Overstimulated?

We all know what happens when our elected officials and bureaucrats get hold of a giant pot of money, don't we?

That's right, out-of-control wasteful spending!

Whether it's a tax, a toll, a fee - you name it - they'll find a way to spend it in ways we never intended.

Check out this morning's Ft. Worth Star-Telegram article on how our transportation funds were spent. That's right, they were spent on everything but transportation!

One reason is that state legislators often require the Texas Department of Transportation to spend its enhancement dollars on pet projects by attaching last-minute "riders" to the department’s appropriation.

North Texans pay twice (or thrice):

Meanwhile, drivers in Dallas-Fort Worth, the nation’s fourth-most-congested metro area, are being asked to pay tolls on a growing number of roads and could face higher gas taxes in the coming years to make up for a shortfall of funds to expand highways.

Think it's just a Texas problem? Ask a senior citizen in New York state about the Thruway. Built in the 50's, it's the longest stretch of toll road in the nation and it was supposed to have become toll-free almost fifteen years ago. Instead, tolls continue to increase. Read more here.

So as this new toll hike takes effect, let's look at how they're spending the toll money.

For every toll dollar collected:

• 36 cents goes toward basic operating costs
• 49 cents goes toward thruway debt and capital
• 5 cents goes toward service areas and equipment

Your thruway dollars still support the canal, too. About 9 cents of every dollar supports the waterways.

Yeah, I wondered why it didn't add up.

That's about $80 million a year for a canal that most thruway drivers never use.

Canal directors say it's a better solution than simply taxing New York State residents to fund it.

I get it now.

Taxing New Yorkers might make the whole process more - as the double-talkers like to say - "transparent".

We can't have that, can we?

These folks are spending our money in ways we didn't approve. They're wasting our money in ways we find disgusting. Can you imagine what's happening with that stimulus money?

Check out The Mann Grant here.

It's just the tip of the iceberg...