Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has just published a report that’s guaranteed to get any taxpayer’s blood boiling: “Wastebook 2011.” It’s a compilation of some of the most outrageous ways the feds have managed to squander money over the past 12 months – money that isn’t even theirs’ to squander!

Over the past 12 months, Washington politicians argued, debated and lamented about how to reign in the federal government‘s out of control spending. All the while, Washington was on a shopping binge, spending money we do not have on things we do not need, like the $6.9 billion worth of examples provided in this report. The result: Instead of cutting wasteful spending, nearly $2.5 billion was added each day in 2011 to our national debt, which now exceeds $15 trillion. 😯
 
…[The] report details 100 of the countless unnecessary, duplicative and low-priority projects spread throughout the federal government.

 
Make sure you take your blood pressure medication, or have an adult beverage or two, before perusing the report. Here’s just a sampling of the many ways your hard-earned tax dollars are being thrown away:
 
Remember the $50,000 that Harry Reid claimed was critical to the promotion of Cowboy poetry? Or how about $592,527 for a study of feces-throwing chimpanzees?
 
Those are just a couple of the more egregious examples of waste in a huge pile of feces that includes;
 
• $30 Million ~ totally blown on an ill-conceived project to help Pakistani farmers grow mangos
• $765,828 ~ to build a new IHOP(International House of Pancakes). Intended for a “underserved” area, the new restaurant ended up in a popular D.C. yuppie neighborhood.
• $15.3 ~ Million for another bridge-to-nowhere in Alaska
• $120 Million ~ for Dead Federal Employees! Yep, they’re still getting benefits checks.
• $198,195 ~ to study Tweeting and Friending
• $697,006 ~ in Federal Transportation Dollars to Make Las Vegas Highways Beautiful. Old Harry sure is good at bringing home the bacon.
• $1 billion ~ or more in tax credits for energy efficient residential improvements…being claimed by individuals with no record of owning a home, including prisoners and underage children!
 
Hey Congress! I know where I’d like to throw some feces!
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Here’s Sen. Coburn’s full report: Wastebook 2011. Read it, then go check out the U.S. National Debt Clock [Total debt per citizen is now $180,000].
Happy New Year from your federal government!