Tag: Defense Spending

That Marvelous ‘Golden Dome’

Let’s take a break from Donny’s clusterf**k with Iran and move on to his less than brilliant idea of the Golden Dome.

Golden Dome is Donny’s version of the budget busting program proposed by Reagan, the Strate4gic Defense Initiative (Star Wars)….and guess what Donny’s ‘brilliant’ idea is a budget buster as well….to the tune of $1 trillion….a far cry from the bullshit Donny said but then why would he ever tell the truth?

President Trump’s plan to put weapons in space—pitched as a “Golden Dome for America” missile defense program—is estimated to cost $1.2 trillion over a 20-year period, according to a new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, a far heftier sum than the initial $175 billion price tag he gave last year. The nonpartisan CBO report, published Tuesday, is described as an analysis that reflects “one illustrative approach rather than an estimate of a specific Administration proposal,” the AP reports.

  • The futuristic system was ordered by Trump in an executive order during his first week in office. He said then that he expected the system to be “fully operational before the end of my term,” which wraps up in January 2029.
  • “Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex with the development by peer and near-peer adversaries of next-generation delivery systems,” Trump said in his executive order, justifying the need for the missile defense system.
  • The CBO’s estimates are in part based on a lack of details from the Defense Department about what and how many systems will be deployed, “making it impossible to estimate the long term cost” of the Golden Dome system, the report says.
  • The concept for the missile system is at least partly inspired by Israel’s multitiered defenses, often referred to as the “Iron Dome,” which played a key role in defending it from rocket and missile fire from Iran and allied militant groups as it prosecutes the war on Iran alongside the US.
  • The US Golden Dome is envisioned to include ground and space-based capabilities able to detect, intercept, and stop missiles at all major stages of a potential attack. Congress has already approved roughly $24 billion for the missile defense initiative through Republicans’ massive tax and spending measure signed into law last summer.
  • Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, who requested the estimate from the CBO, said in response to the report that the missile defense project is “nothing more than a massive giveaway to defense contractors paid for entirely by working Americans.”
  • Last May, the president said the Golden Dome would cost $175 billion. The CBO last year estimated that just the space-based components of the Golden Dome could cost as much as $542 billion over the next 20 years.

This will be on the backs of taxpayers like everything else Donny does….we get stuck for his bullshit ideas.

There is some concern that all that cash spent maybe in vain….

Even under generous technical assumptions, the viability challenges facing Golden Dome are severe. When it comes to reliably defending the United States against peer and near-peer intercontinental nuclear threats, those challenges are effectively insurmountable. They include the number of interceptors required to reliably defend the United States, with some estimates suggesting ratios as high as 1,600 interceptors for every incoming missile; the ability of adversaries to deploy countermeasures designed to defeat missile defenses; and the risk that a nuclear detonation in the atmosphere or in space could significantly degrade or disable the system’s ability to track and intercept additional threats.  As a budget watchdog, one of our guiding principles at Taxpayers for Common Sense is, “if it doesn’t work, don’t fund it.” The evidence presented in this report strongly suggests that Golden Dome will not work.

Read the report by Taxpayers For Common Sense

https://www.taxpayer.net/national-security/missing-the-mark-why-golden-dome-is-bad-for-american-taxpayers/

Just another one of Donny’s lame ass ideas to waste taxpayer money….and people, taxpayers, still support this clown…..why?

Just trying to keep an eye on what our half-ass government will do with the taxes we all pay.

This is NOT what I signed on for….how about you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

They Always Want More Money

Have you ever noticed that every war in recent memory has always needed more money for it to continue?

Donny’s little war is no different…..

The Pentagon has drafted a funding request exceeding $200 billion for operations against Iran, setting up a clash with Congress over the scale and direction of the war, according to administration officials. The proposal, sent to the White House, would go well beyond paying for the air campaign to date and is aimed largely at ramping up production of precision weapons used by US and Israeli forces over the past three weeks, the Washington Post reports. The supplemental budget would be on top of President Trump’s push for the next defense budget to total $1.5 trillion.

