I Like Pork – When It’s From A Pig

I Like Pork – When It’s From A Pig

By Dannie McIntire 

City-County Observer Feature Writer

Like many American, I grew up eating pork. I still enjoy a nice pork roast or a pork tenderloin sandwich, but just as long as the pork is from a pig and not our federal government. I believe a majority of my fellow Americans still think of our country as being the richest nation on earth. In reality, our nation is not the wealthiest. Using the index of “Gross Domestic Product Per Capita” as a measure of national wealth, according to the 2021 World Bank rankings below,  the United States ranks 5^th in the world.  

1. Liechtenstein – $116,440
2. Switzerland – $84,310
3. Norway – $78,180
4. Luxembourg – $73,500
5. United States – $64,530
6. Ireland – $64,150
7. Denmark – $63,070
8. Iceland – $62,420
9. Qatar – $56,210
10. Singapore – $54,900

While the United States GNP is impressive compared to most nations, the last time our federal government finished the fiscal year with a surplus was in 2001. For the last 21 years, our federal government has been operating at a deficient. In simple terms, our government has been spending more money that is raised from taxes and other various revenue. This forces our government to borrow money with which to operate. According to “UsDebtClock.org”, the current federal debt is over 30 trillion dollars. That works out to debt of approximately $91,115 per citizen, and even more disturbing a debt of $241,611 per actual tax-paying citizen. I don’t know about you, but if my personal bank account is deficient, I realize I need to better control my spending, something our federal government seems incapable of realizing.

Just several years ago, both political parties swore off inserting “pork barrel” earmark projects into our federal budget. However with the recent trillion-dollar stimulus bills passed or proposed by congress, “pork-barrel” earmarks” are back in vogue. 

According to the website “richmondteaparty.com”, the below is just a sampling of the pork barrel spending included in the omnibus spending bill. My thoughts in bold lettering are in the frame of “just asking”.

$615,000 for “Railroad Quiet Zones” in Commerce City, Colorado. Quiet zones? Can’t the train engineers be instructed to perhaps slow down in congested areas and not blow the train horns so often? If perhaps it is to add gated crossings isn’t that the railroad’s responsibility?

$3,000,000 for the “Palo Alto History Museum” which will “showcase the legacy of innovation and remarkable heritage that are unique to Palo Alto.” Nothing against Palo Alto but their local and state taxes should fund this, not my tax dollars.

$142,500 for Las Vegas bike-share bikes. The program “gives you access to some of the best restaurants, shopping, and attractions in Las Vegas!” Yep, next time I go to Vegas I’ll be sure to bike to a restaurant. 

$800,000 for “artist lofts” in Pomona, CA. Federal dollars for an Affordable Housing and Studio Complex for Artists? Well, I have heard the term “starving artist”.

$3,000,000 for a Gandhi museum in Texas. Excuse me, shouldn’t a Mahatma Gandhi 

Museum be in India?

$496,000 for a local swimming pool in Yonkers, NY.

$3,200,000 for a local bike path in Rhode Island. That’s a lot of money, how busy are the bike lanes and paths around our area?

$2,000,000 for “Reducing Inequity in Access to Solar Power” in Delaware. $2,000,000 for a new soccer field in Anaheim, CA. Say what…put that in English, please!

$500,000 for a ski jump in New Hampshire.

$150,000 to “collect body mass index data school-wide and use that information to encourage young people to stay physically active” in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Where the heck is the Northern Mariana Islands? It takes this much money to tell kids they’ll get fat if they eat at McDonald’s too often?

$500,000 for a soccer field in New Jersey.

$488,000 for the township of North Bergen, NJ for “Municipal Traffic Calming.” In other words federal dollars for a red light or traffic bumps?

$750,000 for a baseball field in Lowell, MA. 

$209,000 for a “Creative Village Affordable Housing and Studio Complex for Artists” in Decatur, GA. Another Federal dollar for an Affordable Housing and Studio Complex for “starving artists”?

$1.1 million for “Soccer Complex Facility Improvements” in Rhode Island. That is a lot of soccer!

$400,000 for a local bike trail in McAllen, TX. Again, a lot of money for a bike path, how busy are the bike lanes and paths around our area?

$1.6 million for “Equitable Growth of Shellfish Aquaculture Industry in Rhode Island.”

Definition of equitable: Having or exhibiting equity: dealing fairly and equally with all concerned. Is Rhode Island having trouble dealing with their shellfish?

In a fair and equal manner? 

$1 Million to repair sidewalks in Louisville, Ky. Sorry Louisville, but I don’t want my federal tax dollars to pay for repairing your sidewalks, especially with the amounts your city has a payout in lawsuits recently!

$700,000 for a Covid-19 Memorial in Florida. Think about this one! Instead of a memorial, apply the money to covid-19 research so this type of memorial in the future isn’t even a thought. 

Our nation is in debt. Foreign countries currently own approximately 30 percent of their national debt. Yet we continue needlessly spending money which we end up having to borrow. This Financial folly has to stop or else our grandkids- grandkids- grandkids will be saddled with paying off the debt of our reckless spending. 

Come on Congress, you wouldn’t throw your personal money around so carelessly, don’t throw our tax dollars around so carelessly!