The trouble with government waste is that the really criminal stuff lies hidden deep under a rockpile of zeros. By the time you dig to the bottom of a numeral like 1,000,000,000,000 (that’s one trillion, by the way), your eyes are about as glazed as a Krispy Kreme doughnut.

So there’s a bit of entertainment value when the media latch onto something as juicy as a $435 hammer or a Bridge to Nowhere. Those images are so vivid and so ridiculously overpriced that even the least mathematically inclined can grasp the concept.

The Pentagon spent how much on this thing I just banged my thumb with? What a bunch of morons.

The reckless spending spree surrounding the General Services Administration might signal the first bipartisan outrage we’ve seen this century. Not even the most knuckle-headed politican we can think of (and trying to figure out the winner of that contest could take a while) has sprung to his feet to defend the value of clowns and mind-readers at a tax-funded “conference” in Vegas.

By defense budget standards, $823,000 is a drop in the ocean, but to some of us, it sounds like real money. As Congress continues its investigation and more excesses come to light, there will be no shortage of campaign promises to end the madness once Candidate X goes to Washington.

The GSA’s Las Vegas trip already has earned a place of notoriety that will be remembered for years to come. Meanwhile, the federal government continues to spend an average of $6.85 million per minute, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Makes you want to bang your head with a hammer, doesn’t it?