White House officials have not decided how much to formally seek from Congress, and some doubt lawmakers would approve such a package, one senior administration official said. The Pentagon has circulated multiple versions of a supplemental request as the costs of the Iran attacks have mounted, surpassing $11 billion in the first week alone, according to officials. There could be other complications, per the Post. Former Pentagon budget official Elaine McCusker, now at the American Enterprise Institute, cautioned that industry limits on labor, facilities, and materials will constrain how fast production can rise. “Just throwing lots of money into the industrial base doesn’t necessarily get you things sooner,” she said.

There will be lots of banter from the Congress and in the end the cash will be forthcoming.

But when was the last time pressing needs of the people of this country demanded such loyalty?

Of course the Congress has to have it say….

“This should be an absolute nonstarter,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in response to the Post’s reporting. “The best way to end this war, protect our troops, save civilian lives, and rein in a lawless administration is to cut off funding. I’m a hell no.”

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) wrote on social media that “at the height of combat the Iraq War cost around $140 billion per year.”

“If the Pentagon is asking for $200 billion they are asking for a long war,” Gallego added. “The answer is a simple no.”

Any funding package would need 60 votes to get through the US Senate, requiring some Democratic support. As of this writing, neither Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) nor House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has responded to reports of the Pentagon’s request.

The Post reported Wednesday that “it remains unclear how much the White House will ultimately ask congressional lawmakers to approve,” and that “some White House officials do not think the Pentagon’s request has a realistic shot of being approved in Congress.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/hell-no-pentagon-wants-over-200-billion-to-fund-trump-s-illegal-iran-war

The rhetoric is wonderful but it is also a limp organ as it has been in the past.

Here is something to think about (if that capability is possible) the budget for the War Department is about $1.5 trillion and Pistol Pete recently spent $93 million on food baskets, seafood and furniture but yet they do not have enough money to carry out this dumbass war of Donny’s…..

Does anyone else see the stupidity and the waste yet?

We will see who caves and who stands by their guns (no pun intended).

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Congrats! You Now Have A Trillion!

For ages I and others have been bitching about the money that is blindly thrown at the Pentagon all in the name of ‘national defense’…..it has always been high and we have got nothing in return….we have a fighter plane that spends more time grounded than flying, we have a tank that no one wants and we have a fleet of Naval vessels that are already in mothballs waiting to become a fishing reef….wasted money and yet the money just keeps rolling in with little to no oversight.

The money in the budget for the War Department has continually gone higher and higher with every new budget and sometimes it gets billions it did not request because….well just because.

And the new administration is not different only this time around the amount cracks the trillion dollar barrier.

The White House released a budget plan on Friday proposing $1.01 trillion in military spending for 2026, a 13% increase from this year.

The proposal fulfills President Trump’s vow to bring the official US military budget to over $1 trillion for the first time. The increase in US military spending will include funding for President Trump’s plans for a major missile defense system for the US, which he has dubbed the “Iron Dome for America, which will likely kick off a new global arms race.

Despite the massive increase, Trump is facing pushback from some Republican hawks, who are complaining that the White House is relying on a reconciliation bill for some of the funds.

According to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the White House is asking Congress for $892.6 billion in military spending for fiscal year 2026, which is about the same as the 2025 budget. The remaining $119 will be authorized under a budget bill that Congress is currently working on.

The budget bill will include $150 billion in military spending that can be spent over the next four years, but under the White House proposal, it will mostly be spent for the 2026 fiscal year. Sen. Mitch McConnell complained in a statement that the administration wasn’t asking Congress to appropriate the entire $1.01 trillion.

“It is peculiar how much time the President’s advisors spend talking about restoring peace through strength, given how apparently unwilling they’ve been to invest accordingly in the national defense or in other critical instruments of national power,” McConnell said. “Make no mistake: a one-time influx reconciliation spending is not a substitute for full-year appropriations.”

The pushback from leading Senate Republicans suggests that Congress may draft a higher military budget than Trump requested. “Fortunately, Presidential budget requests are just that: requests. Congress will soon have an opportunity to ensure that American power – and the credibility of our commitments – are appropriately resourced,” McConnell said.

The US has never officially had a $1 trillion military budget, but the actual cost of US military spending has exceeded $1 trillion for years. According to veteran defense analyst Winslow Wheeler, based on the $895 billion NDAA, US national security spending for 2025 was expected to reach about $1.77 trillion.

(antiwar.com)

Is there any doubt that the War Department will not get their desire?

Maybe this was the reason for DOGE to help expand the spending by the most wasteful part of the government.

