tuscl

Your tax dollars at work

mark94
Arizona
Friday, December 2, 2022 1:01 PM
After 1,600 auditors combed through DOD’s $3.5 trillion in assets and $3.7 trillion in liabilities, officials found that the department couldn’t account for about 61 percent of its assets, Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord told reporters on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the lame duck Congress is poised to pass a huge increase to the DOD budget.

41 comments

  • TheSingularity
    •
    2 years ago
    This would be the first I've ever heard of someone on our side complaining about a higher defense budget. Hopefully this means better pay or resources for our people risking their lives daily.
  • Muddy
    •
    2 years ago
    ^^^Well Rand Paul is one guy that preaches this stuff, he's 100% on it. There is fat to be trimmed in the military. At some point, we need a politician to stand up for the fucking taxpayer already but everyone just loves to have the hand in the pot. But looks like soon there ain't gonna be no more cookies.
  • mark94
    •
    2 years ago
    Mission creep, political correctness, and careerism have turned the military into something Eisenhower warned us about. We need to restore the military mission to one of protecting the US, not being a world policeman for all our “Allies”, and fire every flag officer who is a Social Justice Warrior. If we do that, the military could succeed with half the budget it now has.
  • skibum609
    •
    2 years ago
    If they cannot find the money they lost, they don't get more. A higher defense budget is meaningless if the money is being misplaced or stolen.
  • motorhead
    •
    2 years ago
    My company does some DOD contracts and our margins are paper thin. Not sure if we make any money. Actually it’s probably a net loss. We’re sure are not selling $7 million dollar hammers
  • mark94
    •
    2 years ago
    The Ukraine war has likely given us a preview of how the military will operate when there isn’t a direct threat to America. Provide technical support, intelligence, training, weapons, and tactical advice, but leave the on-the-ground fighting to be done by others. We should help Taiwan become impregnable to a Chinese invasion. We should help Japan build its navy to dominate the South China Sea.
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    2 years ago
    There is a lot of fat to be trimmed from the DOD, and a lot of it is wrapped up in bureaucracies and, for lack of a better term, graft. I listened to a podcast about the B-1 Stealth Bomber. The DOD managed to go from urgent need to a successful prototype in about 9 or 10 months back in the 1970s. We'll never see that happen again in the US. The problem is that the contractors have been smart about spreading the jobs across multiple states and sub-contractors. So, when anyone starts talking about cancelling a program that isn't needed, is too expensive, or isn't ready for prime time, the word goes out to to the various local and federal politicians that 500 jobs will go away in this state, and 200 hundred in another, and 1,000 in a third. And all of a sudden that program becomes critical again or gets put on "additional research" funding. This isn't a partisan thing, both Republicans and Democrats cave in with equal ease. If we want a leaner, more efficient DOD, then there needs to be an acceptance that it will put people out of jobs. Perhaps a lot of people. And that's easy to talk about, but harder if you're the avionics wiring specialist with a job at Northrup Grumman on a program that's on the chopping block.
  • docsavage
    •
    2 years ago
    I've worked in accounting for the DoD for forty years. This did not surprise me at all. Several years back they tossed out the computerized accounting system we used, Stanfins, and replaced it with a new one, Gfebs, that would supposedly help making it easier to do audits. It doesn't seem to have helped. Conservatives like the military but the military is just another inefficient government bureaucracy that wastes a lot of money. Billions of dollars disappeared in Iraq. Lots of money being sent to the Ukraine is probably being diverted from its intended use. The top DoD management is also fully supportive of affirmative action and woke propaganda. We were also all forced to get Covid vaccines, being told it would stop transmission of the disease. It was a lie. People pointing out there was no evidence of that, like Alex Berenson, were getting banned on Twitter. It was done to increase the profits of the Democrats big pharma political donors. The DMED database, which was set up to track the health of military members, showed an alarming increase in health problems in the military after the forced vaccinations. The DoD said it was just a "computer glitch" that went undetected for five years. If that is true it shows they are incompetent in not discovering it for five years and if it is false they are lying to try to cover their ass. Either way it makes them look bad. Conservatives need to stop thinking of the current military as an ally against the left. It's not. I would quit if I was younger than my current age of 66 and had time to start another career.
  • twentyfive
    •
    2 years ago
    Budget creep is what you get when partisan politicians oversee a budget, procurement is shitty, accountability is nonexistent, it's a huge pile of other peoples money being overseen by a bunch who are thieves in their heart.
