Political pork has gotten out of hand

To the editor:

Lately, I have been thinking about where to put my extra cash. As much as I hate to send money out of state, maybe I should invest $10,000 in Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., because $10 million for $10,000 sounds good to a person who has worked all his life.

Giving to Sen. Cochran’s campaign seems to result in the highest returns on the initial investment of any member of Congress.

The proposed $636 billion Senate military spending bill has $2.65 billion in earmarks. President Barack Obama has said, “If Congress sends me a defense bill loaded with pork, I will veto it.” We will see.

Professors and staff of the University of Southern Mississippi collected more than $10,000 for the senator’s money chest. And for their investment in Sen. Cochran, the people at the Mississippi school were rewarded with a $10.8 million research grant. Another $12 million grant of our money will be given to Raytheon Corp., whose officials have given $10,000 to Cochran since 2007. During this same period, the officers of the Circadence Corp. contributed $10,000 for this senator and they are only getting a $6 million grant. I am not sure why their investment brought in slightly less money.

Sen. Cochran paid off some of his favorite money givers, but, like so many other congressmen, he thinks his $132 million is only a small part of the big spending. Meanwhile, income tax receipts are down 22 percent from a year ago and the federal deficit has ballooned to $1.8 trillion. To their credit, some congressmen do not do earmarks at all. 

A few of those spending our money talk of cutting wasteful spending, but the majority always vote against any cut in their unnecessary projects.

A billion here and a trillion there, but who cares — it’s not their money. 

ROBERT D. “DANNY” RICKETTS

Danville