Do not fret over higher prices or education for your children or the poor’s plight we may get a new plane that cannot fly….rejoice….rejoice.

Wait a colossal waste of taxpayer money!

This does NOTHING to make America great again……but rather padding the pockets of the defense industry and the Congress they buy.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Pentagon Does It Again

The War Department has wasted truckloads of money on weaponry…..the F-35 comes to mind (it is called a ‘flying brick’ because it spends more time on the ground than in the air)….wasted money that that cannot let go and just scrap the POS.

This and a story I read over the weekend reminds of a movie about the design of a new tank for our troops….the movie is called the Pentagon Wars and it describes the process of a new weapon with humor.

For those interested the movie is clever and can be watched here…..https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144550/

The Bradley Fighting Vehicle project, already stalled in development for seventeen years and at the running cost of $14 billion is the charge of Major General Partridge. In an effort to curtail further excessive Pentagon spending, Congress appoints U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Burton to observe the Bradley’s field development and tests.

Burton delves into the extensive and protracted development history, beginning in the 1960s originally under design supervision of then Colonel Robert L. Smith, who quickly becomes frustrated with the continuous change of design by the higher ups, eventually leading to the Bradley being drastically changed from its original role as a light troop carrier into a bulky tank-like vehicle that can only carry half of its original capacity.

The report that I referred to is about a new tank that has a similar humorous outcome.

As the 101st Airborne Division prepared last year to receive their first M10 Bookers—armored combat vehicles designed specifically for infantry forces—staff planners realized something: eight of the 11 bridges on Fort Campbell would crack under the weight of the “light tank.”

It turns out that though the vehicle was initially conceptualized as relatively lightweight—airdroppable by C-130—the twists and turns of the Army requirements process had rendered the tank too heavy to roll across the infrastructure at the infantry-centric Kentucky post, and nobody had thought about that until it was too late.

“This is not a story of acquisition gone awry,” Alex Miller, the Army’s chief technology officer, told Defense One. “This is a story of the requirements process creating so much inertia that the Army couldn’t get out of its own way, and it just kept rolling and rolling and rolling.”

It’s a twist on the classic Pentagon procurement snafu—a program that moves so slowly that it’s outdated by the time it reaches the field.

In this case, the Army knew early on that it wasn’t going to be able to make the thing it had set out to make, but it was bound and determined to make something. So it made something it doesn’t actually need.

https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/04/army-made-tank-it-doesnt-need-and-cant-use-now-its-figuring-out-what-do-it/404877/

Classic case of stupidity….wasting butt-loads of cash all in the name of national defense.

Can you now see the problem with the War Department and its defense industry co-conspirators?

On an unrelated topic….Hogsbreath (Hegseth)…..the idiot Donny put in charge of the US War machine….

Apparently he still using unsecured lines of communication and betting on sports.

Remember when defense secretary of the United States Pete Hegseth, the man at the center of all the “Signalgate” drama, accidentally texted a journalist about the need to maintain “100 percent OPSEC” about secret war plans?

As the New York Times reports, the same phone Hegseth used when he accidentally shared those covert military maneuvers is also his personal one. And embarrassingly, its number could easily be found online on a variety of public apps as recently as March, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Airbnb, and — we kid you not — a sports betting website.

“There’s zero percent chance that someone hasn’t tried to install Pegasus or some other spyware on his phone,” Mike Casey, the former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, told the NYT. “He is one of the top five, probably, most targeted people in the world for espionage.”

According to security experts, it’s not surprising that Hegseth’s personal number is on the web, since he was a private citizen before being sworn in. Instead, the former Fox News host’s staggeringly stupid mistake was using the same phone number to do all his official top secret military stuff, like announcing the details of an airstrike in Yemen against Houthi forces in a group chat that also had his wife and brother (we should clarify: that was a separate incident from when he accidentally leaked stuff to a journalist).

As the NYT notes, even low-level government employees are forbidden from using personal devices for work-related tasks — and here’s the guy in charge of the entire nation’s defense efforts, leaving it all out in the open.

https://futurism.com/head-pentagon-personal-phone

This is what we get when amateurs are allowed to govern….if these transgressions do not worry then you need to return to head in sand.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Feeding The Insatiable Monster

The monster in question is the War Department….while all departments of the government are being cut to the bone and valuable programs are being sidelined the Pentagon smiles and wants more money.

