15 Dumb Things Governments Spent Way Too Much Money On

It costs a lot to be this dumb.

Published 8 months ago in Facepalm

While New York City — and mayor Eric Adams — may have come under fire this week for reportedly spending $4 million to prove if and how trash cans work (they do), they're far from the only municipality to throw caution — and a whole lot of cash — to the wind.

Over the past several decades, governments around the globe have managed to make financial decisions more questionable than your college self, pouring millions into strange research, bailouts and a whole host of other weird venues.

From studies into coffee spills to developing space safe kimchi, here are 17 dumb things governments spent too much money on.

1
“The U.S. government once spent $2.6 million dollars to train Chinese [s–x workers] to drink responsibly.”

2
“In FY 2011, the federal government spent more than $1.4 billion to hunt down student loan defaulters.”

3
“The American government spent 6M$ on 9 Italian goat[s], trying to develop the cashmere market in Afghanistan.”
4
“In the 1950s and 60s Canada spent ‘thousands and thousands’ making a ‘gaydar’ to detect homosexual government employees.”

5
“In 1993, the U.S. Government spent $277,000 on ‘pickle research.’”
6
“The Pentagon spent $170,000 to find out why one spills coffee while walking.”
7
“In 2007, the Australian Government spent $84 million on a p—n filter. A 16-year old boy, Tom Wood, cracked the filter in less than 40 minutes.”

8
“The US Government spent 20 years and $20m on an experimental project to test and train telepaths for military use.”
9
In 2011, a study designed to determine how shrimp react to ocean warming or pollution sparked controversy and conflicting reports. While several lawmakers balked at the experiment — one that Forbes claimed cost $3 million — Marine biologist David Scholnick claimed the treadmill cost less than $50 to make.
10
“The USA paid $200 billion dollars to cable company's to provide the US with Fiber internet. They took the money and didn't do anything with it.”

11
“The Victorian Government in Australia spent $5.7 Billion on a seawater desalination plant. That plant is complete and in ‘Standby Mode’, costing $1.8 Million per day to produce NO clean water.”
12
Researchers reportedly used roughly $700,000 in grants from the National Science Foundation to determine whether Neil Armstrong’s “one small step for man” quote had a missing “a.” The report was inconclusive, stating their “results demonstrate that substantial ambiguity exists in the original quote from Armstrong."
13
In 2009, researchers at the University of Washington spent $1.3 million in National Science Foundation grants to determine that beer koozies can, in fact, insulate beverages.

14
“The Iraqi government spent $85 million on fake bomb detectors that had no batteries or internal electronics.”
15
The U.S. spent $50 million on a “Jihad Literacy” program in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. They “paid for and approved curricular materials for small children that emphasized religious war,” per NPR.
16
“The U.S. Department of Defense spent $41.6 million on [erectile dysfunction medication] and $84.24 million total on drugs for erectile dysfunction in 2014. Less than 10% of prescriptions were for troops, the rest went to retirees or family members covered by military health plans.”

17
In the 2000s, “three top government research institutes” in Korea spent millions to develop “space kimchi.” This Kimchi was designed “not turn dangerous when exposed to cosmic rays or other forms of radiation and would not put off non-Korean astronauts with its pungency,” per the New York Times.