Just the latest example of the federal government spending ridiculous sums of taxpayer money. The $18 million Recovery.gov website lists an expense of $351,807 to fix and upgrade a dumbwaiter in New York’s 8th Congressional district, represented by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D).

Incidentally, the Department of Agriculture is denying that it spent $1.1 million on two pounds of sliced ham — an entry on the Recovery.gov website initially discovered by Matt Drudge. The federal government now claims that the “2lb” was the size of the cut and not the total amount received for the price.

The references to “2 pound frozen ham sliced” are to the sizes of the packaging. Press reports suggesting that the Recovery Act spent $1.191 million to buy “2 pounds of ham” are wrong. In fact, the contract in question purchased 760,000 pounds of ham for $1.191 million, at a cost of approximately $1.50 per pound.

You know the problem with all of that? Their website mentions absolutely nothing about 760,000 pounds. So either they’re lying or their website, which cost the American taxpayers $18 million, absolutely sucks. That reflects poorly on the federal government either way.

I’ll be covering more of these wasteful expenses throughout the week. It’s important that Americans are shown just how much of their hard-earned money is being spent by this tax-and-spend administration and the lackeys in Congress who have largely rubber-stamped tax-and-spend agenda.