The eyes of a new generation were opened in an episode that seemed like dark science fiction for those of a certain age, and an unyielding nightmare regardless: a genocide streaming into smartphones around the world in real time. Many American eyes were opened for the first time to the reality not only in Palestine, but in the places in the world that are meant to be forgotten, where the U.S. and its allies may tread at their will and pleasure. At the center of this system of license and aggression is the Department of Defense, as it is now euphemistically named. What we call “defense” spending in the United States is actually spending on weapons and war-making, and it has continued its unabated rise in both red and blue presidential administrations.

The U.S. spends far more on its military than any other country – it spends more than the next nine countries combined, and as a share of GDP, its military spending far outpaces that of other rich countries in the G7 group. The Department of Defense is massive, “with $4 trillion in assets dispersed across fifty states and over 4,500 locations worldwide,” and its sheer size is at the heart of pathological accounting failures in recent years. Last November, the Pentagon flunked its seventh audit in a row, again failing to properly account for its budget – over $800 billion. A Stimson Center policy brief published last July called the Pentagon’s wild spending “a budgetary time bomb set to explode in the next twenty years,” noting the explosion in Pentagon spending in the years since 9/11. “Adjusted for inflation, defense spending has increased more than 48% in just the first 24 years of this century.” The U.S. imperial military is a truly global enterprise. According to data compiled by political anthropologist David Vine at American University, there were about 750 bases outside of the United States as of 2021, scattered throughout the world in 80 countries and colonies. Vine points out that given the “sheer number of bases and the secrecy and lack of transparency” around the information, a complete list is impossible:

https://original.antiwar.com/David_DAmato/2025/04/08/the-all-devouring-machine-pentagon-malfeasance-and-insatiable-empire/

Pentagon has no cuts and no problem getting more than they want…..

So far, the only agency that seems to have escaped the ire of the DOGE is — don’t be shocked! — the Pentagon. After misleading headlines suggested that its topline would be cut by as much as 8% annually for the next five years as part of that supposed efficiency campaign, the real plan was revealed — finding savings in some parts of the Pentagon only to invest whatever money might be saved in — yes! — other military programs without any actual reductions in the department’s overall budget. Then, during a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 7th, Trump announced that “we’re going to be approving a budget, and I’m proud to say, actually, the biggest one we’ve ever done for the military . . . $1 trillion. Nobody has seen anything like it.”

So far, cuts to make room for new kinds of military investments have been limited to the firing of civilian Pentagon employees and the dismantling of a number of internal strategy and research departments. Activities that funnel revenue to weapons contractors have barely been touched — hardly surprising given that Musk himself presides over a significant Pentagon contractor, SpaceX.

(counterpunch.org)

Like I said all departments are suffering from the drag of Elmo and his scalpel (DOGE)…and yet the War Department is untouched by all these senseless cuts….they get money shoved up their butts without question…..to illustrate my point….

House Republicans will seek a $150 billion Pentagon spending hike as part of their party-line megabill, according to three people familiar with the process, granted anonymity to describe private deliberations, abandoning a lower defense target and aligning with plans set by their Senate counterparts.

The upward move by the House is a win for defense hawks, who have been pushing to use GOP’s control of Congress and the White House to maximize military spending.

The House Armed Services Committee will debate its portion of Republicans’ reconciliation package next week when lawmakers return from their recess and committees begin to advance their respective sections of the sprawling domestic policy legislation.

A budget framework that cleared both chambers earlier this month proposed $150 billion in additional defense spending on the Senate side, while the House settled for a lower $100 billion Pentagon goal. The instructions for House committees in the budget blueprint, however, can be waived with the same majority vote needed to pass a final bill.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/23/house-gop-pentagon-spending-bump-00307100

It is so sad that the rest of the country means so little to Little Donny and his GOP…..while children go hungry the defense industry gets everything they want, whether needed or not, just to keep the money rolling in for their campaigns (to me it is still a bribe).

When will people come first and not what the Fat Cats want?

Thoughts?

Side note–did you see that after 2 disastrous security breeches Hogsbreath has installed a new internet line to by-pass security?

