Top Government Waste Examples From ‘The Farce Awakens’

Ben Mordini / December 18, 2015

To coincide with the release of the much-anticipated film “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., has released a new waste book highlighting “100 examples of egregious, outrageous and unnecessary government spending” with a Star Wars theme.

Wastebook: The Farce Awakens – has complied examples of wasteful government spending totaling over $100 billion.

Here are 10 examples from the book you don’t want to miss:

1. $13.6 million – Not The Droids you’re Looking For: Spent by the Pentagon to develop emergency rescue robots “capable of assisting humans in responding to natural and man-made disasters” by giving away millions of dollars in prizes as part of an international competition. The competition was a “disappointment” and “a bust”. Each robot in the competition was expected to complete eight tasks but ended up being rather simple and “would have posed little challenge to most adult humans and even some children.” Only 3 of the 24 robots finished.
2. $110 million – Empty buildings in Afghanistan: The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces continue to maintain over 360 “excess facilities” that the U.S. government pays to light, heat, and repair. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported “the old buildings were supposed to be disposed of but the Afghan ministries receiving security aid hung on to many of the old structures.”
3. $5 million – Hipster Parties: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has funded the “Help A Hipster” movement over the last five years in an effort to organize parties at bars and nightclubs to entice hipsters to “take a stand against tobacco companies.” The organization would also hand out cash up to $100 at a time “to get hipsters to stop smoking.”
4. $1 million – Monkeys On A Treadmill: Cleverly named “Take the money and run” the National Institutes of Health funded the Southwest National Primate Research Center to study 12 marmoset monkeys to run on treadmills. Researchers assert “these techniques should be useful to researchers wishing to address physiological responses of exercise in a marmoset model.” Sounds like a lot of monkey business.
5. $3 million – Party Bus: The Department of Homeland Security is providing funding to luxury bus companies through the Intercity Bus Security Grant Program (IBSGP) to “owners and operators of fixed route intercity and charter buses” that serve select areas designated for Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI). A majority of the companies that receive funding are “largely financially successful” and would continue to be without help from taxpayer funds.
6. $119 million – Money Up in Smoke: “USDA expended more than $119 million to support the tobacco industry in 2015.” This includes expenditures on items such as $69 million for direct income support payments, $385,000 on administering those payments, and $45 million by the Risk Management Agency for crop insurance.
7. $210,000 – Prada for Your Pooch: The Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD) provided a Community Development Block grant to Maine Stitching Specialties, a designer of dog vests and accessories. The grant was used to expand the capabilities of the company and compensate additional staff.
8. $1.2 million – Life-Size Pac-Man: College of Charleston’s TD Arena in South Carolina, had their basketball court transformed into a “life-size Pac-Man” game part of the TECHFIT Showcase funded through a grant from The National Science Foundation.
9. $124,000 – Goat Truffles: Big Picture Farm’s, a gourmet goat milk caramels manufacturer, received a Value Added Grant from the Department of Agriculture and is using federal funds for processing, packaging and promotion of the truffles. Taxpayers previously picked up the cost of the solar panels for the company and are now paying again to make the company’s new truffles.
10. $668,000 – #angrytweets #heartattacks: The National Institute of Health funded a study to determine if there was a “correlation between negative language in tweets and increased risk of heart disease.” The lead scientist of the study suggests “social media could be utilized diagnostically or therapeutically” for patients.

“The Farce Awakens” is another example adding to the long list of reports that have been released displaying the horrors of government spending and the many ways taxpayer funds have been squandered. Flake has joined forces with several lawmakers to highlight government waste and pursue it for elimination. May the force be with them!