|
|
Idea #
|
Money Saver
|
Estimated
Savings over 10 Years
|
|
1
|
Pensions for Presidents and
Congressmen and Congresswomen
The
fat cats in Congress always take care of themselves regardless of the
taxpayers. When the president or a
congressional representative leaves office, they are paid full retirement
until they expire, even if they only serve one term:
- Retirement benefit for US
presidents = $450,000
- Retirement benefit for Speaker of
the House = $223,500
- Retirement benefit for House/Senate
majority/minority leaders= $194,400
- Retirement benefit for House/Senate
members = $174,000
With
the exception of the president, let’s demand that the thousands of retired
congressional reps retire the good old fashioned way that Joe American must
deal with and pay a substantial portion of their own pension plans.
|
$20,000,000,000
|
|
2
|
America’s Foreign Aid Giveaway
America gives away billions of
dollars to countries around the world in foreign aid, in both pure dollars
and military hardware. Recently we gave Egypt, a country rapidly
becoming an Al-Qaeda stronghold, $213 million in cost to taxpayers for 10 F-16 fighter jets and 200 Abrams tanks.
The $213 million deal is part of a foreign aid package signed when American
ally Hosni Mubarak was president. Considering America’s severe financial
crisis, we should end all foreign aid in military hardware and only provide
struggling countries with food aid from our bountiful harvest.
|
$213,000,000
|
|
3
|
Eliminate All Wind Energy
Tax Credits
Wind power only accounts for about 3 percent of U.S. energy
production. The total cost of the
wind energy tax credits is about $12 billion over the next 10 years.
If you do the math for these 37,000 jobs saved, that cost averages to about
$329,000 per job. The Orange County Register reports that this cost “is 15
times more per job than it cost taxpayers for 1.2 million petroleum
industry jobs.”
The cost of wind energy is
still much higher than conventional energy. American Enterprise
Institute states wind energy subsidies cost $52.48 per one million watt
hours generated. For comparison, “the subsidies for generating the
same amount of electricity from nuclear power are $3.10, from hydropower 84
cents, from coal 64 cents, and from natural gas 63 cents.”
The Orange County Register reports that annually there are “440,000
shredding deaths from spinning windmill blades of eagles, hawks, geese,
bats and other birds, many protected under the Migratory Bird
Treaty.”
|
$12,000,000,000
|
|
4
|
Taxpayer Bill for Obama’s Hawaii
Vacations: $20 Million
The total cost to
taxpayers of Obama’s vacations to Hawaii
since becoming president is likely in excess of $20 million, and possibly
much, much more. The $20 million figure is based on estimates of the cost
of the four Hawaii
vacations the Obamas have taken during
Christmastime 2009-2012. According to a detailed breakdown by the
Hawaii Reporter, the annual excursions in 2009, 2010, and 2011 cost about
$4 million, much of it attributable to the expense of taking Air Force One,
at an hour rate of about $180,000, on an eighteen-hour roundtrip journey to
Honolulu and back.
This year, Obama
returned from Hawaii to complete a deal on
the Fiscal Cliff and then jetted back to Honolulu, where he is now engaged in Part
2 of his vacation. The second roundtrip flight added about $3.24 million to
the tab this time, bringing the cost of the 2012-1013 vacation to well over
$7 million.
|
$20,000,000
|
|
5
|
Studying Chinese Swine
Manure
The
Environmental Protection Agency awarded a grant for $140,000 to study
Chinese Swine Manure.
|
$140,000
|
|
6
|
Studies on Jordanian
Students Hookah Smoking Habits
The
National Institute of Health (NIH) funded studies on the hookah smoking habits
of Jordanian students.
|
$350,000
|
|
7
|
Funding a Reality TV Show
for India to Buy U.S. Cotton
The
Department of Agriculture funded a $20 million reality TV show in India to promote
U.S. cotton to a country that is a net exporter of cotton.
