Barrel Projects Government Boondoggles Pork Money Eslpod Complain

Americans often complain about how their "elected representatives" (people who are voted into positions to represent others in the government, such as Senators and Representatives) are "engaged in" (participating in and contributing to) "wasteful spending," or the use of money in unproductive or unnecessary ways. They often complain about "boondoggles" and "pork barrel projects."

A "boondoggle" is a project that seems to have "value" (meaning, importance, and an ability to make contributions), but is actually "wasteful" (using valuable resources in unimportant ways) or "meaningless" (without purpose). Boondoggles often "drag on" (last for a long period of time) and result in costing much more than expected. A "pork barrel project" is similar, but is a government project that "designates" (assigns) money for a particular purpose, pleasing a small group of voters, but not benefiting all taxpayers. The people who benefit from pork barrel projects are generally expected to "support" (help) the politicians who have arranged for those projects.

One of the best-known boondoggles or pork barrel projects was a 2005 "earmark" (money that has been set aside for a particular purpose) of $452 million to build two bridges in Alaska. But one of those bridges would have connected an island where only a few "dozen" (a group of twelve) people lived, so it became known as the "Bridge to Nowhere."

An example of a pork barrel project was the Big Dib in Boston, Massachusetts, where 3.5 miles of a freeway was moved underground at a cost of more than $4 billion per mile. The project benefitted local residents in Massachusetts, but had "minimal" (very little) value for "taxpayers" (people who pay money to the government) in other parts of the country.