Congressional Pig Book
source: http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_pigbook2008
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- devo64
- added this
http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_pigbook2008
The Congressional Pig Book is an annual compilation of the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget, put together by the Citizens against Government Waste. Wow, someone put out a zine that CBS and ABC News actually care about.Some of the congressional earmarks : $7.5 million spent on grape and wine research; $460,000 for research on hops; and $72,000 for the National Wild Turkey Federation in Edgefield, S.C., to name just a few.
When the Democrats took over, they said they were going to cut the number and cost of earmarks in half and that clearly hasn't been done with congressional members stuffing 11,610 spending projects, the second highest total ever, to benefit their home districts into the 2008 fiscal year budget.
There was a recent proposal shot down to ban earmarks for one year. What do you all think about it? Think it would relieve a bit of pressure on the US economy if $17.2 billion went back to the tax payers? What are some other things we can do with the money?
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- Community, News and Politics, Politics
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devo64
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I see what you're saying AuntieLynn, and on a side note I have a crazy bacon craving right now.
- 5 years ago
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devo64
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AuntieLynn
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still missing the point....
you can't put money that isn't really there towards anything. If you cut out the pork for one year -- you can't apply those same pounds of food to the food bank, the poor family next door, or even put it back on the shelf at the grocery store -- you can't put it back because it doesn't really exist.
If you spend money, you increase the debt. if you spend that money - NOT, then you just don't increase of the debt. You can't actually subtract it from the debt.
If I eat my normal lunch, plus 4000 calories worth of ham, 8000 calories worth of bacon, and 10,000 calories worth of butter for lunch, then I have eaten 22,000 calories (and at 3500 calories per pound of weight, I have gained 6.29 pounds.)
But if I don't eat above my normal lunch -- I don't get to claim a 22,000 calorie deficit or reduce my weight by 6.29 pounds. My weight will stay the same.
Not spending 17 billiion of purely deficit pork neither increases the debt nor decreases it. It has no effect EXCEPT to not make the national debt BIGGER.
The only way they can do anything with that 17 billion is if they borrow it first. Applying it to the debt would just be turning around and giving it back -- and then we'd owe the interest!
- 5 years ago
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AuntieLynn
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devo64
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Ok, since it won't make much of a dent on our pocket books then what about putting it towards out yearly budget deficit. Surly $17 billion will do some good there.
Just know that I'm not advocating getting rid of earmarks, just if for one year we didn't have any, where could we put the money to some good use at?
- 5 years ago
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devo64
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AuntieLynn
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Ah, but that 17 billion isn't really there to give back to anybody -- it's all debt. All that pork is doing is running up the US Mastercard bill. They're just spending MORE money they don't have. And what's another 17 billion when we're already in the red so deep we can't see the shore?
- 5 years ago
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AuntieLynn
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JordanRoth
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Feinstein 189 projects totalling $294M
Boxer 100 projects totalling $120M
Total for both California Senators $414M36,457,549 Californians (2006 ACS)
$11.36 per person?
Come on ladies, you can do better than that!
And according to CAGW: http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_pigbook2008porkpercap
California is ranked 49th in per capita pork. Congress spent spending $666,398,576 total for 36,553,215 people is $18.23 per person.
- 5 years ago
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JordanRoth
