Hey, Those Are My Tax Dollars

Hey, Those Are My Tax Dollars!

Good morning my fellow Rotarians. Just saw a study that came out this week from the nonpartisan Office of Budget Responsibility and they chronicled the top 100 projects that are considered to be a waste of taxpayer dollars by our federal government. I thought I would share three of my favorites with you. 

Red Planet Menu…  Did you know that each year NASA works on the development of a so called “Mars Food Menu” that will be used when men land on Mars?  Researchers have test subjects simulate space conditions and rate the food being tested based on taste, their overall health, and the mood it puts them in. The only problem is that the first manned mission to Mars won’t happen until 2035 at the earliest.  Total wasted taxpayer cost since inception of this project…  $46 million!

Shoot First, Research Later…  The Missile Defense Agency has a bad habit of building things before they finish their research and development work.  However, on two occasions over the past decade, the agency has begun building interceptor missiles without first finishing the research and testing that should have been completed prior to their construction. Not surprisingly on both missile projects they experienced delays, failures, and system upgrade issues resulting in the projects costing nearly four times as much as original estimates.  Price tag for this project…  $760 million!

The Buzz Hormone…  The National Institutes of Health has funded over 30 projects in Michigan and Texas for the past decade to test hormone levels in fruit flies.  The tests discovered that male fruit flies are more attracted to younger female fruit flies than older ones.  That’s it!  And now researchers have started the process to obtain more tax payer funds to they can expand their hormone research to other animals.  Total cost of this fruit fly hormone experiment…   $940 million!

There you have it, some great examples of how our federal government spends our hard earned tax dollars and that’s the Bottom of our News on this Friday, October 19, 2012.   
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