Every year, Sen. Tom Coburn (R.-Okla.) sets out to uncover how our tax dollars get wasted every year by the government. His Wastebook 2013 is now available; brace yourself. Here are some “highlights:”
- $400 million…to do nothing. During the government shutdown, non-essential government employees were paid $4000 daily for doing nothing.
- The Army National Guard spent $10 million on an advertising campaign tied into the Superman: Man of Steel movie.
- The National Endowment for the Humanities has been spending $1 million a year to “explore the fascinating, often contradictory origins and influences of popular romance as told in novels, films, comics, advice books, songs, and internet fan fiction, taking a global perspective—while looking back across time as far as the ancient Greeks.” What does that mean? It’s costing you a million bucks a year so some government employees can read romance books.
- $50 million for Google searches. Well, not Google searches per se, but rather the National Technical Information Service.” What do they do? They Google stuff for government employees.
- The National Institute of Health found it necessary to spend over $300 thousand to see if men were happier if their wives calmed down quickly after an argument. Apparently no one there is married.
- The State Department spent $630 thousand to buy Facebook “likes.”
- The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (the folks who print our money) ruined a bunch of $100 bills. To the tune of $4 million.
If you can stomach it, you can read the entire Wastebook here.
