Stimulus Wasteful Spending: Bees, Crabs and Hillary, oh my
Previously on “Wasteful Spending” we examined nearly $1 million for research on ants to save 3.5 jobs. (Read here)
The University of Hawaii collected $210,000 to study the learning patterns of honeybees (no mention of jobs) and $700,000 went to help crab fishermen in Oregon recover lost crab pots. See the press release below:
Recovering Crab Pots Lost At Sea ($700,000)
A $700,000 grant will pay for 48 people to help Oregon crabbers recover crab pots they have lost at sea. The two-year project expects to yield 2,000 lost pots a year. Oregon crabbers reportedly lose an estimated 15,000 crab pots a year. The effort will use 10 boats, planes, and a telephone hotline for people to phone in crab pot sightings. If all 4,000 pots are recovered as expected, the grantees will spend an average of $175 per crab pot, though John‘s Sporting Goods in nearby Everett, Washington sells new crab pots online for as little as $19.95. At that price, crabbers could purchase nearly ten times as many crab pots as this program is expected to reclaim.1
Let’s repeat that last line:
“At that price, crabbers could purchase nearly ten times as many crab pots as this program is expected to reclaim”
AND that money would go to a business which could hire more people and that would have required ZERO tax payer dollars. There is no mention of jobs created or saved by the crab pot recovery program.
950,000 ant research
210,000 honeybee research
700,000 crab pot recovery
5.97 million to Mark Penn (repayment of Hillary Clinton’s campaign debts)
TOTAL = 7.83 million (only 3.5 jobs confirmed to be saved/created)
Isn’t this fun class?
1. http://oregonbusinessreport.com/2009/12/senators-blast-oregon-for-stimulus-waste-projects/
photo by photoSteve101 via Flickr
