THIS is an extremely important finding that should OUTRAGE ALL tax payers.
A professor at MSU has found proof that the Dept of Defense spent TRILLIONS of dollars of unauthorized spending in years 1998-2015.
'Earlier this year, a Michigan State University economist, working with graduate students and a former government official, found $21 trillion in unauthorized spending in the departments of Defense and Housing and Urban Development for the years 1998-2015.
The work of Mark Skidmore and his team, which included digging into government websites and repeated queries to U.S. agencies that went unanswered, coincided with the Office of Inspector General, at one point, disabling the links to all key documents showing the unsupported spending. (Luckily, the researchers downloaded and stored the documents.)
Now, the Department of Defense has announced it will conduct the first department-wide, independent financial audit in its history (read the Dec. 7 announcement here)."
THESE outrageous actions by the Dept of Defense need to be brought to Congress’s attention.
DON’T just sit there- CALL your congressman!
I think someone needs to sharpen their pencils a bit. The $21T over 17 years would average over $1T a year in bogus spending?!? That’s comparable to the actual budget for the entire military (and probably a huge hint as to what’s going on – accounting infighting).
So in plain English, the actual money spent is a small fraction of the $21 trillion stated number.
The accounting issues are over my head like this one from the IG report. However, I’m willing to bet this is being blown out of proportion. Even something like buying a first class plane ticket can get someone a court-martial. If the military was actually spending money without Congressional approval, I would expect to see criminal indictments.
I must say that anyone who thinks this to just be an “accounting error” has forgotten the days when the Dept of Defense would blithely pay thousands of $$ for a wrench. That wasn’t stopped until whistle blowers exposed the wasteful spending.
Lets also remember that the oversight on Defense spending has become much harder since so much is now outsourced to private companies.
I dont think this Professor, nor his noted Economics colleague Prof Kotlikoff, who wrote the book Get What’s Yours which shows to maximize your Social Security Benefits [ which was so popular that it instigated changes in the Social Security system] would put their names to a report that was factually deficient.
The FACT that the new report has forced the Dept of Defense to do an audit- FOR THE FIRST TIME - which is in itself appalling- should mean they are onto something.
Where there is smoke…
I absolutely believe there is no oversight to the level we would expect on spending. Wasn’t it in the news a few months ago that HUD found something like a 500 billion dollar accounting error? It’s why I’m so pro small government, I don’t believe massive entities control the bottom line like we’d want. What’s a few billion here and there amongst friends anyway?
We should all be outraged at all of the unconstitutional spending that has resulted in $20 trillion in debt. Eliminate it and the federal government is about a quarter of its current size.
I think it’s wonderful that we can get all this great stuff without bearing the burden of actually paying for it. All we have to do is borrow (or print) the money. It’s magical!
The problem isn’t the size of the government. The problem is that there’s very little oversight. And, quite frankly, people just don’t care. They don’t bother to hold their reps accountable for much of anything.
Plus, when anyone dares to question anything about the military/defense/etc, they’re branded anti-troops and vet haters.
OK, I very seldom actually laugh out loud, but the comment that there is very little oversight is falling down hilarious. Really. Government procurement is audited 8 ways from Sunday, which of course adds to the cost of doing business. In addition, the congressional reps who get spending added to the bills get reports from the Pentagon on how it is spent and the status of the programs. Government contracting officers are personally and criminally liable if they authorize spending that was not authorized and appropriated.
Is there waste, fraud and abuse? Yes, as there is in any organization with a lot of people and a lot of money. Like the Pentagon, the Agriculture Department, the Detroit Public School System and Bank of America. That’s why there are auditors. Lots of them.
I’ll check out this report, but the headline claim is ludicrous on its face. There may be some spine twisting logic that gets to this kind of number, but it certainly does not mean that trillions were spent without anyone authorizing or noticing.
And, when anyone questions any welfare programs they’re branded as hating children, hating the elderly, hating the poor, etc.
I’m sure there’s plenty of shady stuff going on in such a large budget area … but many of the “gouging” stories are not true. For example, a reporter on a local TV station many years ago, when the “golden hammer” fad was popular, talked about how he purchased the an electronic part from Radio Shack for ONE FIFTH the price of the military (even held up the RS packaging, a 555 timer IC). See, the IC makers are gouging the military! It’s outrageous! Well, actually the military requires “military spec” IC packages, not commercial grade. Their 555 timer is certified to work in a far wider temperature/humidity range, far wider pressure range, require thorough testing/burn in, and could even be radiation-hardened. Those parts aren’t mass-produced and cost a lot more than the Radio Shack/commercial version.
Except this was mostly an urban legend. The military would amortize system level costs to sub-systems and to sub-components down to individual tools. The way the amortization was done inflated the accounting costs of some items beyond their normal values, but did not affect the system level cost to the government. The other side to that is some of the wrenches needed for the F-35 aren’t the same wrenches you can pick up at Home Depot.
I was on the “golden hammer” program umpteen years ago. The requirements were such that the hammer (or toilet seat) could not be purchased off the shelf and flown on the plane. 14g crashloads, anyone?
After that, many, many changes were made to procurements and the regulations and MIL-STDS allowing for additional commercial off the shelf procurements for any number of items and systems.
As others said- is there fraud, waste, and abuse? Sure. There is in any bureaucracy. $21T worth? Seems impossible. I am audited, the systems I use are audited. Sometimes getting paid is difficult. Getting on contract is difficult. The procurement people I have dealt with in the services are some of the most diligent, honorable people out there.