Biggest Money-Wasting Scams Uncovered by DOGE in all 50 States
Alabama — “Roll, Tide” gift bags, luggage tags, and gold-plated tiny helmets distributed to state officeholders
Alaska — Federally-subsidized ice sculptures of whales
Arizona — Cashing social security checks for thousands of 140-year old retirees
Arkansas — Department of Bootlegging Studies at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock
California — “California Love” rap video production program featuring state landmarks being set on fire
Colorado — Five-year après-ski study of effects of high altitudes on potency of cocoa leaf by-products
Connecticut — In situ performances of Rick Moody’s The Ice Storm
Delaware — State-wide contest to find original uses for old credit cards in order to avoid negative impacts on the …
America by the Numbers
50 billion — dollar amount of “government waste” identified so far by Elon Musk’s D.O.G.E.
8 billion — pounds of waste produced per year by American D-O-G dogs
200,000 — number of Caribbean pink flamingoes in the wild
20 million — number of pink plastic flamingoes sold since 1957, when sculptor Don Featherstone created them for Union Products, a lawn and garden décor company
2.1 billion — dollar amount of USAID money that went directly to Hamas-controlled areas of Gaza
5 million — dollar amount of loan money available to businesses impacted by the February, 2023 train derailment/chemical spills in East Palestine, Ohio
1 trillion over 5 years — dollar amount of wealth being sheltered by Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts and related vehicles, which …
Bouquets and Brickbats
To David Johansen, the rock singer and actor who died in his house on Staten Island at the age of 75 in February. Johansen made rock history as the lead singer of the New York Dolls whose eponymous 1972 first album and the 1974 follow-up Too Much Too Soon helped invent punk rock before British fashionista puppets the Sex Pistols ever got into it. In his later years, Johansen delighted everyone from fans of his lounge-lizard persona Buster Poindexter (“Hot! Hot! Hot!”) to appreciators of his appearances in films like Scrouged and Let It Ride. Johansen’s career is proof that you don’t have to sing in a British accent to be a punk rocker (Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, we are looking at you).
