Pork Report, February 11, 2009: Reboot Congress Edition
by The Pork ReportAmericans think most of their tax dollars sent to Washington are “wasted,” according to a Washington Post poll
Most voters think the country would be better off if most members of Congress were not re-elected, according to a new poll
Company accused of defrauding the government by filing bogus receipts, double billing for the same services and charging government agencies for strippers and prostitutes; A prostitute in Afghanistan was put on the payroll under the “Morale Welfare Recreation” category and the company billed the prostitute’s plane tickets and salary to the government, according to the accusation
The government paid more than $284 million on recruitment, retention and relocation bonuses to federal employees in 2008
California county to spend federal stimulus funds to pay students to make mini- documentaries about professionals whose work the youths find inspiring
A $500,000 federal stimulus grant will pay a consultant to design a promotional campaign to encourage more recycling in Dayton, Ohio
Montana town spends federal stimulus funds to renovate a pavilion used for receptions, craft fairs, dances and class reunions
Federal funds pay to research impact of “fair trade” on flowers from Ecuador and tea produced in South Africa
The Postal Service lost $297 million in the first quarter of the year, marking the Postal Service’s eighth consecutive unprofitable quarter
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Got a Tip?
36 Comments
What is left from the original porkulus should be put back to deficit reduction. The new stimulus bill ( the jobs one) have to stopped. "It is more important to kill a bad bill than to pass a good one."
redistributive policies are expensive…
And counterproductive. That is, if you want a normal, healthy, functioning society. But that wouldn't be the 'change you can believe in', now would it? No, thay change must result in a static, moribund economy based on dystopian
constructs and political pandering vis a vis identity politics.
Now THAT's the change THEY believe in…
~~~ The Postal Service lost $297 million in the first quarter of the year, marking the Postal Service’s eighth consecutive unprofitable quarter~~~~
If we got rid of the damn unions, the postal service might get into the black. I know of lazy postal carriers dumping all the mail in a park because they were too lazy to deliver it. PRIVATIZE the damn thing!!
You're right & it won't happen. But if it did happen, BO would go, "see I reduced the deficit, now we have money to spend on more projects."
~~~ The Postal Service lost $297 million in the first quarter of the year, marking the Postal Service’s eighth consecutive unprofitable quarter~~~~
" A government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth"
Ronald Reagan — 1964 Republican National Convention
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt1fYSAChxs
"The federal government's promise to extricate the U.S. economy from this recession involves more spending (increasing public debt) and more subsidies for consumers, such as car rebates and home buying incentives (more private debt). In other words, more debt is supposed to solve the problem of over-indebtedness. The truth is that this policy merely indentures its citizens further without providing any income for repayment of debt. In previous letters we have discussed the fact that the government spending multiplier is zero (read Professor Robert Barro's book, Macroeconomics – a Modern Approach, p. 370).
"This means there is no long term income benefit from stimulus programs. According to the latest academic research, the most recent $800 billion stimulus plan will boost economic activity in the short run, but will surely depress economic activity over time. The government problem is complicated by the fact that the tax multiplier is 3, meaning that a 1% change in taxes will change GDP by about 3% over time."
Hoisington Capital Management, Quarterly Review
When the gov contols basic services, they control us…period. Reagan was right!!! Time to get rid of these blood-sucking control freaks so thery can't pocket our money for their agenda.
Let me see if I have this straight. With Algore the Blizzard hitting DC twice in one week, and the Federal Government being shut down now for a week, things are apparently running quite smoothly, and we are saving about 200 million bucks a day. What is the problem? keep the sumbitch shut down permanently and send them ALL home.
Everytime I read the Pork Report, my head hurts so bad I feel that it's going to explode.
The Texas Legislature meets every other year – for six months. Period.
Texas is solvent . Hmmm – correllation?
Correct, & Texans are watching them like a hawk every minute they are in session for the whole 180 days.
you bet…
Reduced the deficit? lol. His definition of reducing a definition is about 180 degrees off.
I wonder why the author did not mention Senator Richard Shelby's hold on all of President Obama's appointments so his state would receive a contract for Air Force tankers it does not need or an FBI Building, the FBI does not want to build? So much for claiming only the Democrats want the pork.
Where does the insanity stop. I guess we the people have to stop it at the polling both. I'm going to do my best to stop Sen. Bennett in Utah. He's a real conservitive PORKER.
From my career as a stock broker, the market usually does well at times when congress is in recess. The common sense answer was that if they are not working, they are screwing anything up
Wondering if anyone is wishing for Clinton's passing like they did for Rush?
Actually, the Air Force needs new tankers, the fight is over who will build them – and where. That's the fight. I don't know about them FBI, but I'd be shocked that Feds DON'T want a new building. That's counterintuitive to a bureacrat – it's NOT in their DNA to pass on largess.