|
$20,000,000
|
|
8
|
Millions Improperly Claimed U.S. Phone
Subsidies
The U.S. government spent about $2.2 billion
last year to provide phones to low-income Americans, but a Wall Street
Journal review of the program shows that a large number of those who
received the phones haven't proved they are eligible to receive them. Payouts under the program have shot up
from $819 million in 2008, as more wireless carriers have persuaded
regulators to let them offer the service.
|
$2,200,000,000
|
|
9
|
Bureaucrat’s Portraits Cost a Bundle
Outgoing
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson’s portrait cost $38,000, while Air
Force Secretary Michael Donnelly’s portrait cost $41,200, while Commerce
Secretary John Bryson’s portrait cost $22,500 (he served President Obama
for eight months), for a total of $101,700.00, but as President Obama said,
if the Sequester goes through, teachers will be laid off and children will
be ejected from day care.
In
the last two years, the total cost of portraits for Obama bureaucrats
totals $400,000.
|
$400,000
|
|
10
|
John Kerry OK’s $250
Million to Egypt
U. S. Secretary of State John
Kerry on March 3rd rewarded Egypt for President
Mohammed Morsi's pledges of political and
economic reforms by releasing $250 million in American aid to support the
country's "future as a democracy." The U.S. is deeply concerned that without
that money, the economy could collapse and cause political instability.
Considering that Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood is openly hostile to
America, wouldn’t this be a good thing?
It’s time to stop ALL foreign aid to governments that are not fully
appreciative of our aid.
|
$250,000,000
|
|
11
|
Homeland Security’s Spending Borders on
Outright Stupidity
a $7.1 billion Homeland Security Department program
to make cities safer from terrorism has paid for 13 sno-cone machines in
Michigan, a $98,000 underwater robot in Columbus, Ohio, an armored vehicle
for a tiny New Hampshire town that uses it to patrol the annual pumpkin
festival, and humorous videos that offered little valuable information for
fighting real threats, according to an investigation by Sen. Tom Coburn. In Cook County, Ill., where $45 million
was spent on a camera surveillance system codenamed "Project
Shield" that failed because it was not built to withstand Chicago's
harsh weather.
|
$7,145,000,000
|
|
12
|
TSA Sealed
$50-Million Sequester-Eve Deal to Buy New Uniforms
The impending sequester did not prevent the Transportation
Security Administration (TSA) from acting in late February to seal a
$50-million deal to purchase new uniforms for its agents–uniforms that will
be partly manufactured in Mexico.
Soon
after this new investment in TSA uniforms, Homeland Security Secretary
Janet Napolitano warned Americans that the lines are already lengthening at
airports due to the sequester, but TSA can spend $50 million on new
uniforms. It only makes sense in
government.
|
$50,000,000
|
|
13
|
A 'Risky' $5.5B loan for high-speed
Vegas train amid sequester cutbacks
The Transportation Department is still considering a massive $5.5 billion
government gamble on a high-speed train from suburban California to Vegas,
even after the government has repeatedly demonstrated their incompetence
backing failed ventures (Solyandra, etc.)
Republican congressmen said, "We are deeply troubled by the prospects
of subsidizing another costly, wasteful and risky high-speed rail project,
particularly when our nation is facing a debt crisis that threatens the
well-being of the current and future generations of Americans,"
|
$5,500,000,000
|
|
14
|
U.S. Spending
$227,437 to Study How National Geographic Depicted Animals
The federal government is
spending $227,437 to investigate how animals have been depicted in National
Geographic magazine over a span of 120 years, which federal officials say
is an “innovative study” that will examine “images of animals to see how
people have changed their view of the natural world.” The National Science Foundation (NSF)
issued a grant to Michigan State University to look at how animals were
depicted in the science magazine from 1888 to 2008.
|
$227,437
|
|
15
|
Feds spend $2.7 Million to answer question: “Why Do Lesbians Have Higher 'Risk for Hazardous
Drinking'”?
The University of Illinois has received grants since 2009 for its
project, "Cumulative Stress and Hazardous Drinking in a Community
of Adult Lesbians," which aims to develop “culturally sensitive”
strategies to prevent lesbians from being drunks.
