Senator Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, has prepared a "waste report" for his presidential campaign which focuses on areas of the federal budget that he considers to be wasteful.
I won't say he's necessarily wrong about one particular item, but I can say without a doubt that he isn't going to get very far by eliminating Yoga classes.
"Maybe you saw a Groupon for yoga classes and considered it, but even at a discount you were not sure you wanted to spend the money," Paul said in the report. "Well if you were an employee at certain federal agencies you would not have to worry about cost, because the U.S. taxpayer will pick up the tab."
Paul said that the State Department spent $15,000 on yoga for employees in Washington, D.C., while the Department of Energy spent $11,000 a year on Pilates in California.
Free Yoga and Pilates? It all makes sense now. They're coming after your donuts because they want employees to be healthy.
According to Rand's waste report, the federal government has spent $150,000 since 2013 on exercise classes for federal employees. If we confront the government largess on the yoga mat, we should be able to eliminate our national debt some time in the next 1,000 years.
The Department of Defense actually spends the most money on Yoga for its employees according to the report, but Rand has singled out the Energy Department and State Department for reasons.
I have no data in front of me to support this claim, but it's possible the meager amount of money spent on Yoga and Pilates is made up for with reduced healthcare costs and increased employee productivity.