Constitution
Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday: Army Dissects Every Step Of Buying Worcestershire Sauce
In 1981 the U.S. Army spent $10,000 (worth over $20,000 today) on figuring out how to buy a bottle of: Worcestershire sauce.
In 1981, The U.S. Army spent $6,000 — more than $20,000 in 2023 dollars — to prepare a 17-page document that tells the federal government how to buy a bottle of Worcestershire sauce.
For its silly and reckless disregard for the use of tax dollars, Sen. William Proxmire, a Democrat from Wisconsin, gave the U.S. Army a Golden Fleece award.
Proxmire gave awards for wasteful and nonsensical spending, eventually handing out 168 Golden Fleece Awards between 1975 and 1988.
Beyond the 17 pages directing one to buy a 15-ounce bottle that retails for about $1.50 in 1981, one must refer to another 2,270 pages of government and commercial regulations and references, the senator said.
The document should have been titled, “Everything you wanted to know about Worcestershire sauce but would never bother to ask.”
“Chemical analysis in the specifications are spelled out for every last molecule in the Worcestershire sauce — from the pH for the tamarind to the salt content of the anchovy paste,” Proxmire said.
Shockingly, directions are written on how to ensure the cap of the bottle is screwed on tight enough.
“The federal specifications are also written in a jargonese that would make a bureaucrat’s mouth water,” he added.
“I can see having complex federal specifications if the military is buying a weapons systems. But Worcestershire sauce? That 17-page specification and the 2,270-page backup is nothing more than a recipe for stuffed paperwork soufflé that left the taxpayer with an indigestible $6,000 check.”
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.
Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) is the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.
Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.
The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.
Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.
Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.
Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.
Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.
In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.
Andrzejewski lives in Hinsdale, Illinois with his wife Kerry and three daughters. He is a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and has finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).
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