Your Taxpayer Dollars For Wine-Tastings!
The headline of this op-ed alone, Jim DeMint's "Why Are Taxpayers Paying For Wine Tasting?" made my head fly off and steam rush out of my ears. He's writing in the WSJ about the Economic Development Administration:
The EDA was created in 1965 with the same high-minded intent used to usher in the $814 billion stimulus bill in 2009. Set inside the Commerce Department, the bureau and its grants are supposed to promote economic competitiveness and create jobs. In reality, the EDA has given taxpayers little return on their investment and instead become a slush fund for the well-connected.Certainly, the bureau has funded some well-meaning projects, just as there were some noncontroversial earmarks mixed in with bridges to nowhere and teapot museums. As a recovering earmarker, I must say that I have supported certain EDA grants in the past. But to my fellow senators, I now say this: If you aren't willing to cut spending you previously supported, our nation is destined for bankruptcy.
...A review of the EDA's grants makes clear that, just like the stimulus, this program too often has used federal dollars to fund pet projects that have little relation to the national interest. In April, the bureau reported that it gave a $2 million grant to build a "culinary amphitheater," wine tasting room, and gift shop at the Port of Benton and the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Richland, Wash. The same month, it gave $1.5 million to promote tourism in the Northern Mariana Islands. In January, it spent $1 million on an "innovation conference center" in Arkansas to promote "cultural enrichment."
Want "cultural enrichment"? Look in your local alt weekly (free!) for gallery openings. Tip the guy who hands you the cheap wine in the plastic cup. Drink two glasses, and it'll be $2 right there -- $4 if you're feeling generous. But, it's your money, not ours, and I'm way fine with that.
I am all for a good wine tasting but that's just stupid. My wine should be paid for by ME, not my neighbor.
My head is reeling from the stupidity of it.
Sabrina at June 15, 2011 4:58 AM
Why are we giving money to a foriegn country to promote tourism for them in detrement to our own tourism trade?
lujlp at June 15, 2011 6:40 AM
Northern Marianas is a Commonwealth of the US.
I R A Darth Aggie at June 15, 2011 6:49 AM
Why? You can drive around the Finger Lakes in NY and hit dozens of wineries. For a buck, you can sample half a dozen wines at each place. (A designated driver is highly recommended if you are going to drink the samples.)
They built their own buildings.
MarkD at June 15, 2011 7:17 AM
As an Arkansas transplant, I can confirm that $1 million was indeed wasted.
Matt at June 15, 2011 8:46 AM
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