THE EARMARK QUEEN….Dean Baker puts Sarah Palin’s prowess in trawling for federal pork into perspective:
As the Washington Post reports this morning, Governor Pallin managed to secure $27 million (as in 27 Woodstock museums) in earmarks for her little town of 6,700 back when she was mayor. That comes to more than $4000 per person.
….If every mayor was as successful at taking in federal largess as Governor Palin was for her little town, the tab would be $1.2 trillion, well over one-third of the federal budget. That is serious cash. (In fairness, Governor Palin collected her haul over several years, so the comparison to single year’s budget is not entirely appropriate.)
Well then, let’s be appropriate. The lobbying firm Palin hired scored this money over the course of four years, so the appropriate comparison is that if everyone were as dedicated as Palin to collecting pork, the tab would be $300 billion per year. That’s about 10% of the entire budget and about one-third of the discretionary budget.
In other words, impressive! Perhaps somebody could do a parody of John McCain’s favorite song, ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” on this meaty subject?