Furthermore, the problem may be worse for “lesbians of color,” the
researchers say. How can we all
sleep at night waiting with bated breath for the answer to this riddle?
|
$2,700,000
|
|
16
|
Federal Study Looks at 'Plasticity in Duck Penis
Length'
The National Science
Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $384,949 grant to Yale University for a
study on “Sexual Conflict, Social Behavior and the Evolution of Waterfowl
Genitalia”, according to the recovery.gov
website.
|
$384,949
|
|
17
|
VP Joe Biden's One Night Paris Hotel Stay: $585,000.50
Vice President
Joe Biden's recent hotel stays in London and Paris cost $459,388.65 for 136
hotel rooms in London and $585,000.50 for ONE NIGHT in Paris, for a total of $1,044,389.15. One can only guess that the Sequester
issue did not factor into the decision.
|
$1,044,389
|
|
18
|
Taxpayers Fund $60,000 IRS 'Star Trek' Parody
How does the federal
government have all kinds of money to waste $60,000 on a "Star
Trek" spoof, but not enough to ensure planes land safely? The federal government is currently
running annual deficits of a trillion dollars-plus, and yet Obama's Media
wants us to believe the budget is so lean and mean that a two-percent cut
will force control towers to close.
|
$60,000
|
|
19
|
Obama Admin
Unblocks $500M in Funding for Palestinian Authority
The State Department has announced that it will unblock
$500 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority. Congress froze funding
for the Palestinian Authority just a few months ago in the aftermath of the
PA’s attempt to unilaterally declare statehood via the United Nations.
|
$500,000,000
|
|
20
|
Alameda County
administrator to get $423,644 a year after retirement
When Alameda County administrator
Susan Muranishi retires from her job in a couple
years, she’s going to be walking away with fat paycheck -- $423,664 a year
– for the rest of her life.
In addition to her $301,000 annual
base pay, Muranishi will get $24,000 in “equity
pay” to make sure she makes at least 10 percent or more than anyone else in
the county, an annual performance bonus of $24,000, another $9,000 a year
for serving on the county’s three-member Surplus Property Authority and
$54,000 a year in “longevity” pay for having stayed with the county for
more than 30 years. she’ll also get
an $8,292-a-year car allowance too.
|
$4,236,440
|
|
21
|
Ad Agency Gets $9.9 Million to ‘Brand’ Obamacare Exchange
“NORTH,
a branding agency based in Portland, Oregon, has been awarded a $9.9
million contract from Cover Oregon for a branding and communications
campaign to educate and enroll Oregonians in affordable health care through
Cover Oregon’s online marketplace.” According to the company’s website,
NORTH will be working with a company that specializes in effecting social
change:
|
$9,900,000
|
|
22
|
Feds Award Million-Dollar Grant
to Study Sex Habits of Mud Snails
The National
Science Foundation has given a grant that could wind up totaling almost a
million dollars to a University of Iowa study researching which is better
for New Zealand mud snails: reproducing sexually or asexually. The grant,
awarded in 2011 to last until 2015, has already cost $502,357, and could
wind up costing taxpayers $876,752 before all is said and done.
|
$876,752
|
|
23
|
Dancing iPhone Robots
Part of a
$547,430 grant from the National Science Foundation went to the development
of a dancing robot that connects to an iPhone.
|
$547,430
|
|
24
|
Talking Urinal Cakes
Federal
funds were used to purchase 400 anti-drunk driving talking urinal cakes.
|
$10,000
|
|
25
|
Healthy Food Initiative
$32 million
was spent to increase access to healthy foods in low-income communities
with no measurable result
|
$32,000,000
|
|
26
|
IRS Sends Billions in Fraudulent Refunds to Illegal
Immigrants
A
WTHR-TV Indianapolis investigative report exposes a fraudulent scheme
wherein the IRS is sending $4.2 billion per year to illegal immigrants as
an “additional child tax credit” for children who don’t even live in the
U.S.
