MONEY

With both sides of the congress arguing that they have a solution to the over spending by he US government. One side says; "Cut spending on entitlement programs. " The other side says increase taxes on the rich."

Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn has released a report that details some very interesting budget spending by an agency known as NSF (National Science Foundation) 

His report can be read here (in pdf format).

SOME OF THE THINGS OUR MONEY IS BEING SPENT ON IS TOTALLY OUTRAGEOUS

$500,000.00 to teach shrimp to walk on a treadmill.

It's not just shrimp on a treadmill. The foundation spent $1.5 million to create a robot that can fold laundry. But before you try to buy one to save some time, consider that it takes the robot 25 minutes to fold a single towel.

The list goes on. Lots of people love to use FarmVille on Facebook, but lots of people probably don't love the government's spending $300,000 in taxpayer money to study whether it helps build personal relationships.

Here's an excerpt from the report:

Does playing FarmVille on Facebook help people to make friends and keep them? A $315,000 NSF study suggests playing FarmVille on Facebook helps adults develop and maintain relationships... Michigan State researchers were provided $314,863 to study "The Role of Social Network Sites in Facilitating Collaborative Processes." According to the funding request, the researchers wanted to use social networks to study how undergraduate students collaborated online and to analyze "aggregate behavioral patterns on Facebook."

"What it says to me is, they have too much money if they're going to spend money on things like that," Coburn said in an interview. 

But there's more.

The National Science Foundation has its headquarters in Arlington, Va., just across the river from Washington, D.C., a building it pays $19 million a year to rent. But now that the 20-year lease is nearly up, it has decided that it is time to move; into a new building that will cost $26 million annually to rent.

Even gelatin wrestling has been the subject of an agency project. In Antarctica, no less. The foundation notes that the project is the work of contractors, not agency employees.

Whatever the case might be, Coburn said, the situation is another example that federal spending has gotten out of control. 

IT'S YOUR MONEY. 

LET'S STOP PISSING IT AWAY