Reply #5: Projects important to a specific locality are local and should be funded locally.

[Statistical]

It isn't like it is free money. We all pay for it however there is much less accountability at federal level and there is also an incentive to waste money because "everyone else" pays for it.

If VA for example wants to build a museum on lint it will cost VA voters money. Say cost ends up being $1.00 per person in taxes. However via earmarks VA can have rest of country subsidize that stupidity thus it ends up costing each Virginian $0.03 per capita (and $0.03 per capita for every other non-Virginian in the country).

It is a poor system even when used for the best of projects. It is inherently wasteful.