PoliticsRightHere: Government Wasted Money

God Bless You

Toward the end of 2016, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) released a report called 'Federal Fumbles.' Lankford grabbed the baton that Tom Coburn had carried for years. Coburn exposed government waste in his renowned "Wastebook" chronicles.

'God bless you' is a phrase Americans utter after someone had sneezed and then they go on about their business. The Federal Government, however, took sneezing to a new level. In 2016, the Feds subsidized a study pertaining to why children do not like to eat food that has been sneezed on. This study cost the taxpayers $2 million.

When government employees are sent on administrative leave, most Americans think that this is a punishment. The employees see it very differently. In fact, they pray that it will happen to them. Why? They receive vacation pay while they are banned from their job. In 2015 and 2016, $3.1 billion was given to these folks under investigation. The government wasted money better than anyone.

For The Birds

The California gnatcatcher bird costs taxpayers $283,500 in 2016. The Department of Defense allotted the cash to study the gnatcatchers arch enemy – cowbirds. Cowbirds often steal the nests of the gnatcatchers and put their eggs there. The gnatcatchers become the baby-daddy to the cowbird babies. Clearly, the DOD felt obligated to protect American lives by bird watching.

Does politics leave you frustrated or angry? Well, there is a study for that. $150,000 was handed out from the National Science Foundation to find answers to this blatantly obvious quest. Ironically, this quote was in the reported results, “One could argue that the most stressful thing about politics is the waste and bloat of government spending, especially researching topics such as this.”

The government wasted money again when the National Park Science was asked to answer something that all Americans want to know: What do bugs do when they are near a light bulb? Seriously, you couldn't make this up if you had 100 years to do so. $65,473 was spent on this burning study.

The Chicken Or The Egg

Another example where the government wasted money with the National Science Foundation is when they wanted to know if the mainstream media characters caused angst and polarization, or if the citizenry dictates what the media will report. $406,419 was given to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study this conundrum.

Who doesn't like a good fish story? Again, the National Science Foundation wanted to put to rest a long exercised query: What would a mudskipper fish do if it was placed on a treadmill? $1.5 million was spent for this fish tale.

The National Eye Institute (yes, it exists) allotted $300,000 to determine whether girls or boys play with Barbie dolls more. This is it, folks, you can die at ease knowing that they found that it is the females that play with Barbies significantly more than boys.