Money for Nothing
George Bush may have broken his "no new taxes" pledge, but at least he got a deficit reduction package, right? Well, not exactly. The Heritage Foundation reports that the government will spend $1.75 for each new dollar of taxes in the budget accord. By now, most people know that the package includes $500,000 for a Lawrence Welk museum, but negotiators failed to cut many other questionable programs.
- $100,000 to study the sand on Waikiki beach
- $100,000 to develop soybean ink
- $1.95 million for Philadelphia's New Freedom Theater
- $1.7 million for a bee lab
- $2.7 million for a fish farm in Arkansas
- $3.4 million for shrimp aquaculture
- $3.6 million for urban gardening
- $4.4 million for a navigation project at Redondo Beach, California
- $5.1 million to fight witchweed
- $34.3 million for a flood-control project in Phoenix
Source: Heritage Foundation