Rooting out the truth on $1 million ham
| July 20, 2009 | 1:12 PM
More journal entries from John Moore »
Talk about pork spending.
The federal government is calling reports that it spent more than $1 million to buy two pounds of ham under the stimulus program pure slop.
Posts started appearing Saturday on the Drudge Report Web site about the alleged pig out for a California meat packaging company. Drudge linked to a page on the government’s stimulus-tracking Web site that lists “2 pound frozen ham sliced” at a cost of $1,191,200. Another page on the site lists the amount as more than $2.5 million.
But the story has been greatly exaggerated, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement Monday. He says the “2 pound” reference is talking about packaging sizes for a much larger order of meat.
“The contract in question purchased 760,000 pounds of ham for $1.191 million, at a cost of approximately $1.50 per pound,” Vilsack says.
So the truth has been rooted out. Or so the government would have us believe.
Read more at usda.gov.
agriculture, drudge report, economy, ham, recovery, stimulus, tom vilsack