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols set up in his office to use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line told the AP. Known as a “dirty” internet line in the IT industry, it connects directly to the public internet where the user’s information and the websites accessed do not have the same security filters or protocols that the Pentagon’s secured connections maintain. The existence of the unsecured internet connection is the latest revelation about Hegseth’s use of the unclassified app and raises the possibility that sensitive information could have been put at risk of hacking or surveillance.

What is this fool’s game?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Half The War Budget

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY TO ONE AND ALL!

++++This may be only post today for I have a meeting with the radiologist and later my infusion so it is no telling how I will feel after.   Sorry and I will bounce back as soon as possible.++++

Most of my regulars know that I am against the War Department having an almost trillion dollar budget….I believe we could be just as safe with a smaller budget for so-called defense.

I know I have been critical of Trump and his horde of minions but I will lighten up if he keeps a promise he has recently made….

President Trump told reporters on Thursday that he believes US military spending could eventually be cut in half and that he wants to pursue the idea as part of an agreement with Russia and China. He also said there was no reason to build new nuclear weapons.

“At some point, when things settle down, I’m going to meet with China and I’m going to meet with Russia, in particular those two, and I’m going to say there’s no reason for us to be spending almost $1 trillion on the military … and I’m going to say we can spend this on other things,” Trump said.

“When we straighten it all out, then one of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi of China and President Putin of Russia, and I want to say let’s cut our military budget in half. And we can do that, and I think we’ll be able to do that,” he added.

The US spends significantly more on its military than Russia and China combined. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in 2023, the US accounted for 37% of global military spending. China came in second but was still far behind, accounting for 12% of military spending, and Russia was in third at 4.5%.

Discussing nuclear weapons, Trump said, “There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons. We already have so many you could destroy the world 50 times over or 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and [Russia] is building new nuclear weapons, and China is building new nuclear weapons.”

Russia recently said the outlook was not good for the state of US arms control as the last nuclear arms control treaty between the two powers is due to expire in February 2026, and there’s currently no replacement. But Trump’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine war could lead to arms control negotiations.

On the other hand, Trump also recently signed an executive order to build a major new missile defense system to cover the US and its military bases abroad, which could lead to a new arms race and will come with a huge price tag. Republicans in Congress are also looking to increase military spending by at least $100 billion.

(antiwar.com)

I say ‘Bravo’ to this statement….it has been needed for a very long time.

If he tries to make good on this I foresee the arms industry having a meltdown, after all they are making obscene profits from the current conditions.

Or is this just another of Trump’s idle promises that grab headlines and then dies from inaction?

If he is successful where will the ‘savings’ go?

I applaud this but I fear that it is not all it is cracked up to be.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

No Accountability

For years I have been preaching that the War Department is in the pockets of special interests and that this organization pisses away more money than any other…..we hear about all the money that is supposedly mismanaged by other offices but very few in Congress have anything to say about the Pentagon.

With the rise of food costs, healthcare sucks, that Congress does not want to tackle they instead reward the War department with a huge budget after it has failed numerous audits.

Despite the Pentagon’s repeated failures to pass audits and various alarming policies, 81 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives voted with 200 Republicans on Wednesday to advance a $883.7 billion annual defense package.

The Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025, unveiled by congressional negotiators this past Saturday, still needs approval from the Senate, which is expected to vote next week. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Wednesday that he plans to vote no and spoke out against the military-industrial complex.

The push to pass the NDAA comes as this congressional session winds down and after the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced last month that it had failed yet another audit—which several lawmakers highlighted after the Wednesday vote.

Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), co-chairs and co-founders of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, said in a joint statement, “Time and time again, Congress seems to be able to find the funds necessary to line the pockets of defense contractors while neglecting the problems everyday Americans face here at home.”

“Instead of fighting the rising cost of healthcare, gas, or groceries, this Congress prioritized rewarding the wealthy and well-connected military-industrial complex with even more unaccountable funds,” they continued. “After a seventh failed audit in a row, it’s disappointing that our amendment to hold the Pentagon accountable by penalizing the DOD’s budget by 0.5% for each failed audit was stripped out of the final bill. It’s time Congress demanded accountability from the Pentagon.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/ndaa-2025

With Trump we have 2 czars of spending reduction….does this mean the Pentagon will finally be held accountable? 

HAHA!

Not in this lifetime!

