Taxpayer Dollars at Work

December 20, 2010 11:58 A.M.

By Katrina Trinko

Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) released today his annual Wastebook, which details lavish government funding on obscure projects.

“As you look at these examples, ask yourself: at a time when we are borrowing over $44,000 for every person in the country, are these items a priority and are they a federal responsibility?” writes Coburn in the introduction, adding that the cost of the 100 projects he highlights totals over $11.5 billion. Here’s some of the “best” taxpayer-funded items:

● $1.8 million to the Neon Boneyard Park and Museum, which collects and displays discarded neon Las Vegas signs.

● $2.9 million to a group of professors at University of California-Irvine for research on internet games such as World of Warcraft and Second Life and how, according to the university’s press release, they “can help organizations collaborate and compete more effectively in the global marketplace.”

● $239,100 to Stanford University for a study on how people date and find love online.

● $137,530 to a Dartmouth professor Mary Flanagan to make, according to Wastebook, a “video game called ‘Layoff,’ a puzzle-style game in which players fire as many people as they can as quickly as possible.”

● $150,000 to the Vermont town of Monkton to erect signs warning drivers to look out for salamanders crossing the road.

● $47.6 million to Atlanta, Georgia to build a streetcar system — on the exact same route as an existing subway system.

Read about the rest of the projects at:http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=774a6cca-18fa-4619-987b-a15eb44e7f18

From NRO

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White House Acknowledges Some Low Wage Earners Will Have Less Money In Their Pocket Next Year – Today’s Q’s for O’s WH

December 08, 2010 4:07 PM

National Economic Council director Larry Summers and White House senior adviser David Axelrod joined White House press secretary Robert Gibbs at today’s briefing.

As first noted by the New York Times, some low wage earners may be getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop in this tax cut compromise, in the sense that they may have less money in their pocket next year as opposed to this year. That’s because they receive tax credits through the Making Work Pay tax credit, which expires at the end of this year. That tax credit will be replaced by a payroll tax reduction of 2% -- and for some low wage earners, the tax credit is bigger than 2% of their income.

TAPPER: I was wondering if you could comment on the New York Times report today that those at the -- at the lower end of the economic spectrum will actually be the only ones with less money in their pocket as a result of this deal because of the Making Work Pay elimination and the...

SUMMERS: It's a good question. It's a very -- it's a very good question. You -- you have to figure out what comparison you're going to do. It is true that for a $16,000 a year, so that's an all-year minimum wage worker, it is true that the Making Work Pay would have given that -- would have given that worker $400, and the -- this proposal, the pay roll tax holiday, will give $320. That's -- and there is that $80 difference. On the other hand, the proposals, such as the House bill that contained the Making Work Pay, would not have -- would not have included any of the three refundable tax credits that I mentioned, which, cumulatively, for that family, on average are worth several hundred dollars.

Obviously, it depends on how many kids the family has and what the situation is, but on average would work out to about $300 for such a family. One. Two, would not have included the continuation of unemployment insurance benefits, which provide $300 a week in benefits. And, three, takes no account of the extra growth increment that will come from this program. If you raise GDP by 1 percent, that's $2,000 for the average family.

So we, as -- as I've emphasized, this was a compromise. But if you look cumulatively at the elements that were in this compromise, relative to no deal or even relative to the bill that passed through the House, that $16,000 a year family gets much more support from this bill than it would have -- than it would have in its absence. And we believe you have to look at the totality of the program, not just take one provision from it and compare it with one provision in some other bill.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: But, just to be clear, there are those on the lower end of the economic chart who will be -- who will not benefit in 2011 compared to 2010 in this deal, while everyone else on the financial spectrum will.

SUMMERS: No. No. That's not right. That's not right. But you just said -- what you just said is factually -- is -- is wrong.

TAPPER: A single person. No family. Doesn't get a child credit. $16,000 a year.

SUMMERS: Right. That person will get $320. That person will get -- will -- will get $320.

TAPPER: As opposed to $400 this year.

SUMMERS: Right. So there's a person who, if they have -- if they don't benefit from the unemployment insurance, if they don't benefit from the economic growth, if they don't benefit from the EITC or the child care or the American Opportunity Credit, might be $80 behind. There's a far larger number of families, however, who will be hundreds, if not thousands of dollars ahead, because of the refundable tax credits, because of the unemployment insurance and because of the growth.

--Jake Tapper

December 8, 2010
in Current Affairs, David Axelrod, Jake Tapper, Political Punch, President Obama, Today's Qs for Obama's WH, Weblogs, White House, White House Press Briefing
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Thursday, December 23, 2010

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