  • gammanu95
    •
    2 years ago
    "contractors have been smart about spreading the jobs across multiple states and sub-contractors" is precisely the military- industrial complex Eisenhower earned us against. Add in all the unnecessary bureaucracy and now the woke CRT social justice programs, and the waste is incomprehensible. I am all for decreasing the military's budget down to its core purpose of protecting our nation from foreign threats. However, the military, in its current woke, leftist form, is the domestic threat. Not the individual warrior, but the culture and zeitgeist of the military had been co-opted and subverted by leftists, globalists, and outright communists and anti-Americans, to turn the largest department of our government into a leftist indoctrination factory with an unlimited budget; and the DoD are expert at indoctrination and spending. The only tool we have to defang this threat is the budget. No more hate-White Folx Departments. No more Antifa required reading. No more "know your pronouns" training.
  • mark94
    •
    2 years ago
    No government program ever dies. It invents new missions and demands more money.
  • Thick-5-Incher
    •
    2 years ago
    "restore the military mission to one of protecting the US, not being a world policeman for all our “Allies” It's funny to hear Trumpers brag about abolishing NATO and handing over our country to Putin and Kim Jong. Every conservative who preaches this bullshit should be deported to Greenland or hung upside-down in the town square for all of us to mock.
  • shailynn
    •
    2 years ago
    “Hey Bill where are all the rocket launchers?” “I don’t know, did you check the closet, there were 10 in there last week.” “Damn I can’t remember where I parked my Stealth bomber again!?! I’ll just take another one out of the hanger.”
  • mark94
    •
    2 years ago
    “Every conservative who preaches this bullshit should be deported to Greenland or hung upside-down in the town square for all of us to mock.” What is our strategic interest in Ukraine ? How do the American people benefit if Ukraine retakes Crimea ? Why should we pay most of the bill while Germany pays a pittance ?
  • mark94
    •
    2 years ago
    NATO is German and French for “ America will protect us and it won’t cost us a Euro. Let’s build windmills and solar farms. “
  • Icee Loco (asshole)
    •
    2 years ago
    It's a war budget not a defense budget
  • Tetradon
    •
    2 years ago
    @mark, .5 incher aka Trucidos aka VH kicks aka Yabba Jabba aka TXTittyFag dot aka jonathan999 aka caesarsghost is a raging leftist troll who writes checks with his mouth that his ass could never cash. He's also working on his 7th or 8th ban here. Like herpes, he's more an annoyance than anything but always comes back. We should note why Putin made land grabs under Obama and Biden but not Trump. The Trump loves Putin meme is something the left often repeats without thinking. Biden's sanctions are leaving the ruble stronger than ever. Trump’s promotion of American energy severely weakened Putin.
  • mark94
    •
    2 years ago
    Sam Bankman-Fried: I don’t know where $10 billion dollars went The Pentagon: We don’t know where $2.2 trillion dollars went The IRS: You just sent $601.37 don’t forget to report it.
  • HannibalSmith
    •
    2 years ago
    Ten plus years ago when I worked for a defense contractor at tacom there were a group of civi’s who used to leave around 1 for the coliseum for lunch and not return. They did this Wednesday and Friday so regularly everyone knew they wouldn’t find them these two days unless we went down there. One guy had the balls to even brag about his “taxpayer funded girlfriend”
  • wld4tatas
    •
    2 years ago
    >It was done to increase the profits of the Democrats big pharma political donors. Nope... unless you have evidence that Covid vaccination decisions were based on political favors and not science. And BTW, big pharma donates big time to both Democrats and Republicans.
  • Thick-5-Incher
    •
    2 years ago
    "What is our strategic interest in Ukraine?" It's called "domino theory", nitwit --- you either contain Communist aggression or you get steamrolled by it and become Putin's bitch Just thank your lucky stars we got a strong President Biden who will stand up to Putin and not lube his butthole for him like China Don
  • Thick-5-Incher
    •
    2 years ago
    "Trump’s promotion of American energy severely weakened Putin" Wrong, stupid. China Don's over-reliance on American oil caused Putin to become stronger as Europe increased reliance on Russian petrol and natural gas. Now that we have a competent President Biden in office, we're opening up our production to our European allies so they strangle Putin's income streams. Has anyone in here ever seen a Trump Cuck as stupid as Tetra-Fagg? I've only been a member for a month but he's one of the dumbest conservatives I ever met.
  • docsavage
    •
    2 years ago
    > And BTW, big pharma donates big time to both Democrats and Republicans. [view link]
  • Studme53
    •
    2 years ago
    I’m all for supporting our troops, but you gotta be a fucking idiot to think it’s ok for taxpayers to get ripped off by an out of control military-industrial complex. There’s a lot of incompetence and inefficiency in the military as with any government agency, but the unquestioned ever-increasing funding has bred bold corruption. Wake up “patriots”! You’re being ripped off.
