Wasteful

As we near the end of another year we need to be reminded that we are not out of the woods yet. There are a few signs the economy is making an upward turn, but there are still millions of people out of work and the housing market is far from a rebound.

I did hear that consumers are spending more this holiday season, up a few dollars per person from last year. Every little bit helps. The problem is it's going to take a big surge for our economy to take a turn in a more noticeable direction.

Most of us have had to make sacrifices and cut back where we can. However, the biggest debt problem is with our government and they don't seem to care much. Spending continues at a record rate and some of that spending is very wasteful. By the way our national debt is fast approaching $14 trillion dollars. I can't even put a number like that in proper perspective.

Here are a few wasteful examples:

• The city of Las Vegas received a federal grant for $1.8 million to build a neon boneyard park and museum made up of old Las Vegas neon signs. Over 150 signs have been collected so far.

• We are contributing  $615,000 so the Grateful Dead can construct a building for the band’s memorabilia and make the so called museum free to the public. Free and yet taxpayers are donating $615,000!

• The energy bill for the Department of Energy was $190 million last year. Millions are said to be wasted because lights could be turned off at specific times. More efficient technology could be used.  Yet the DOE polices taxpayers' use of energy and wasteful spending.

• Poetry in our nation’s zoos? A federal grant program has taken millions of dollars from public funds to give to zoos throughout the country to make signs with poetry and place them throughout the zoos.

• The U.S. government, Bureau of Land Management, spent $64 million on land and built a state of the art gun range.  Although billed a huge tourist attraction in Nevada, last year the park brought in $430,000 and the cost to operate it was $1.3 million.

• The IRS paid out $112 million in fraudulent tax refunds to prisoners. The problem was identified five years ago and the fraudulent claims continue to rise.

• The National Science Foundation, supported with government funding, spent $250,000 on a study to see how Americans use the internet to find love. It was said the research could highlight important developments in American society.

• Denali National Park in Alaska is getting an upgrade-or at least the restrooms will. A total of 36 toilets will be replaced at a cost of $41,000 each. Let's hope there are remodeling costs included and this is not just the cost of the toilet.

• A $441,380 study revealed that college students drink more alcoholic beverages when traveling abroad. Students traveling to Australia, New Zealand and European countries tend to drink more than students traveling to other parts of the world. What does that all prove? You got me!

• The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) used the services of two ATF agents for several months to unravel a 2,500 year old mummy. They were able to determine the mummy was between 45-55 years old at the time of death, 5'5" tall and wore a size 7 shoe. The cost was $20,000 in taxpayer money and we're still not sure what those facts are suppose to tell us.

• The National Institute of Health spent $442 million to study male prostitutes in Vietnam. The study centers on HIV and the impact it has on the males.

• Here's another one close to home. The Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley received $609,160 in federal funding to create a wolf video game called Wolfquest. The supposed purpose of the game is to help people understand wolf conservation issues in real life.

• A parachute museum will cost taxpayers $65,000, $4,168,766 will be spent to study the sexual behavior of a special breed of monkey and thanks to a federal grant a Tennessee library spent $5,000 to host a series of video game parties.

• A conservation commission in Vermont received $150,000 in federal grant money to build a critter crossing. The crossing will save the lives of thousands of migrating salamanders that would otherwise be slaughtered by vehicle traffic.

• When Highway 14 was being extended from Kasson to Dodge Center there was  a holdup and additional expense due to a concern for a  wood turtle  just west of Dodge Center. The size of the bridge had to be altered to the tune of about $750,000 and it cost time for the study to be done. So don't say wasteful spending can't happen here too!

We could say that being wasteful for our federal government at $100,000 to $200,000 per  project is a drop in he bucket. It's basically pennies when you consider the deficit.

In some ways we may be better off not knowing how wasteful government spending can be. If the federal government awards $1.5 million for a museum honoring a bluegrass singer (Earl Scruggs) in North Carolina, let them build it. I don't need to know about it.