The Pig Book How Government Wastes Your Money [Paperback]

The federal government wastes your tax dollars worse than a drunken sailor on shore leave. The 1984 Grace Commission uncovered that the Department of Defense spent $640 for a toilet seat and $436 for a hammer. Twenty years later things weren't much better. In 2004, Congress spent a record-breaking $22.9 billion dollars of your money on 10,656 of their pork-barrel projects. The war on terror has a lot to do with the record $413 billion in deficit spending, but it's also the result of pork over the last 18 years the likes of:

- $50 million for an indoor rain forest in Iowa
- $102 million to study screwworms which were long ago eradicated from American soil
- $273,000 to combat goth culture in Missouri
- $2.2 million to renovate the North Pole (Lucky for Santa!)
- $50,000 for a tattoo removal program in California
- $1 million for ornamental fish research

Funny in some instances and jaw-droppingly stupid and wasteful in others,The Pig Bookproves one thing about Capitol Hill: pork is king!

I believe that this book should be read by every citizen in America...What is being done here by CAGW, in my view, is of the greatest importance. Senator John McCainCitizens Against Government Waste(CAGW) is a private, non-partisan, nonprofit organization whose mission is to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in federal government. Founded in 1984 by the late industrialist J. Peter Grace and syndicated columnist Jack Anderson, CAGW produces numerous publications including their official newspaperGovernment WasteWatchand the annualCongressional Pig Bookout of whichThe Pig Bookgrew. They are based in Washington, D.C.

A compendium of the most ridiculous examples of Congress's pork-barrel spending.