America’s Past-Time: Baseball And Wasteful Spending

Take me out to the ball game! Take me out to the crowd! Please don’t buy the peanuts or crackerjacks, we can’t afford them! Now that baseball season is upon us, we at Americans For Prosperity wanted to take the time and discuss America’s real past-time, wasteful government spending. And there is no better way to do that than by comparing the top paid baseball players to some of the more ridiculous and wasteful budget items.

10. Buster Posey and Unused Prisons

Buster Posey, from the San Francisco Giants, will earn $167 million over 9 Years as of his current contract. At the same time, despite the clear disapproval from Congress last year, the DOJ spent $165 million to purchase an unused prison in Illinois, even though the Bureau of Prisons already had four brand-new federal prisons sitting empty and waiting to be put to use. I’m sure Buster Posey knows of another prison that is currently not being used sitting right in his backyard of San Francisco…..

9. Felix Hernandez and a Sugar Ponzi Scheme

Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners has a contract for $175 Million over 7 Years. The government stands to lose $171.5 million due to a program in the 2008 Farm Bill, the Feedstock Flexibility Program (FFP). Under this program, the government is required, in times of surplus, to buy sugar from processors and to re-sell the sugar to ethanol plants. The USDA has lent over $1.2 billion to sugar processors in exchange for sugar in collateral, a move to protect US sugar producers from foreign competition. But, instead of repaying the USDA with cash from their profits, U.S. sugar processors and producers are actually defaulting on their loans and forfeiting the sugar they put up as collateral. Hopefully the next 7 years will be sweeter for Seattle than the farm bill was for America.

8. Justin Verlander and Mark Teixeira vs. a Monkey House

Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers and Mark Teixeira of the New York Yankees both tied at 8th place with $180 million over 7 and 8 year contracts respectively. The Department of Veterans Affairs spends about that much, $175 million annually, to maintain hundreds of buildings it does not use, including a pink, octagonal monkey house in Dayton, Ohio. What the government should spend money on is a dog house, because a lot of officials will be spending some time in it after wasting taxpayer’s money.

7. Joe Mauer and George Washington

The Twins are spending $184 million over 8 years to keep Joe Mauer’s face in Minnesota, while the Treasury Department spent the same amount annually to keep the paper dollar bill in circulation and George Washington’s face in your wallet.

6. Derek Jeter Isn’t Even Worth a Blimp!

Derek Jeter’s last contract with the New York Yankees was worth $189 million over 10 years. That contract has since ended and Jeter has signed a final one year-long contract that many think will be his final before retirement. The Army spent three and a half years and nearly $300 million building a football field-sized blimp called the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) to provide continuous surveillance over Afghanistan battlefields. The project was riddled with errors and ran over-budget, so the Army just sold it back to the contractor. Maybe when Jeter retires, the Yankees can just sell him back to the city of New York. I’m sure Rudy Giuliani would put in an offer.

5. Prince Fielder Can’t Even Afford Healthcare.gov

When Prince Fielder was a member of the Detroit Tigers, they agreed to a contract worth $214 million over 9 years. It hasn’t even been a year yet and healthcare.gov has already cost $319 million to build so far. That isn’t even the total amount after you take into account spending on publicity, marketing, and advertising nationally. The Tigers were smart to drop Fielder from their payroll when they traded him to the Texas Rangers, let’s hope Congress drops ObamaCare from ours.

4. Joey Votto and Medicaid

Cincinnati Reds have agreed to pay Joey Votto $251.5 million over 12 years. I think it’s safe to assume that he will never qualify for Medicaid, unlike tons of tax cheaters. There are people out there who owe millions in unpaid taxes to the federal government, but still received at least $330 million in Medicaid payments.

3. Albert Pujols is a Warplane (it sounds a lot cooler than it is…)

The Los Angeles Angels spent a big chunk of change, $240 million over 10 years, to steal Albert Pujols from the Cardinals. Much to the delight of St. Louis fans, he hasn’t been nearly as productive with the Angels as he was with the Cardinals. At least he produces more than the $432 million warplanes that won't be used. In August 2012, a former Air Force Chief of Staff testified before Congress that the Air Force did not want to acquire more C-27Js due to the fiscal constraints brought on by the sequester, the C-27Js’ limited capabilities, and because the C-130 was more cost effective. Contrary to the Air Force's request to stop production of the planes, and even though Congress was aware that the planes would never be used, it continued to fund C-27J production in the Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.

2. Alex Rodriguez and, not surprisingly, drugs

A-Rod’s first big contract with the Texas Rangers was for $252 million over 10 years. The HHS could actually save $2.7 billion annually if they just reexamining how much Medicaid and Medicare should pay for wholesale prescription drugs. Had the Rangers known about his drug use, maybe they could have saved some money. It’s too late for Texas, but not for you HHS!

1. Alex Rodriguez (again) and the IRS

A-Rod’s second contract, this time with the New York Yankees, earns him $275 million over 10 Years. Equally as hated nationwide, IRS workers get pay and benefits while owing $3.5 billion in back taxes. In 2011, the IRS found 312,000 federal employees and retirees were delinquent on their federal income taxes, owing a total of $3.5 billion in unpaid federal income taxes. Suddenly, A-Rod doesn’t seem so evil now, does he?