[Editor: The following two articles are on the debt crisis and from the Wall Street Journal and the Festivus Report. They are Senator Rand Paul’s efforts to show the American people some of the waste and corruption in our DC government]
WSJ December 26, 2020
Notable & Quotable: Rand Paul
348 words
Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) speaking on the Senate floor Dec. 21:
Republicans like to mock Modern Monetary Theory—the idea that government can print money with impunity, that government can spend whatever it wants without the need to tax. Modern Monetary Theory is basically the Dick Cheney “deficits don’t matter” crowd trussed up with a new fancy title.
Most Republican rightly lampoon this quackery—that is, when they’re not practicing the quackery themselves. Today many of these same Republicans will vote for a bill that makes Modern Monetary Theory look like child’s play in comparison.
The monstrous spending bill presented today is not just a “deficits don’t matter” disaster; it is everything Republicans say they don’t believe in.
This bill is free money for everyone. Proponents don’t care if you’re fully employed or own your own house or own your own business. “Free money for everyone,” they cry.
And yet if free money were the answer, if money really grew on trees, why not give more free money? Why not give it out all the time? Why stop at $600 a person? Why not $1,000? Why not $2,000?
Maybe these new “free money Republicans” should join the “everybody gets a guaranteed income” caucus. Why not $20,000 a year for everybody? Why not $30,000? If we can print up money with impunity, why not do it? The Treasury can just keep printing the money. That is, until someone points out that the emperor has no clothes and that the dollar no longer has value.
To so-called conservatives who are quick to identify the socialism of Democrats, if you vote for this spending monstrosity, you are no better. When you vote to pass out free money, you lose your soul and you abandon forever any semblance of moral or fiscal integrity.
So the next time you see Republicans in high moral dudgeon claiming and complaining about spending of Democrats and socialism, remind them—remind them if they supported this monstrous spending bill, that really the difference between the parties is less Adam Smith vs. Marx and more Marx vs. Engels.
The Wall Street Journal
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Rand Paul 2020 Debt wasted expenditures.
Health Care
Studied if you’ll eat ground-up bugs (NIH & NIFA) ….…….……………………..………. $1,327,781.72
Asks why stress makes hair turn grey (NIH) …………………………………………………………. $36,831,620.00
Tries to get Eastern Mediterranean youth to stop smoking hookah (NIH) ……………… $1,471,617.00
Used cancer research money to create a “smart toilet” (NIH) ………………………………… $6,973,057.00
Tried to get adults to stop watching so much TV (NIH) …………………………………………. $1,246,507.00
Gives cigarettes to adolescent kids (NIH) …………………………………………………………………. $896,994.00
Sent messages to moms to stop their teenage girls from indoor tanning (NIH) ……….. $3,452,234.00
Funded an allegedly faked study linking e-cigarettes to heart attacks (NIH) ………….. $31,522,224.00
Interviewed San Franciscans about their edible cannabis use (NIH) ……………………….. $3,125,768.00
Gave federal employees duplicative Medicare customer service access (RRB) …….. $217,000,000.00
Tested if hot tubbing can lower stress (NIH) ……………………………………………………… $2,004,704.00
Develops a master’s degree in research ethics in Myanmar (NIH) …………………….. $968,932.00
Helps justify the FDA’s Deeming Rule (NIH) ..…………………………………………… $3,696,770.00
Appropriated millions to the Urban Indian Health Programs (Congress) ……………… $57,684,000.00
Tries to help people get over their fears of going to the dentist (NIH) …………………….. $1,039,554.00
Studied the prevalence of party drug use at NYC clubs and raves (NIH) …………………. $1,454,217.00
Waited for years on delinquent undelivered orders (VA) ………………………………….. $3,496,302,352.00
Studied the effect of sleepiness on diet, physical activity, and obesity in kids (NIH) …… $787,355.00
Foreign Aid
Spent billions in Afghanistan on counternarcotics efforts ……….………………. $8,620,000,000.00
Funds classes for Kenyan artists and performers (State) ……………………………………………. $150,000.00
