When passing a sign explaining that a road project was “funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act”, a friend always shouts out enthusiastically “Thank you, Pharaoh, for the gifts that you have bestowed upon us.”
More: official sign guidelines; article on the cost of one sign; Wikipedia article on the term “Pharaoh”
Thank you! This is great, now I have a name with which to address my local municipal government in a forthcoming letter to the editor regarding similar money insanity in my home town (population ~45K). Our own local Pharaohs have decided that they must spend $9 million to build a new police station as soon a possible. The primary complaints with the existing building are that the locker room cannot contain all shift-changing officers at once and the HVAC system requires upgrading. As a financial justification, the department said it could cost at least $2 million dollars over the next two years to add a modular building (perhaps a locker room on wheels) and upgrade the HVAC. Regardless of which obscene path is chosen, I’m sure it will not be complete without the inclusion of a few $10K signs to remind the local taxpayers where their local tax dollars are going– I will be sure to make the suggestion myself.