Wasteful Spending

Our government wastes more money than any normal person could fathom.  Lets look at some examples:

• $25 billion dollars annually spent maintaining unused/vacant federal properties
• The FCC spent $350k to sponsor NASCAR driver David Gilliland
• $7.8 billion dollars intended for aid in Iraq is "unaccounted for" 
• $3 billion dollars was spent on "re-sanding beaches" in 2009
• High ranking government officials commissioned portraits go for approximately $50k
• In 2006, the government helped fund a golf course in Atlanta ($1.8 million)
• The Conservation Reserve program pays farmers $2 billion annually to not farm their land
• $1.5 million is spent annually to help Hollywood movies and t.v. shows portray the FBI
• $300k spent to build an Agricultural and Motorsports Museum in Iowa
• National Science Foundation spent $350k in 2012 studying golfers envisioning a larger hole
• Air Force One costs over $200k per hour when in the air

Obamacare is another great example.  I'm all for finding a way to get healthcare to every American in our country.  Obamacare is not it.  It cost over $1 billion dollars to fund the federal Obamacare website.  I work in the software industry, and I could have created that website for around $300,000 from start to finish.  Think about how many people could have been saved from a lifetime of debt with $1 billion dollars.  Instead of wasting money on a broken website and countless advertisements, that money could have actually helped the American people directly.  

Green Energy and Global Warming are two more mind boggling examples of wasteful spending.  What is more important:  helping the poor and the sick, or putting some solar panels on top of a corporation so they can save $50k a year on electricity?  What is more important:  funding more research on global warming or helping kids with disabilities get the care they need to succeed in life?  It's a no-brainer.

Can anyone explain to me how this happens?  How do the leaders in our country get away with such wasteful spending?  Why do I constantly hear that the rich should "pay their fair share" when the government spends over $3.8 trillion dollars a year?  Is that honestly not enough money to solve our country's problems?  

WAKE UP PEOPLE!  Stop arguing with each other and start holding the government accountable for doing a terrible job.  

Sources

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/10/50-examples-of-government-waste

http://thewastelist.nrcc.org/