Where is all our money going?

[Deranged Rhino]

U.S. Army fudged its accounts by trillions of dollars, auditor finds

 

The Defense Department's Inspector General, in a June report, said the Army made $2.8 trillion in wrongful adjustments to accounting entries in one quarter alone in 2015, and $6.5 trillion for the year. Yet the Army lacked receipts and invoices to support those numbers or simple made them up.

 

As a result, the Army's financial statements for 2015 were "materially misstated," the report concluded. The "forced" adjustments rendered the statements useless because "DoD and Army managers could not rely on the data in their accounting systems when making management and resource decisions."

 

Disclosure of the Army's manipulation of numbers is the latest example of the severe accounting problems plaguing the Defense Department for decades.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-audit-army-idUSKCN10U1IG

 

 

********************************

Trillions of dollars have gone missing down the drain of the Defense Department's black budget programs over the past decade. The question is, where is it going? Is it just accounting missteps and typical government waste (unlikely) or is the money being siphoned off by various actors in a series of payouts, fraud, and Special Access Programs? Maybe all of the above?

 

While I have some personal thoughts to where this kind of money has gone, I know that most here will disagree...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...So, let me ask you here what your thoughts are on the subject.

 

Mind you, this isn't a one-off story, it's just the most recent. The accounting practices by the DoD have been under scrutiny for decades. Remember September 10th, 2001 and the Pentagon briefing given by Rumsfeld? 15 years later and it's more of the same. This is our money... where's it going?

 

 

[unbillievable]

It takes a lot of money to run Stargate command.

[snafu]

Building an army of pigmen, perhaps?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42zKhHgWb9s

 

 

I heard about this recently:

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/18/478212837/in-search-for-cures-scientists-create-embryos-that-are-both-animal-and-human

Edited August 19, 2016 by snafu

[Maury Ballstein]

It's all going to the war dogs.

[/dev/null]

When I first saw the title and author of this thread, I was gonna troll with my usual Aliens meme. But then Greggggy had to seriously go that route

 

So first I'd like to say you for pre-empting my troll

 

Then I'd like to post an actual response. Having worked on DoD IT related projects I have seen first hand how the DoD and the Government spends money in general. Especially how the Government and DoD likes to spend money on itself, my money is on a more terrestrial explanation.

[FireChan]

Bribes to Brazil for them to release the swimmers.

[Deranged Rhino]

All of the responses thus far have been outstanding.

 

 

When I first saw the title and author of this thread, I was gonna troll with my usual Aliens meme. But then Greggggy had to seriously go that route

 

So first I'd like to say you for pre-empting my troll

 

Then I'd like to post an actual response. Having worked on DoD IT related projects I have seen first hand how the DoD and the Government spends money in general. Especially how the Government and DoD likes to spend money on itself, my money is on a more terrestrial explanation.

 

First, apologies.

 

Second, I appreciate the response and insight. I don't doubt at all there's an incredible amount of waste, in your opinion and experience could it really be as much as $6.5b a year though? Is it that much of a sinkhole?

[/dev/null]

 

Second, I appreciate the response and insight. I don't doubt at all there's an incredible amount of waste, in your opinion and experience could it really be as much as $6.5b a year though? Is it that much of a sinkhole?

$6.5 Billion

DoD spends more than that in office furniture upgrades

 

Per Year

[Deranged Rhino]

$6.5 Billion

DoD spends more than that in office furniture upgrades

 

Per Year

 

Sorry, trillion.

[GG]

U.S. Army fudged its accounts by trillions of dollars, auditor finds

 

The Defense Department's Inspector General, in a June report, said the Army made $2.8 trillion in wrongful adjustments to accounting entries in one quarter alone in 2015, and $6.5 trillion for the year. Yet the Army lacked receipts and invoices to support those numbers or simple made them up.

 

 

 

 

Hard to tell without looking at the actual financials statements, but this report exaggerates the numbers just a bit. The entire DoD budget is $600 billion, so it's a bit tough for the Army to make adjustments that are 10 times the entire defense budget. Let's say there's a bit of double, triple counting to make the number look big.

 

But that's beside the point.

 

The real outrage is what I've been arguing forever. Make one simple rule. Have the government abide by the same standards that are imposed on private entities. Imagine the vultures that would be circling if WalMart had to restate its earnings that added up to 10 times its annual revenues?