Some bitch and moan about all those people getting benefits from the government as a way to piss needed money away and yet could care less that the War Department pisses away money by the buckets full.  Why is that?

Something needs doing to rein the defense spending….but that will be for another Congress down the road.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Thieves In Business suits

A change of pace….we will be bombarded with stats and reports for the next few days so let’s try and change the tone.

I know I do go on about the War Department and it’s inflated budget that grows yearly….and I rail about the sycophants with buckets on money that buy off Congress and the White House….the corruption is just getting worse with every admin that comes to power.

For instance one of the preeminent defense industry has just bee caught gouging.

Indictments of arms contractors for corruption and malfeasance are not uncommon, but recently revealed cases of illegal conduct by RTX (formerly Raytheon) are extraordinary even by the relatively lax standards of the defense industry.

The company has agreed to pay nearly $1 billion in fines, which is one of the highest figures ever for corruption in the arms sector. To incur these fines, RTX participated in price gouging on Pentagon contracts, bribing officials in Qatar, and sharing sensitive information with China.

Engaging in illegal conduct on this scale suggests that, far from being an aberration, this behavior may be business as usual for the company. Given the scale of RTX’s malfeasance, the Justice Department should take a close look at the practices of other arms contractors to determine whether these infractions are industry standard.

The company’s approach is reminiscent of the way arms companies did business in the 1960s, when, for example, massive cost overruns on Lockheed Martin’s C-5 transport plane drew fire from internal critics like Ernest Fitzgerald and congressional gadflies, like the-Democratic Sen. William Proxmire of Wisconsin.

Resorting to bribery has been less prevalent since Sen. Proxmire pushed through the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, which was a response to a massive scandal involving the bribery of officials in Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia. The exposure brought about by the scandal – which covered events going back to the 1950s that were not known to the general public until a set of 1975 Senate hearings on the activities of multinational corporations showed the world how bribery was used to sway the decisions of foreign policy makers. This resulted in major consequences, including the conviction of former Japanese Premier Kakuei Tanaka, along with 10 other business people and government officials.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/raytheon-corruption/

This is disgraceful….if these thieves are caught red handed then they should be fined and sent to the bottom of any future contracts.

I wish I could say this was a one off incident….but it is all too common.

Then there is Boeing, you know the plane maker that has been doing shoddy work, it was also caught gouging….

A new report from a Department of Defense watchdog claims Boeing managed to slip a few pricey items through, reports Reuters, inflating the cost of a dozen spare parts for C-17 transport planes used by the Air Force to the tune of almost $1 million. According to the DOD’s Office of Inspector General report released Tuesday, included in those spare parts were bathroom soap dispensers that ran the military arm nearly $150,000 in unnecessary costs. The markup on the soap dispensers was 7,943%, the report noted—or more than 80 times what similar commercially available dispensers cost, per CBS News.

“The Air Force needs to establish and implement more effective internal controls to help prevent overpaying for spare parts for the remainder of this contract, which continues through 2031,” says Defense Department Inspector General Robert Storch in a statement. He makes the point that “significant overpayments for spare parts may reduce the number of spare parts that Boeing can purchase on the contract, potentially reducing C-17 readiness worldwide.”

Under that contract, Boeing is the entity that buys the spare parts for the C-17 planes, then is reimbursed by the Air Force. The inspector general’s review was spurred by an anonymous tip about the soap dispensers. Boeing, meanwhile, says the spare parts had to be significantly modified to meet military specs, and that it plans to dive into the details in its own written response “in the coming days,” per Reuters. The Air Force says it concurs with the “intent” of the watchdog’s recommendation to “determine whether spare parts prices are allowable and reasonable before payment,” adding that it would seek to recoup more than $902,000, reports USA Today.

These are not solo incidents this practice is all too common and there is little oversight anyone thanks to the GOP and stupidity.

This is taxpayer money and should be reported whenever abuse has been rooted out….but rooting it out seems to be a huge obstacle.

But that is just my wish for this government.

Taxpayer cash side note: 

A new report by the Israeli outlet Calcalist reviewed Israeli military spending on wars since October 7, finding that Washington is funding 70% of Tel Aviv’s military costs. In a little over a year, the US has provided Israel with more than $20 billion in military aid. 