  • Studme53
    •
    2 years ago
    Fucking “Domino theory” lol. I read these posts to see how ignorant and clueless some people are. “Domino theory” was the discredited justification for Vietnam. Let’s try it again for Ukraine. Good idea.
  • wld4tatas
    •
    2 years ago
    ^Well, it's a variation of Domino theory that world leaders themselves have said. Allow Putin a victory in one region and he'll be emboldened to do it again.... which history has proven is the case with him. And it would embolden others like China as well.
  • twentyfive
    •
    2 years ago
    Forget about the old domino theory, just ask yourself if a triumvirate of Vladimir Putin, Xi Jenping, and Kim I’ll Jong, we’re to gain the upper hand in world affairs, how do y’all think that’ll work out ? Guarafuckingty it won’t be acceptable to us , we’ll most of us, some of y’all I’m not so sure about.
  • Studme53
    •
    2 years ago
    I’m all for intervention in foreign wars with economic and military equipment aid, within reason, to maintain the USA’s economic supremacy. I won’t support the spending of American lives to prevent Russian control of Ukraine or Chinese control of Taiwan. I think we’ll maintain our economic supremacy if they fall, even though the Biden’s and Pelosi’s may lose money. If you think it’s worth it, volunteer. I heard they’ll pay your airfare.
  • twentyfive
    •
    2 years ago
    Don’t take my post above to be in support for out of control spending, it’s more of a response to the idiots that believe we don’t need to support Ukraine, or those fools that disagree with our support for NATO or our other Allies.
  • mark94
    •
    2 years ago
    After seeing the incompetence of the Russian military in Ukraine, no rational person would invoke the domino theory that an emboldened Putin is a threat to the wider world. The Domino Theory was used by the Intelligence and Military communities to justify all sorts of disastrous actions in the 60s and 70s. With the fall of the Soviet Union, we realized that the estimates of the Soviet Union’s capability was wildly exaggerated. I think this exaggeration was intentional to justify bigger budgets.
  • Studme53
    •
    2 years ago
    ^Yes. Eisenhower saw it at its inception and warned against, which was remarkable and even considered traitorous for the ultimate American military officer and President, but he was a true patriot. There should be funded foundations to fight against it. It should be a field of study or college major or something like it. I don’t know why its not a bigger deal. Are we brainwashed?
  • mark94
    •
    2 years ago
    The military should be used to protect the country and protect our critical interests overseas. Unlike the era where we expended massive blood and treasure in the Middle East, we are now energy independent ( or could be once Joe Biden is gone ). Our military should be used to protect our interests in the Western Hemisphere as well as some key trade routes. We should make our intelligence resources available to Allies and SELL them our advanced military equipment. Our military assets are decades ahead of Russia, China, and Iran. Beyond that, if Germany, South Korea, India, Japan, etc want to protect their borders, they need to do it themselves.
  • Tetradon
    •
    2 years ago
    "I've only been a member for a month but he's one of the dumbest conservatives I ever met." You've been trolling this board longer than I've been here. You have the same verbal tics; a chimp could spot you. Biden restricted American energy then compensated by releasing from the SPR, leaving us vulnerable in case of a true strategic emergency. Hey, didn't Trump want to fill it up at $20/bbl only for you dumb motherfuckers to call him a shill for big oil? Don't worry, Founder will ban you again soon enough. Keep writing wolf tickets.
  • Muddy
    •
    2 years ago
    BTW I loved this Rand Paul [view link]
  • Muddy
    •
    2 years ago
    That's one is good too I actually meant this one [view link]
  • mark94
    •
    2 years ago
    In recent years, approval of the military has dropped from 75% to under 50%. This coincides with the purge of true warriors from the ranks and emphasis on diversity, gender awareness, proper pronouns, and other wokeness.
  • Studme53
    •
    2 years ago
    ^Correct. Germany and Japan are rich countries that spend virtually nothing on military/defense. The know the stupid Americans will bear the expense of defending their interests. They save there money to spend on making life better for their people. Ultimately, they would have no qualms about betraying the U.S. if it were in their interests.
  • Studme53
    •
    2 years ago
    Rand Paul actually cares about the future of this country and our grandchildren.
  • wallanon
    •
    2 years ago
    "This coincides with the purge of true warriors from the ranks and emphasis on diversity, gender awareness, proper pronouns, and other wokeness." The military is no more 100% "woke" than the country is. Don't believe everything you read. And complexity doesn't imply fraud. Would you rather have something that works and is a little opaque or something that's completely transparent and doesn't?
  • rickmacrodong
    •
    2 years ago
    5 incher you joined the site November 2021. Something doesn’t add up
  • Tetradon
    •
    2 years ago
    @BTE, .5 incher adds up all right--to "troll." That's the start and end of "him."
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