US Government Over Pays for Pork, Literally

The Stimulus Act has been called the Porkulus Act by many that oppose it saying it is nothing more than Pork Barrel spending and will lead to massive government waste. This where rhetoric meets reality.

The Federal Government purchased $1,191,200 of real Pork with your tax dollars as reported by Recovery.org. It appears from the wording of the report this was for only 2lbs of Ham, but the USDA released a statement today clarifying, "Press reports suggesting that the Recovery Act spent $1.191 million to buy "2 pounds of ham" are wrong. In fact, the contract in question purchased 760,000 pounds of ham for $1.191m, at a cost of approximately $1.50 per pound."

Had the government simply shopped around they could have saved the taxpayers money. The Romney, WV Food Lion is selling Smithfield ham for $1.09 a pound, $0.41 cheaper per pound than the deal they got. By shopping at the Romney Food Lion the government could have saved the taxpayer over $300,000 on this one purchase alone.

When you buying in bulk you usually will get an even better deal, plus think of the Bonus Buy points you would get buying 760,000 lbs of ham!