alt Hacker NewsThe problem is not that we aren’t taxed enough— it’s that our government lights cash on fire
Here is some absurd garbage your US taxes paid for:
•$1.5 Million studying the effects of yoga on goats
•$1.7 billion maintaining empty buildings
•$5 million on a campaign to promote an alternative music scene to get hipsters to stop smoking
•$2 million to create an internship program that resulted in the hiring of one full-time employee at the Department of agriculture
•In 2021 alone, the government managed to misplace $281 billion in payments
•$1 million studying the effects of music on dairy cows
•$1.7 million to study the effects of alcohol on fish
Replies
True that the government spends a lot on stuff that it shouldn't, but these examples don't make much of a case. Single-digit millions are not even pocket change here.
Quick search says that list is a mix of misleading and untrue.
That said, 1.5 million on goats, 1 on cows, 1.7 million on fish, these are all perfectly reasonable research costs compared to the potential benefit to agriculture on the scale of the USA, well within the "throw it at the wall and see what sticks" kind of territory; likewise 5 on an anti-smoking campaign and th health burden of smoking in a nation as big as the USA.
You made a tiny mistake, you forgot the $800 billion for the military!
Any sources on the $1.5M effects of yoga on goats study? Google nor ChatGPT could find anything.
> $2 million to create an internship program that resulted in the hiring of one full-time employee at the Department of agriculture
Because the private sector doesn't spend any money on things that don't work out.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
You talk about millions, that's not even a rounding error. Look around you in any private entity, you don't see them spending any tiny fraction on things you don't think are worthwhile?
> $1.7 billion maintaining empty buildings
Assuming they at some point become occupied again, I don't see the issue. The vacancy rate in the private sector isn't anywhere near 0% either.
> In 2021 alone, the government managed to misplace $281 billion in payments
You'll need to be way more specific than 'misplaced'
Are you not aware that science research has a positive return on investment to the economy? Consider reviewing https://www.goldengooseaward.org/
Making fun of science that politicians, wanna be politicians, and conservative media don’t remotely understand in order to deflect and hide actual economic problems they cause is a favorite pastime, but is almost always misleading.
The goat yoga thing isn’t true, it’s pure viral talking point made up nonsense. (And none of the points are made in good faith.) Don’t believe everything you read on the internet, especially if Elon Musk retweets it.
Every good aspect of modern life and modern medicine, technology, etc started with fundamental research that can be made to sound silly.
Some grad student studies the effects of alcohol on fish, learns something new about biology, publishes it so that other students and researchers learn about it, and a few years later after some new studies based on that initial research we get a new cancer drug.
Somebody spends $1 million studying the effects of music on dairy cows, learns that they produce more milk if calming music is played and farmers increase revenues by $10 million per year by adding speakers to their milking rooms.
The billions of dollars spent blowing up infrastructure in the middle east is just a loss, but money spent on research is how we've cured diseases, increased crop yields, launched satellites, and made it so that everyone can have a supercomputer in their pocket that can stream HD video through the air.