If you laid out $1 bills end-to-end, on the main road through your town or city, how far would it go? How far would $54.7 billion wrap around the earth if laid out in $1 bills? Well, I don’t know the answer to the first question (you do the math) but according to Congressman Rand Paul, the answer to the second is a beyond belief 1,506 times! Paul put that into context in his annual wasteful spending report. Our debt is now at $3.1 trillion. Of course, a good chunk of it has gone to COVID-related spending, but his report details $3.86 billion dollars worth of healthcare spending that has zero to do with the pandemic.
So what made Paul’s list? From the report:
- $1.3 million to study whether people will eat ground-up bugs;
- $36 million to ask why stress makes peoples’ hair turn gray;
- $1.47 million to persuade Eastern Mediterranean youth to stop smoking hookah;
- $6.97 million of cancer research money to create a “smart toilet;”
- $1.24 million to reduce the amount of time adults spend watching TV;
- $896,994 to give cigarettes to adolescents;
- $31.5 million on an allegedly faked study linking e-cigarettes to heart attacks;
- $3.1 million interviewing San Franciscans about their edible cannabis use;
- $2 million on testing if using a hot tub can lower stress;
- $3.45 million to send messages to mothers to encourage their teenage daughters to stop indoor tanning.
So, I guess one could accept the study on “edibles” as it is a growing market and legal in several states. Money spent to reduce the time watching TV? Not needed for me. I’ve already cut out the daily news almost 100 percent. Smart toilets? Let your mind wander on what that entails. Why does stress make your hair gray? That’s easy. Gray hair is better than no hair (IMHO).
Speaking of stress, can time relaxing in a hot tub help reduce stress? Bubble up, y’all! It might ease muscle pain or could be the start of a party! But, women need to remember the possible contraindications of combining sources of heat during pregnancy. Hot tubs, jacuzzis, whirlpools, saunas and indoor UV-tanning sessions should be avoided as the heat produced could affect fetal development. Alas, most of the under-informed would assume that pregnant women must avoid tanning beds due to the possibility of “microwaves” migrating through the skin. Silly kids – tanning systems do not emit microwaves. Want proof? Slap a pound of ground beef on the bench acrylic shield of one of your sunbeds, set the timer and see what happens: outside of the perplexed look on your guests’ faces, nothing!
Oh, yeah – how much was spent on urging mothers to tell their daughters to stop indoor tanning? $3.45 million? Are you kidding me? How much was spent to lecture parents on the hazards of UV overexposure while their youthful daughters (and sons) spent time on the sunny soccer, softball and baseball fields? Enjoying summer days at the parks and pools? How much was spent on directing them to avoid getting sunburned at lakes and beaches? (Crickets, I tell you. Crickets!)
Quite the hypocrisy, right?
