U.S. Gov't to spend another 1/2 billion telling you how efficient they are!

A week ago, our frugal government discovered two-sided copying and other wonders, saving taxpayers $102 million after President Obama ordered his cabinet secretaries to look for ways to save money. In addition to two-sided copying, these savings included more efficient use of military planes: "By increasing the number of soldiers traveling on each airplane chartered for rest-and-relaxation leave, the Army will save $18 million in the next few months." The White House said these savings were "just the beginning".

Two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal ran a story about how government agencies were moving their meetings from places like "Reno, Orlando and Las Vegas" to places like "St. Louis, Milwaukee or Denver." Even though Vegas and other places "have tens of thousands of hotel rooms and millions of square feet of conference space, [and] often offer the best deals on meetings and conferences." All to avoid the "appearance of being lavish," even though meetings in less-lavish places sometimes cost more. Local economies like Vegas are built around travel and are suffering in this recession. As of this May, home values in Vegas were down 45.3% from last year! To avoid "being lavish", the government is essentially taking money away from these locations and moving it to Detroit through bailouts and Cash for Clunkers.

This morning, "Congress Gets an Upgrade" is the top story on page 1 of the WSJ. "Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have criticized the use of corporate jets by companies receiving taxpayer funds." $550 million is five times the (projected) savings the government announced recently, and half as much as the $1.1 billion put aside in the stimulus "for the federal government to compare the effectiveness of different treatments for the same illness" Are these planes half as important as figuring out whether the blue pill or the red pill is more effective?

These plans include the purchase of two Boeing 737s that were being leased, plus the purchase of two more. I am not an expert, but these planes sound fairly "lavish" to me:

The 737s, known as C-40s by the military, are designed to be an "office in the sky" for government leaders, according to Air Force documents describing the plane. The plane is configured with all first-class leather seats, worktables, two large galleys for cooking and a "distinguished visitor compartment with sleep accommodations."

And what is Congress going to use these planes for? Many of them will fly around the country convincing taxpayers to fund a massive expansion of our government. The rest will fly around the country to argue against it.

I suppose if the expansion side wins the argument, $550 million will be just another drop in the bucket. And that's "just the beginning".