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Glite Dictionary
Porkulus plan

Porkulus plan

9.9
A government plan to help the economy that wastes a lot of money
  • noun
  • /ˈpɔrkjʊləs plæn/
  • Slang
translation icon : plan Porkulus
  • Critics of the administration referred to the recovery bill as the Porkulus plan, citing its perceived waste.

Examples

  • The opposition claimed that the Porkulus plan was full of unnecessary projects and failed to help the economy.

  • Many taxpayers were frustrated by how much money was allocated in the Porkulus plan.

  • The new Porkulus plan aims to boost the economy.

  • Many citizens criticized the Porkulus plan for its high costs.

  • Critics of the administration referred to the recovery bill as the Porkulus plan, citing its perceived waste.

  • Many taxpayers were frustrated by how much money was allocated in the Porkulus plan.

  • The opposition claimed that the Porkulus plan was full of unnecessary projects and failed to help the economy.

Synonyms

Porkulus project
vsPorkulus plan
  • Slang
9.9

A government project that people think wastes money, often in a spending bill

is about a larger stimulus package rather than a single item
compensatory spending
vsPorkulus plan
  • Specialized
7.7

Spending the government borrows to help the economy during a slowdown

is a criticized stimulus package often seen as excessive or wasteful

Antonyms

budget cut
57 2.8

Less money given to a department or service in a budget

fiscalism
  • Specialized
1 8.6

A government approach to tightly control taxes and public spending

How Wasteful

white elephant
  • Informal
1 6.1
Porkulus plan
  • Slang
9.9
pork-barreling
  • Literature
1 9.1
compensatory spending
  • Specialized
7.7
essential service
  • Formal
4 3.0

Surface Forms

Porkulus plan singular
Porkulus plans plural

Morphology

Porkulus + plan

The key element 'Porkulus' is a slang/neologistic blend (pork + stimulus) that is not a standard lexical item and does not have a transparent, literal meaning a B1 learner could deduce; 'plan' is transparent but does not make the overall sense predictable. Interpreting the phrase relies on political/cultural knowledge of 'pork-barrel' spending and the coined term 'porkulus', so learners who only know the surface words would not reliably infer the intended meaning.

Etymology

Porkulus plan is a joking mix of pork and the word 'stimulus'. The image of a pig eating public money shows the package had 'wasteful spending', so people used Porkulus plan to mean a stimulus plan full of unnecessary projects.