The defense budget scandal -- what's being done about it?

[techweenie]

Donald Rumsfeld had only been in office 8 months when he annouced that $2.3 trillion -- yes, trillion -- in defense spending could not be accounted for.

Have you heard about any efforts to track down the money leaks? Do you know that at least one company implicated in the scandal is still getting tens of billions in Pentagon contracts?

Do you have any confidence that the government is safeguarding your money?

Why is there no discussion of this problem? Could it be because Rumsfeld make the announcement on 9/10/01?

[Rick Lee]

No, I have no confidence in the gubmint spending our money wisely. But if some sole source contractor bilked Uncle Sam and then got fined for it, what else can Uncle Sam do? If it's a true sole source and Defense needs the product, where else are they gonna get it? And just because Sec. Def. can't account for it doesn't mean it was squandered or misspent. I'm sure some of it was, but plenty of it was probably due to bad record keeping. I know from my own dealings with the Pentagon as a sole source contractor, it's pretty complicated just for the measly $11k a year they spend on my company. I can't imagine how complicated it gets when real money is involved.

[hardflex]

I heard a figure of $100 Billion a year of Defense money is "classified" and so cannot be audited or followed to make sure the taxpayers are getting what they paid for. It may be higher than that now.

[Moses]

OK Pelicans, if you've been hiding a trillion or two from the defense department, IT'S TIME TO GIVE IT BACK! A few trillion here and there and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

Seriously though, if any publicly held corporation has accounting this bad, somebody would be indicted.

[Rick Lee]

Well Moses, if pension funds were borrowed against and managed the way social security is, there's be a lot more white collar guys in prison too. The gov't. is pretty much above the law when it comes to this stuff. Infuriating but true.

[lendaddy]

Originally posted by Moses
OK Pelicans, if you've been hiding a trillion or two from the defense department, IT'S TIME TO GIVE IT BACK! A few trillion here and there and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

It was so easy that I.....well I guess I got addicted to it. At first I just wanted to fund a few trips to Tijuana and the next thing you know I'm burying suitcases full of hundred dollar bills under my pool. I'm sorry....what more can I say?

[nostatic]

nostatic sub-pool slant digging operations (nspsdo) has taken care of your suitcases Len. Thanks for playing...

[lendaddy]

Originally posted by nostatic
nostatic sub-pool slant digging operations (nspsdo) has taken care of your suitcases Len. Thanks for playing...

Problem is, after a couple weeks I ran outta room under the pool and started buying midsize duplexes and triplexes in the suburbs and just filling them with bills from the back slider to the front door. I got about forty or fifty of those.

[David]

I'm surprised when I hear of government agencies having huge blowout parties (we call them conferences in the real world). I've talked to folks that have been to these and they said it seemed cost was no object. But I guess gov't employees don't get paid enough so that makes it OK.

[turbo6bar]

Originally posted by techweenie
Do you have any confidence that the government is safeguarding your money?

What gave you the impression they ever did?

What work has the government done that hasn't involved dishonesty, corruption, and gross misuse of funds?

Let's nip it all. A corporation stealing from the government is just as bad as citizens stealing from the government and the government stealing from the citizens. It's all bad. It all needs to be fixed.

[widebody911]

I'm sorry, the correct NeoCon answer is "You shoulda bought Halliburton stock"