More on the Money Sent Down the National Science Foundation Rat Hole

by Dave Blount | May 31, 2011 2:43 pm

As the country careens toward bankruptcy, stratospheric taxes and a $14 trillion debt smother the economy, and hyperinflation threatens to wipe out our savings due to Big Government printing increasingly worthless currency to cover its never-ending spending binge, the National Science Foundation[1] provides examples of what our liberal rulers have been trading our future for:

• $80,000 study on why the same teams always dominate March Madness;
• $315,000 study suggesting playing FarmVille on Facebook helps adults develop and maintain relationships;
• $1 million for an analysis of how quickly parents respond to trendy baby names;
• $50,000 to produce and publicize amateur songs about science, including a rap called “Money 4 Drugz,” and a misleading song titled “Biogas is a Gas, Gas, Gas”;
• $2 million to figure out that people who often post pictures on the internet from the same location at the same time are usually friends; and
• $581,000 on whether online dating site users are racist.

Then there is the mismanagement:

• Hundreds of millions of dollars lost to ineffective contracting;
• $1.7 billion in unspent funds sitting in expired, undisbursed grant accounts;
• At least $3 million in excessive travel funds;
• A lack of accountability or program metrics to evaluate expenditures;
• Inappropriate staff behavior including porn surfing and Jello wrestling and skinny-dipping at NSF-operated facilities in Antarctica.

Much of the lunacy is duplicated by others among the 15 federal departments, 12 independent agencies, and 72 subagencies that perform R&D for Big Government.

Don’t be too sure that a private company would never waste money so irresponsibly. Under Obamanomics, making a profit is no longer necessary or even desirable, so long as you have pull in Washington. The more incompetent the management, the bigger the bailout.

national science foundation jell-o
NSF apparatchiks at play in the Jell-O.

On a tip from BURNING HOT[2]. Hat tip: Weasel Zippers[3]. Cross-posted at Moonbattery[4].

Endnotes:
  1. National Science Foundation: http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=8a114193-dcf7-4ae8-ae8b-146797e5c162
  2. BURNING HOT: http://scottthong.wordpress.com/
  3. Weasel Zippers: http://weaselzippers.us/2011/05/27/good-news-u-s-taxpayers-shell-out-581k-to-find-out-if-online-dating-site-users-are-racist/
  4. Moonbattery: http://www.moonbattery.com/

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