“The scope of American aid since the beginning of the war is about 85 billion shekels… According to official estimates by the Bank of Israel, the total cost of the war is…approximately NIS 118 billion.” It continues, “Therefore, according to a simple calculation, The Americans financed about 70% of the war effort.”

According to the Cost of War Project, the US has given Israel $22.57 billion in military aid since the Hamas attack. Calcalist concludes without US support, Tel Aviv’s war would simply be unaffordable.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/washington-is-funding-70-of-israels-wars/

And no one seems to care how much money is being pissed away on these endless wars.

Why is that?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ukraine Is Jealous!

The aid package for Ukraine in their struggle with the Russian invasion is stalled in Congress and yet any and all aid to Israel seems to get the fast track…..and Ukraine is fighting the green-eyed monster of jealousy on Israel’s success.

Ukrainian officials have expressed envy over the US’s response to an Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel that came in retaliation for the Israeli bombing of Iran’s consulate in Syria.

The US, the UK, France, and Jordan all intervened to help intercept Iranian drones and missiles. “The whole world saw that Israel was not alone in this defense — the threat in the sky was also being eliminated by its allies,” Zelensky said.

The attack on Israel came as Russia has stepped up its missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which Moscow said was a response to Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries inside Russian territory. Ukraine has suffered serious blows in the strikes as it’s running low on air defenses, and Russia’s intelligence continues to improve.

“When Ukraine says that its allies should not turn a blind eye to Russian missiles and drones, it means action is needed — a bold one,” Zelensky said. “It is not rhetoric that protects the sky, it is not opinions that curb the production of missiles and drones for terror.”

…

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba acknowledged that the US and NATO wouldn’t directly intervene but called for more military aid. “Even if you cannot act the way you act in Israel, give us what we need, and we will do the rest of the job,” he said.

The $60 billion President Biden is seeking to fuel the proxy war in Ukraine still hasn’t passed through Congress. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he would work on getting more military aid to Israel this week, and the White House has said that it would only support legislation that also included spending for Ukraine and Taiwan.

(antiwar.com)

The problem is simple….Ukraine does not have the agents with cash to bribe their way to success as Israel does.

Until they, Ukraine, start greasing the right palms they will always be look for solutions.

Cash is what it is….the oil that keeps the gears of Congress working…..the more cash spread around the better the results….and that is at ALL levels from the chief to the little reps….money will help Ukraine prevail.

Just so you know the Congress instead of taking up cash for Ukraine spent their time working on laws that govern home appliances….time well spent.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing thought–15Apr24

Today is tax day….get your paperwork in or pay the penalty….what better day to inform my readers about where some of their tax dollars go.

I bitch about the massive amount of money thrown at the War Department….well I do this for good reason….as you will soon realize….

The average U.S. taxpayer was forced to contribute more to militarized programs than to Medicare and Medicaid combined in 2023, according to a new analysis released Tuesday by the National Priorities Project.

Published ahead of Tax Day, the analysis sheds light on the extent to which the federal income tax dollars of ordinary Americans are fueling “militarism and its support systems” such as the Pentagon, which currently accounts for roughly half of the federal government’s total discretionary budget.

“Overall, in 2023, the average taxpayer contributed $5,109 for militarism and its support systems—including war and the Pentagon, veterans’ programs, deportations and border militarization, and federal spending on policing and prisons,” according to NPP, which is a project of the Institute for Policy Studies.

By comparison, the typical U.S. taxpayer contributed $4,308 to Medicare and Medicaid, $346 to K-12 education, $516 to nutrition assistance for low-income Americans, and $58 to diplomacy-related programs.

“Right now, millions of Americans are struggling to stay afloat—it’s become so expensive to live, eat, and have a home. Yet, instead of addressing the cost-of-living crisis or funding measures to address our communities’ needs, this year $5,109 of the average American’s taxpayer dollars went to fund the military and its support systems,” said Alliyah Lusuegro, NPP’s outreach coordinator and a co-author of the new analysis.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-taxpayers-funding-militarism

The Pentagon gets a budget that is pushing one trillion dollars and programs to help the American people scrambles for the crumbs that Congress gives them.

I wish the American people cared where their money goes….instead they fall for every lie the government tells them that is in their best interest….that is such bullsh*t!

This country always has enough money to piss away on some new weapon system but little to nothing for hungry children….why is that?

But I will keep bitching and complaining for it is what I do.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”