Boeing got a no bid contract for a tanker that was deemed not suitable (powerful Washing state lobbyists and politicians) and I think Locheed or another aircraft company cried foul. Shelby as a senator from a state where manufacturing jobs will be created is digging in for his states interests. Nothing hew there. Defending his state.
nah, conservatives tend (but not always) to have a clue and some class. I don't agree with Ol' Poonhound on much but I wish him well.
If it weren't for GOP Congresses he couldn't claim to, be a fiscal hawk. At least he lewarned when he tried to hijack the medical system, He scrasped it and went to the middle.
Young Obama is too much of an ideolouge to moderate, too much pride.,,which comes before the fall.
The oldest Air Force tankers are FIFTY THREE YEARS old. That's an old airframe no matter how modernized they are. So, that myth is blow up. The Air Force NEEDS needs new tankers. The how is a different issue – an issue Shelby should fight out any way he can.
9/25/2009 – WASHINGTON (AFNS) — Senior Department of Defense and Air Force officials announced the rollout of the KC-X Acquisition Program at a Pentagon briefing Sept. 24. Air Force leaders are seeking a replacement for the KC-135 Stratotanker that has been a stalwart of the tanker fleet for more than 53 years.
yup. The president can't propose and the Congress can't dispose – or spend wildly.
See below and my link to the tanker situation. We need modern tankers and I don't care who builds them as long as they're a good value and we don't get the usual screw job. Just fuel savings alone could make new planes a good deal for the tax payer. Our current fleet is ancient.
I don't care that much about Shelby but I think he's entitled to fight for his state with the tools he has at his disposal. That includes holding up some of the nut-jobs Okenyan has nominated for government posts.
Both of Washington states senators are Democrats – is that the main reason Boeing is getting this contract. The Air Force has said that Boeing's design is lacking.
Do a little math…
The average federal tax bill is around $10,000 per American. Take a project below say, The Formosan Termite Research, divide it out. It will take about 66,230 Americans working and paying taxes for a full year to fund this idiocy (or you working for 66,230 years). Actually, many Americans pay zero taxes (children, jobless, illegals, etc.) so you can probably double that number. How about 17,910 Americans working and paying taxes for Swine Odor Research, it's endless.
Just a few of the 2009 Congessional pork projects (8 of 9,287)…
$5,813,000.00 – Edward Kennedy Institute
$17,500,000.00 – FDR Presidential Library
$2,000,000.00 – LBJ Presidential Library
$22,000,000.00 – JFK Presidential Library
$200,000.00 – Tattoo Removal Program
$6,623,000.00 – Formosan Termite Research
$2,192,000.00 – Center for Grape Genetics
$1,791,000.00 – Swine Odor Research
$476,000.00 – Council of La Raza
Run-away Spending
http://usataxpayer.org/?0055577011
Corruption in Congress
http://usataxpayer.org/?0037628434
Nah… Bubba always SEEMED like the kinda guy who would enjoy a beer while sitting around with the guys playing poker, watching the game or telling jokes (probably about his wife). Also, the kind of guy I wouldn't trust out of sight.
Worthless Obama Voters Waiting for a Handout
http://usataxpayer.org/?0021481903
Corruption in Congress
http://usataxpayer.org/?0037628434
Scratch Murtha. 534 more to go.
Pork = Bribes = Re-election = Pork = Bribes = Re-election = Pork =Bribes = Re-election and on and on and on.
Shelby is a scum bag, doesn't excuse all the other sob's. I worry less about the porj, as bad as it is, than I do about the insane entitlement policies Barak is dumping on us. Pork is the pennies, that add up, the programs are more like tsunamies
What the Federal 'stimulators' don't get: IT IS OUR MONEY! The stim money is either STOLEN from us through taxation, or borrowed, which also sucks cash out of the economy. Public money spent in the private sector causes net unemployment in the private sector. The massive Federal payroll growth has been egregious at a time when it should be trimming down. Now they want to spend more money they don't have on jobs they can't create??!!
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
Ellieeeeeeee!
You sound as if the only thing wrong Obama is doing is passing "bad bills" instead of "good bills" and that all he has to do is recognize that and make the applicable adjustments.
If only it were that simple.
In his mind these bills are GREAT bills… why?…. because his agenda is the destruction of the US economy.
I thought we were all aware of this by now
Come on dear, get up to speed.
Forget it Jamesb
When folks try to equate the funding for a highly needed military aircraft with what is listed in this report, you and poor Shelby are never going to win.
Hell build the damn thing in China, than maybe they will be happy.
How do I get in on some of this action?
And, —besides, pork isn't even kosher! I'm also not sure if the congress and the senate will ever really be done away with in this life?
True. No one is safe when Congress is in session.
[...] the rest here: » Pork Report, February 11, 2009: Reboot Congress Edition – Big … Share and [...]
[...] the original post here: » Pork Report, February 11, 2009: Reboot Congress Edition – Big … Share and [...]
I was browsing tonight, unsure of what I was looking for, but knew that I needed help with my finances, and your site just popped up. (Divine intervention, or what!)
You must be logged in to post a comment.