Washington D.C.’s addiction to spending may be worse than you think.
This year alone, the federal government will spend more than $30,500 per household, according to a new report from the Heritage Foundation. This figure, up $5,000 per household from just a few years ago, is expected to grow to more than $35,600 per household by the year 2020.
As outrageous as this growth of government spending is, it is even more obscene considering what our tax dollars are being spent on. Here is just a short catalogue of the wasteful spending items identified in the report:
– Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties;- The federal government made at least $98 billion in improper payments in 2009;- Because of overstaffing, the U.S. Postal Service selects 1,125 employees per day to sit in empty rooms. They are not allowed to work, read, play cards, watch television, or do anything. This costs $50 million annually;- Washington will spend $2.6 million training Chinese prostitutes to drink more responsibly on the job;- The federal government owns more than 50,000 vacant homes; and – The National Institutes of Health spends $1.3 million per month to rent a lab that it cannot use.- James Quintero