Planned Olympic-themed events in Singapore ……………………………………………………………. $75,000.00
Supports Sri Lankan think tanks ……………………………………………………………………………….. $800,000.00
Spends millions to help deal with truant Filipino youth (USAID) …………………………. $37,500,000.00
Teaches English to rural unemployed Romanians (State) ……………………………………………. $25,000.00
Put on theatrical plays in Mumbai (State) …………………………………………………………………….. $30,000.00 Spends 5 years monitoring elections in Zimbabwe (USAID) ………………………………… $10,000,000.00
Seeks to start a venture capital fund for bad investments (USAID) …………….….. $2,000,000.00
¾ Helps disconnected Tunisian youth not feel like a problem (USAID) ………..…. $48,000,000.00
Sends Russians to American community colleges for a “gap year” (State) ………… $3,250,000.00
Sets up book clubs for Pakistani and Afghan kids (State) ……………………..….….. $200,000.00
Subsidizes Tunisian Chambers of Commerce (State) …………..…………………… $700,000.00
Environment, Energy, Science
Walked lizards on a treadmill (NSF) ……….……………………………………………………… $1,557,083.00
Funds the Boating Infrastructure Grant Program (FWS) ……………………………………… $13,545,889.40
Bought public transit buses for localities (FTA) ………………………………………………….. $129,956,625.00
Studied how people cooperate while playing e-sport video games (NSF) …………………… $199,864.00
Hired “interns” to do busy work (NPS) ………………………………………………………………………. $57,576.75
Studied how New Yorkers abided by New York City COVID lockdowns (NSF) ………. $199,995.00
Taught students in Washington about disputed climate science (NSF) ……………………… $487,528.00
Subsidizes an insect ranching company’s R&D efforts (NSF) …………………………………. $1,304,454.00
Develops a wearable headset to track eating behavior (NSF) …………….……………. $2,075,074.00
Studies how food options change when a neighborhood is revitalized (NSF) …………… $260,000.00
Military
Spent decades trying unsuccessfully to replace the Bradley (DOD) ………………. $23,900,000,000.00
Bungled building a drone base in Niger (USAFRICOM and USAF) …………………… $110,000,000.00
Built unsafe infrastructure in Afghanistan (Army Corps of Engineers) …………………… $4,500,000.00
Repurposed COVID response funds for unrelated acquisitions (DOD) ………….. $1,000,000,000.00
Lost equipment designated for Syrians fighting ISIS (DOD) ………………………………. $715,800,000.00
Spent millions on STARBASE (DOD) ………………………………………………………………… $35,000,000.00
Lost drones over Afghanistan (DOD) ………………………………………………………………… $174,000,000.00 Built a police complex lacking power that is not used (Army Corps of Engineers) ….. $3,100,000.00
Miscellaneous
Rebuilt a taxiway for airplanes on Nantucket Island (FAA) …….……………………… $19,999,869.00
Bought COVID test tubes but received unusable soda bottles (FEMA) ……………….. $10,502,997.50
Bought vehicles for State and local law enforcement agencies (USMS) …………………. $53,900,000.00
Built 3 bicycle storage facilities at D.C. Metro stations (Metro) ……………………………….. $5,966,180.00
Prepared bugs for you to eat (NSF and DARPA) ……………………………………………………. $2,819,702.02
Sprayed alcoholic rats with bobcat urine (NIH and VA) …………………………………………. $4,575,431.00
Allowed States to take advantage of TANF rules (Congress) ………………………….. $16,500,000,000.00
Overspent on pre-fab housing and water pumps in Texas (FEMA) …………………….. $182,000,000.00
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TAXPAYER DOLLARS WASTED: $54,746,524,505.37
Festivus 2020: Top 10
Despite spending 15 years and billions of dollars, American
counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan are ineffective (Foreign Aid)
The Fish and Wildlife Service is subsidizing yachting (Environment,
Energy, Science)
NIH paid to find out if hot tubbing can lower stress (Health Care)
Using CARES Act funds, the FAA renovated a taxiway at the airport on
Nantucket Island most often used by private jets (Miscellaneous)
NIH paid researchers to interview San Franciscans about how they use
edible cannabis (Health Care)
FEMA paid for test tubes for COVID tests but received contaminated
mini soda bottles (Miscellaneous)
NIH paid researchers to develop methods to stop grown adults from
binge-watching television (Health Care)
DOD lost more than 100 drones over Afghanistan (Military)
USAID is open to creating a venture capital fund in Bosnia &
Herzegovina for bad investments (Foreign Aid)
NSF ran lizards on a treadmill (Environment, Energy, Science)
