Earmark Queen

Alaska received $506.00 per person in earmark money under Governor Sarah Palin. Governor Palin requested $451 million in earmarks. Some earmarks are needed for important services. I'm all for cutting needless pork. However, earmarks make $12 billion of a $3 trillion of the 2008 budget. Entitlements and defense spending makes the bulk of the budget. The bailouts and savings and loans and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae did help matters.

Now that the Treasury Department has finally announced its rescue of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—at a cost of up to $100 billion each—isn't it time to start tallying up all this largesse? A hundred billion here, a hundred billion there, maybe it doesn't seem like much at first. But before you know it, you've drained the treasury of the world's richest country. And besides, more rescues seem to be coming. Here's a tally of the bailouts so far:

The stimulus package. Maximum taxpayer cost: $150 billion
What taxpayers got: Free money, up to $1,200 from the government per household, to spend as they wish. Early research shows most recipients have used the money to pay down debts or boost their savings. Good for them, but bad for the economy, which benefits most in the short-term from spending, not saving.

The Bear Stearns bailout will require a $29 billion loan to JPMorgan. That was the only way to entice JPMorgan to buy Bears Sterns. The federal response is necessary. $5 trillion in mortgages is tied up in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bear Stearns going under could create a disaster on the international economy.

McCain's and Palin's biggest talking point is earmarks. The hypocrisy is to be expected. How they fail to address the looming economic meltdown is frightening.