This week, our award is going to the United States Congress for allocating nearly $170 million for emergency funding to be distributed among Ivy League universities, some with endowments larger than the total assets managed by some mid-size investment funds.
The most recent “coronavirus relief bill” cost just under $2 trillion, placing significant upward pressure on the already-skyrocketing national debt. The Biden administration’s opening salvo was criticized for being packed with spending only tenuously related to the pandemic, including $86 billion to bail out union pension funds and $1.5 billion for Amtrak (a pet cause of President Biden, dubbed “Amtrak Joe” during his Senate years for his daily rail commutes between Washington and his Wilmington, Del. home).
1. Ivy League payments and entitlements cost taxpayers $41.59 billion over a six-year period (FY2010-FY2015). This is equivalent to $120,000 in government monies, subsidies, & special tax treatment per undergraduate student, or $6.93 billion per year.