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December 27, 2022

Senator Rand Paul reveals how $482 billion of your money was wasted in 2022

By Rajan Laad

Recently, Sen. Rand Paul released his "Festivus" report, which details wasteful government spending.

This is an annual tradition meant to be an eye-opener to citizens.  This is Paul's eighth report.

Festivus was popularized by Seinfeld and is celebrated on December 23.  It was created by author Daniel O'Keefe.  O'Keefe's son, Dan O'Keefe, co-wrote the Seinfeld episode "The Strike," which referred to Festivus.

One of the traditions of Festivus is the "airing of grievances" — i.e., complaining about the disappointments of the year, which is supposed to offer a cathartic experience.

Back to Senator Rand Paul's report, which highlights the wastage of $482,276,543,907 of your money by your government.

These are key items of expenditure, or wastage, to be more precise.

We begin with a reminder of how deep a ditch D.C. is digging for the nation:

  • $475,000,000,000 was spent on interest payments on the national debt, which is roughly $31.5 trillion.

The government spent money to assist individuals to commit crimes:

  • $168,000,000 was dedicated to assisting illegal aliens in avoiding deportation.  This involves free legal assistance and general advice on how to skirt or break U.S. law.

The following was spent on rodents, puppies, parrots, and ants:

  • $2.3 million for studying beagle puppies when injected with cocaine.
  • $689,000 for studying romancing parrots.
  • $3 million for watching hamsters fight on steroids.
  • $519,000 used mice to study racial aggression.
  • $675,000 for studying the social life and collective intelligence of ants.

The following was spent on foreign nations:

  • $66 billion was for defending and supporting Ukraine, while $45 billion more is on the way.
  • $2.1 million was dedicated to encourage Ethiopians to wear shoes.
  • $50,000,000 was dedicated to boosting the travel sector in Tunisia.
  • $210,069,000 was dedicated to "basic education" projects in Jordan.

The following was how COVID-19 relief money was misused:

  • $1.6 of COVID relief funds was used to upgrade turf fields.
  • $13.5 of COVID relief funds was used to purchase luxury cars.
  • $140,000,000 of COVID relief funds was used to construct an 11,000-square-foot spa in Florida.
  • $4,500,000,000 of COVID relief funds was wasted on ineligible citizens and fraudsters.

The following was merely wasted:

  • $77 million was wasted on un-tracked fuel purchases.
  • $69,000,000  was wasted in overpaying government contractors for a terminated contract.
  • $17 million was wasted on unused hotel rooms for illegal aliens.
  • $1,700,000,000 was wasted on the maintenance of 77,000 empty federal buildings
  • $175,000,000 was dedicated to expanding the seldom-used Washington, D.C. Streetcar.
  • $187,000 to verify that the loving relationship between kids and their pets is beneficial.

The following was also wasted, although the goals may have been relatively meaningful:

  • $28 million on "camouflage" uniforms that did not work.
  • $491,794 was dedicated to the redevelopment of the United States hard cider market.
  • $192,592 for Starbucks espresso machines at the Pentagon.

The following was dedicated to scandalously trivial pursuits:

  • $118,000 to study whether the Marvel comic villain Thanos really could snap his fingers while wearing the Infinity Glove and make half of all life in the universe disappear.
  • $2.5 million for Super Bowl commercials "telling you to fill out the Census."
  • $200,000 was dedicated to a radio campaign to inform drivers to stop at railroad crossings. 
  • $70,000,000 was dedicated to subsidizing the "free" New York Staten Island Ferry.

The following aren't entirely wasteful, but considering the faltering economy, the items could have been postponed:

  • $9 million to construct a park in Austin, Texas that is "used for yoga and concerts."
  • $3 million for a Mahatma Gandhi museum in Houston.

All of this wasteful expenditure really presents a great opportunity for a long-term project for investigative journalists.

Perhaps big news media houses can sponsor this project.  Maybe Fox News targets Democrats while the rest focus on the GOP.  Maybe Elon Musk can engage the likes of Matt Taibbi to focus on both.

The journalist who accepts this assignment can establish a complete trail of how your money is spent, from the inception of the item to the actual expenditure.

The answers to the following questions may reveal a great deal about the functioning of D.C.

Which lawmaker recommended the item of expenditure?

Who advised the lawmaker about this item?

A meticulous study of the lobbyists, "advisers," big donors, etc. must be made while asking these questions.

Which lawmaker(s) sponsored the bill?

Which committee approved the bill for a vote in the House — i.e., the names of individuals in the committee?

Did the House Rules Committee call for the bill to be voted on quickly, limit the debate, or limit or prohibit amendments, or was a full debate allowed?  What are the names of the members of this committee?

Who voted in favor of this bill, both in the House and the Senate?

How many "consultants," "advisers," and intermediaries were involved as funds made their way from the government treasury to the target?

Who are the vendors or contractors who receive the funds?

How fast did they finish the job?

How often did they go over budget and beyond the planned schedule?

Who is on the payroll of these vendors?

These vendors must be cross-verified against the list of lobbyists, "advisers," and big donors of the lawmakers who voted for the bill.

In most cases, it will be discovered that what appears to be a waste of funds to regular people is actually the lawmaker covertly directing your money to cronies, friends, and family members.

Let's consider the proposal for the Houston museum dedicated to the great Indian political and social activist Mahatma Gandhi, who is regarded as the father of passive nonviolent resistance.

On the surface, this seems like a great idea, a museum dedicated to spreading a message of peace and nonviolence.

But that is merely the wrapper around the actual item.

Perhaps lawmakers who supported and voted for this item have quid pro quo deals with real estate developers based in Texas who will be granted contracts to build the museum once the infrastructure is ready.

There is the matter of hiring staff on every level.

Perhaps the responsibility to curate the content within the museum is also given to a crony.  Perhaps contracts for the firms engaged in catering, cleaning, security, etc. are also given to cronies.

Perhaps relatives, friends, and offspring find lucrative employment at the museum.  Perhaps the lawmaker himself is invited to the museum and paid handsomely for a speech.

This explains why lawmakers willingly pass enormous spending bills that are longer than Tolstoy's epics.  It enables them to squeeze in items of their interest without it gaining public attention.  The name of the bill and its contents are often totally disconnected.  The name is meant to deceive the citizen — the lawmakers know that few have the patience to read thousands of pages of complex language.  This is a form of legalized corruption.

Senator Rand Paul has offered citizens a rare insight into how the self-serving, self-promoting, self-preserving, corrupt, and nepotistic swamp functions.

The fact that nothing has changed despite eight annual reports shows how deep the rot lies.  These individuals are not only corrupt and morally bankrupt, but unabashed about it.

The question remains: will this swamp ever be drained?

Image: Senate Democrats, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.

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