|
$4,200,000,000
|
|
27
|
$900 Million in Outdated Stryker parts piled up in
Auburn warehouse
The Army program
charged with keeping thousands of eight-wheeled Strykers running over the
past decade had its eye so much on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that it
neglected to keep its books. It
accumulated nearly $900 million worth of Stryker replacement parts — with
much of the gear becoming outdated even as the military continued to order
more equipment, according to a Defense Department Inspector General report
released late last year.
|
$900,000,000
|
|
28
|
In
2012, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official said that food stamp fraud
totals $750 million each year – a number that more than doubles the cost of
trafficking reported in a 2006-2008 USDA study.
|
$750,000,000
|
|
29
|
Government Spends $2.1M to Study ‘What Animals Really
Think’
The National
Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $2.1 million grant over five years
for a research project titled, “Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think.” The research project is designed to study how animals
think and to promote “the evolutionary link between animals and humans,” as
well as animal welfare “in the wild and in our homes,” according to the
award abstract on the NSF Web site.
|
$2,131,193
|
|
30
|
Study on Correct Use of Condoms
As a part
of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the
Stimulus, Indiana University obtained a stimulus grant that totaled
$423,500 to conduct a study on the correct use of condoms. On the government
posting for the study, it lists jobs created as 0.00.
|
$423,500
|
|
31
|
More Stimulus Money in the Toilet
John
Hynansky, a close friend and campaign donor
of Vice President Joe Biden, used $20 million Stimulus funded loan to open
a luxury car dealership in the Ukraine.
|
$20,000,000
|
|
32
|
GAO finds billions
in wasteful, duplicative federal spending
The Government Accountability Office (GAO)
following a three-year investigation, found 31 new areas of redundant or
wasteful spending.
Wasteful spending documented in the GAO report is spread across dozens of
federal agencies, and ranges in scope from superfluous federal catfish
inspections to operations at joint military bases. It includes an estimated
$82 million in unnecessary expenses for military uniforms (which come in
seven different camouflage patterns) and $8.35 billion over 10 years for an
unproven Medicare Advantage bonus program. All of the duplication and waste
totals to $250 billion per year.
|
$250,000,000,000
|
|
33
|
Despite sequester,
State Department plans to increase spending for the UN
Even as the mandated sequester bites into U.S. federal spending --
and newly appointed Secretary of State John Kerry boasts that he is cutting
his budget by 6 percent -- the State Department is planning to boost
spending on the United Nations in 2014 by more than 4 percent to at least
$3.6 billion.
|
$3,600,000,000
|
|
34
|
State Department
approves $700G gardening contract in Belgium despite sequester warnings
Around the same time the State
Department was warning the public about the painful pinch from sequester
cuts, it was also signing off on a $700,000 gardening contract at the home
of a U.S. ambassador in Belgium, federal documents show.
|
$700,000
|
|
35
|
Two DOZEN IRS Employees
‘Received More Than $250,000 in Food Stamps, Welfare, and Housing Vouchers
Twenty-four current and former Internal Revenue Service employees
have been charged with stealing government benefits, federal prosecutors
said. The IRS employees were
indicted on charges that they illegally received more than $250,000 in
benefits including unemployment insurance payments, food stamps, welfare,
and housing vouchers.
|
$250,000
|
|
36
|
Government
Spends Nearly $1 Million on Empty Bank Accounts
According to a report from the General Accounting
Office, the federal government is currently paying to keep 13,712
empty bank accounts. Most of the accounts are left over from
government grants that have been completed and the money used up.
Each empty account is charging the government $5.95 a month to remain
open. That means that it costs us $81,586.40 a month to maintain empty
bank accounts. By the end of a year, the total cost is $979,036.80,
or just under $1 million.
|
$979,036
|
|
37
|
Tsarnaev Family Received $100G in Benefits
The Boston Marathon Tsarnaev family, including the suspected terrorists and
their parents, benefited from more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded
assistance — a bonanza ranging from cash and food stamps to Section 8
housing from 2002 to 2012
|
$100,000
|
|
38
|
Government to Spend $146,944 Texting Low-Income People with Depression
The federal
government is spending $146,944 in taxpayer funds to research sending
automated text messages to people with depression to remind them to take
their medication and monitor their mood and thoughts.
|
$146,944
|
|