[keepthefaith]

 

Hard to tell without looking at the actual financials statements, but this report exaggerates the numbers just a bit. The entire DoD budget is $600 billion, so it's a bit tough for the Army to make adjustments that are 10 times the entire defense budget. Let's say there's a bit of double, triple counting to make the number look big.

 

But that's beside the point.

 

The real outrage is what I've been arguing forever. Make one simple rule. Have the government abide by the same standards that are imposed on private entities. Imagine the vultures that would be circling if WalMart had to restate its earnings that added up to 10 times its annual revenues?

[DC Tom]

All of the responses thus far have been outstanding.

 

 

 

First, apologies.

 

Second, I appreciate the response and insight. I don't doubt at all there's an incredible amount of waste, in your opinion and experience could it really be as much as $6.5b a year though? Is it that much of a sinkhole?

 

$6.5B is less than half an aircraft carrier.

 

It's the total amount spend on the RAH-66 program, which produced two helicopters.

 

It's what was spent on the Ground Combat Vehicle program, and a third what was spent on the Future Combat System, neither of which produced a single vehicle.

 

It's an eighth of what was spent on the F-35 before an example even flew.

 

It's more than was spent in the bidding process for the next-generation tanker.

 

Frankly, it would be surprising if the Army wasn't wasting $6.5B/year.

[Deranged Rhino]

 

$6.5B is less than half an aircraft carrier.

 

It's the total amount spend on the RAH-66 program, which produced two helicopters.

 

It's what was spent on the Ground Combat Vehicle program, and a third what was spent on the Future Combat System, neither of which produced a single vehicle.

 

It's an eighth of what was spent on the F-35 before an example even flew.

 

It's more than was spent in the bidding process for the next-generation tanker.

 

Frankly, it would be surprising if the Army wasn't wasting $6.5B/year.

 

Typo. Meant trillion.

[/dev/null]

 

Typo. Meant trillion.

So a quick Google of us gdp 2015 comes back with an estimate of $17.914 Trillion (with a T)

 

And you claim that the US Army. Not the US Government. Not the DoD. The Army, one branch of the DoD, managed to scam $6.5 Trillion (with a T), one third of the entire US economy, into their super secret Space Command.

 

[Deranged Rhino]

So a quick Google of us gdp 2015 comes back with an estimate of $17.914 Trillion (with a T)

 

And you claim that the US Army. Not the US Government. Not the DoD. The Army, one branch of the DoD, managed to scam $6.5 Trillion (with a T), one third of the entire US economy, into their super secret Space Command.

 

 

For clarity that was not my conclusion. I was asking you, based on your experience seeing government waste first hand, if it's possible for the DoD (not just the Army) to waste $6.5t a year as the article and excuse makers for these constant budgetary shenanigans like to say. $6.5t is too much to be just waste, is it not?

 

As for the SAPs, I said this: "Trillions of dollars have gone missing down the drain of the Defense Department's black budget programs over the past decade. The question is, where is it going? Is it just accounting missteps and typical government waste (unlikely) or is the money being siphoned off by various actors in a series of payouts, fraud, and Special Access Programs? Maybe all of the above?

While I have some personal thoughts to where this kind of money has gone, I know that most here will disagree..."

I'm not trying to convince folks of what I believe in that area as I know it's wasted breath despite the literal mountains of evidence of such a program's existence... but I'm also not saying only the Army is contributing to these SAPs, nor even that all of that money is ending up there. It's just one likely landing spot of many.

[Deranged Rhino]

Relevant:

 

[....lybob]

It's not really a 6T dollar problem when everything is netted out it's only a 62.4 billion dollar problem of money unaccounted for.

[Keukasmallies]

It's not really a 6T dollar problem when everything is netted out it's only a 62.4 billion dollar problem of money unaccounted for.

 

Well, in that case, not to worry. Hill'ry has the nation accustomed to such paltry discretions that one more won't be noticed.

[GG]

 

For clarity that was not my conclusion. I was asking you, based on your experience seeing government waste first hand, if it's possible for the DoD (not just the Army) to waste $6.5t a year as the article and excuse makers for these constant budgetary shenanigans like to say. $6.5t is too much to be just waste, is it not?

 

 

 

I can say with a high degree of certainty that it's impossible to waste 10 times the amount of the overall DoD budget.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Rock on! 'MERICA!

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2011/01/10/gao-u-s-has-fired-250000-rounds-for-every-insurgent-killed/

 

"US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand..."

 

Oh... And don't forget about the suitcases of greenbacks going to pay off some Afghan villagers... Yeah, maybe that doesn't happen? LoL...