1. Broadband Map That May be Obsolete by the Time it’s Complete ($350 million): $350 million was awarded to states from the Department of Commerce to build a map of its broadband Internet infrastructure, though it duplicates existing maps. Rather than spend $350 million on the project, one firm said it could map the whole nation for $3.5 million – one percent of the cost. Or, anyone with a computer could Google it – for free.
2. Empty Mall Gets Energy Award ($5 million): $5 million was awarded to the Oak Ridge Mall in Tennessee to provide geothermal heat – only the mall has few stores and customers.
3. Fossil Research in Argentina ($1.57 million): Researchers from Penn State will travel to Argentina to dig up plant fossils.
4. Anti-Capitalist Puppet Shows ($50,000): Puppet theatres with socialist, anti-capitalist messages were paid $50,000 to put on puppet shows.
5. Free Rides on Baltimore Water Taxi ($1.6 million): A program to offer free rides on the water taxi as a means of relieving road congestion got money despite it doing little to stop people from traveling in cars.
6. Digital Television Ad Campaign ($6 million): An ad agency was hired for $6 million one month before the switch to digital television—and reported creating three jobs with the money.
7. California Computer System ($60 million): In 2002, CA got $66 million to upgrade its computers for the unemployment insurance program. It spent the money on other things and just got another $60 million in stimulus for the same project.
8. Non-Competitive Contracts ($7.8 billion): Half of all stimulus contracts awarded as of the fall were not subject to full competition.
9. Mice, Alcohol and Drugs ($38,000): Studying the impact of alcohol and methamphetamines on mice and rats.
10. Tourist Railroad ($2 million): The Virginia & Truckee tourist railroad in Nevada will get more than $2 million for an extension.
So, the only project that has actual tangible benefits gets barely any funding at all, while other projects that are nothing more than make-work for the purpose of making it look like something was actually done for the money get millions.
Typical of liberals: no real understanding of how the real world works, and no desire to understand, either, in the quest to try to make it work differently and thereby achieve utopia.
If anyone is wondering how studying addiction in rodents is a worthwhile endeavor, the premise behind such a project is that the process leading to addiction can be studied in a controlled population, with the long term goal of understanding the biological basis behind such addictions in order to develop effective therapies. It is common to use animal models to understand human disease.