, such as the one we are stuck with now. I once was in favor of a line-item veto but after looking at it for quite awhile abd weighing the pros and cons, I could see how it could easily be abused.
What really is needed is an end to the practice of pork spending. Attachment after attachment of pork spending to other bills needs to stop. If a politician wants to fund something, let him/her introduce the it in the manner that it should be so that it can be voted on based on its merits, not just tacking it on to some other must pass bill which is totally unrelated.
If each piece of pork spending actually had to be voted on based on its merits, you'd probably see at least a 75% reduction in the waste since most items wouldn't pass the test.
I doubt I'll ever see such a thing happen but it is what needs to be done.
Here’s a good piece discussing the implications of one-size-fits-all government programs: http://www.lastingliberty.com/ll-blog/2009/10/30/...
Speaking as a conservative scientist (one of the few!) I am ALL for funding of pure science. It is when you mix science and politics that the problems begin. Funding the search for fossils in Argentina is not a problem for me. If you think that we don't need more knowledge of Earth History then you are sadly mistaken…how else can we combat the bad science of climate fear-mongers if we do not have a clear history of natural climate patterns in the past? Next time you get in your car, thank a paleontologist…without a thorough understanding of fossil successions we would never be able to find any natural resources. Finally, who doesn't get excited about giant dinosaurs? The world needs more GOOD scientists and sparking interest in our nations youth in things like dinosaurs and trilobites is far better than them sitting around watching MTV's Real World if you ask me.
If a $4,000 tax credit for cars cost us $24,000 each, then imagine what a $8,000 house credit will cost us
Like you I to have been going to H R block and they have been taking a ton out of my taxes I have decided to do it online this year i am going to use the hr block web site online tax for free and enjoy my 300 plus dollars myself
When you do your tax return electronically, you can be sure that the information is correct. Not more than one person to read manually, tax forms.
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