The Numbers Behind Sen. Coburn's Outrage Over Grateful Dead Archive

So, I'm sure you've heard the buzz about Sen. Tom Coburn's outrage over the federal government's contribution of $615,000 to the Grateful Dead Archive at UC Santa Cruz, which he ranks as the 4th most wasteful government expenditure in his Wastebook 2010.

If you haven't, it goes a little something like this:

Grateful Dead chose a public institution to archive the band's memorabilia "because the whole idea of it being public and free was important to them," yet taxpayers are paying $615,000 to make the band's archives "free" and "public." The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded the University of California at Santa Cruz the federal funds to digitize Grateful Dead photographs, tickets, backstage passes, flyers, shirts, and other memorabilia. IMLS notes  "this is one of the first efforts to preserve and share cultural and historical artifacts of the baby boom generation, a group that includes 76 million Americans."

Rolling Stone magazine listed the Grateful Dead in the top 100 Greatest Artists of All Time,and estimates place the net worth of two prominent band members, Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh, at roughly $40 and $35 million, respectively.

Let's take a look at the numbers.

At first glance that seems like a pretty penny, but it's really a mere pittance when put into perspective. In 2009 the federal budget was $3,518 billion. $615,000 is about 0.00000001748% of that figure.

But let's look at it from another perspective. Over 236 million tax returns were filed in the same year. $615,000 divided among 236 million taxpayers ends up costing each of them $.0026 or roughly one forth of a cent a piece. 

So, when put into perspective, how much federal money is really being used here?

Thank you Senator.