Food Stamps

As much as people deride the food stamps program, there’s no denying that it actually helps people engage in one of life’s basic necessities: nourishing themselves. Whether or not there’s too much or too little money going in and out is a topic for another article, but here we examine other federal budgets that are just way, way unnecessary.

1. Beachfront Property Subsidies

What was originally designed as a plan by the USDA to get non-wealthy people to live in rural areas eventually warped its way into millionaires scooping up prime real estate. The USDA guarantees loans for $500,000 or more in places like Hawaii, and then repays up to 90% of the loans if they can’t afford their new homes.

Total cost: $500 million in lost claims last year

2. Blimp

The United States has always prided itself on being at the forefront of aviation, research and exploration, but there’s little understanding how the U.S. Government could spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a blimp that took 3.5 years to build. The worst part? The Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) spiraled so far out of control that its usefulness in surveying Afghan battlefields was completely gone, so the Army wrote it off.

Total cost: $300 million

3. Post-Sandy Welcome Back Campaign

Hurricane Sandy was a devastating event to hit New York and New Jersey, affecting millions of people and throwing the tourism sector for a huge curveball. Understandably, the government wanted to reassure everyone that the area was fixed up and ready to visit again, but the ad campaign—with tourism still down 20-40% last year—was used in favor of aid relief.

Total cost: $65 million

4. Facebook Likes

There’s no denying the popularity of Facebook, or that the government could be doing more to ingratiate itself with social media and younger voters. But paying people to like them on Facebook and Twitter? It seems like the Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) has a little too much time and money on their hands.

Total cost: $630,000

5. IRS

Whatever you mess up on in life, playing tough with the IRS is not one of them. But trying telling that to the 312,000 federal employees who continued to receive their full salaries and benefits while they owed back taxes.

Total cost: $3.5 billion in back taxes in 2011

The next time people gripe about how the SNAP program is overpriced and unnecessary, take a look at this brief list of where other federal dollars are going to. It’s one thing to split hairs over where your next property should be, and quite another altogether to not even be able to afford this week’s groceries.