American Politicians Lagging in Global Race to Squander Tax Dollars

While U.S. lawmakers do their best to waste money, Europeans politicians inevitably seem to have more expertise when it comes to squandering other people’s money. A good example comes from Finland, where the city of Tampere is using European Union funds (it is easier to finance absurd ideas when other people are paying the bills) so that clowns can entertain city bureaucrats. Indeed, the title of the story on the English‐​language Finnish website is “Clowns enlisted to raise spirits of Tampere municipal workers.” Sure, American politicians have concocted some crazy ideas, such as building an indoor rainforest in Iowa, but even that bit of pork cannot beat the absurdity of paying clowns to boost the morale of bureaucrats:

The idea for the city clowns came from comedian Mona Ratalahti, occupational well‐​being trainer Riita Harilo, and its godmother was Kirsi Koski, head of the Mayor’s office. Koski has worked as the city’s head of personnel for three years. “I have thought about what would be the core of well‐​being. Yes, it is laughter”, Koski says. “It is all right to laugh at craziness — at what is not said out loud in business discussions.” Ratalahti feels that a clown nose “changes us and the viewer in such a way that forces people to look at things differently”. …Tampere’s city clowns are the 41st idea that the “Creative Tampere” programme has decided to support. The programme has a budget of EUR 12 million to back corporate ideas worthy of development. The EUR 25,000 earmarked for the clowns makes it possible for four artists, who have mostly worked alone, can concentrate on joint projects.