Support the troops

[Boomer860]

Another slimball commie .He probably wants to fight with dildos.

The Democrat party is now officilay named the Communist party

 

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.d...40332/-1/NEWS10

[Alaska Darin]

There's at least 25% bloat in the DoD. It's probably closer to 50%. The problem will be the same thing it always is: Combat readiness will suffer while the bureaucrats keep their jobs.

[Taro T]

Another slimball commie .He probably wants to fight with dildos.

The Democrat party is now officilay named the Communist party

 

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.d...40332/-1/NEWS10

Why doesn't anybody seem to acknoledge that every $ that government spends today needs to be paid for eventually (aka taxed)? It doesn't really matter whether we pay today or if the rich pay tomorrow (as our friendly neighborhood Fannie May Rep aka Barney Frank proposes), it still is a tax. Of course, Barney seems to have picked up some of the Reagan and Clinton teflon as I am more or less shocked that he faces no repercussions for his role in the current economic upheavals we are going through.

[Wacka]

Why doesn't anybody seem to acknoledge that every $ that government spends today needs to be paid for eventually (aka taxed)? It doesn't really matter whether we pay today or if the rich pay tomorrow (as our friendly neighborhood Fannie May Rep aka Barney Frank proposes), it still is a tax. Of course, Barney seems to have picked up some of the Reagan and Clinton teflon as I am more or less shocked that he faces no repercussions for his role in the current economic upheavals we are going through.

 

I sat next to a woman on the BART today and she said she was in finance. We got to talking about the economy and one of the first things out of her mouth was that Frank should be arrested.

[Boomer860]

I sat next to a woman on the BART today and she said she was in finance. We got to talking about the economy and one of the first things out of her mouth was that Frank should be arrested.

As long as the abuse to the financia systeml goes unpunshed the financial markets will decline. Bottom no one trusts the financial manangers or corrupt politicians.

[UConn James]

There's at least 25% bloat in the DoD. It's probably closer to 50%. The problem will be the same thing it always is: Combat readiness will suffer while the bureaucrats keep their jobs.

 

The nail just got struck on the head.

 

Ben and Jerry (of ice cream fame) were on CSPAN many moons ago, and had a bar graph diorama set up, using Oreo cookies as the bar, of where the federal budget goes. DoD spending took up about multiple columns with the cookies piled so high they fell over --- there must've been about 200. The rest of the departments had single columns, with the next-highest getting seven or eight cookies, Medicare/ Medicaid had one cookie, etc.

 

Our military is so unorganized it's pathetic. And you know why they are? B/c they get so much money, they don't have to be organized.

 

Maybe instead of slash'n'burn, tho, for reasons you write, we're going to have to do a gradual decline of 2% per year, while instituting better accounting and methodology. Step 1 would be to pretty much copy Walmart's computer system and how they track inventories. Chide them all you want otherwise, but Walmart can literally tell you how many boxes of Strawberry Pop-tarts they sell in areas where Level 3 hurricanes are three days from impact. Ask someone in the Air Force how many C-130s are currently in the fleet and they wouldn't know whether to sh-- or turn purple. The most basic tenet of organization and efficiency is knowing what you have vs. what you need.

[finknottle]

The nail just got struck on the head.

 

Ben and Jerry (of ice cream fame) were on CSPAN many moons ago, and had a bar graph diorama set up, using Oreo cookies as the bar, of where the federal budget goes. DoD spending took up about multiple columns with the cookies piled so high they fell over --- there must've been about 200. The rest of the departments had single columns, with the next-highest getting seven or eight cookies, Medicare/ Medicaid had one cookie, etc.

 

Our military is so unorganized it's pathetic. And you know why they are? B/c they get so much money, they don't have to be organized.

 

Maybe instead of slash'n'burn, tho, for reasons you write, we're going to have to do a gradual decline of 2% per year, while instituting better accounting and methodology. Step 1 would be to pretty much copy Walmart's computer system and how they track inventories. Chide them all you want otherwise, but Walmart can literally tell you how many boxes of Strawberry Pop-tarts they sell in areas where Level 3 hurricanes are three days from impact. Ask someone in the Air Force how many C-130s are currently in the fleet and they wouldn't know whether to sh-- or turn purple. The most basic tenet of organization and efficiency is knowing what you have vs. what you need.

 

Ben and Jerry are playing you like a puppet, as a cursory glance at the budget will show. You know you can wiki it, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_S..._federal_budget

 

The Social Security Adminstration gets more of the budget than the DOD (not counting supplimental Iraq funding - they are about equal if you include it). Are you saying they are a lean, mean bureaucratic machine? Medicare and Medicade gets more too - is that a model of efficiency? Unemployment and Welfare is almost half of the DOD budget. Surely there is waste there. Or how about the nearly 100 billion sopent on education and training, one sixth of the military budget? We don't seem to be getting much bang for the buck there. All of these programs have terrible waste and inefficiency, and as a ratio of their budget the non-defense spending scandals have been worse. DOD at least has an army of accounts (itself waste) fighting the problem, the others do not have the same spotlight and eager press attention.

 

Funny how we so readily recognize that bureacracies lead to waste and call for cutting the budgets dramnatically when it's military spending, but god forbid we should expect the social programs to get rid of their waste. No, let's expand them instead.

[IDBillzFan]

I sat next to a woman on the BART today and she said she was in finance. We got to talking about the economy and one of the first things out of her mouth was that Frank should be arrested.

Quite honestly, anyone who cares enough to pay attention knows that Frank is a crook. Unfortunately, the efforts of people like Frank, Reid and Pelosi to grab some cash, pass even more to the Obama campaign through Freddie/Fannie while simultaneously tanking the economy just before the election were executed to perfection. And when the shiit hit the fan, there was so much panic created by the MSM headlines that it was EASY for them to point at the people who tried to stop the madness and say "You see the current administration? They're to blame for this mess."

 

You just can't beat the perfect storm. To quote Danny DeVito, they played America like a harp from hell.

[molson_golden2002]

The nail just got struck on the head.

 

Ben and Jerry (of ice cream fame) were on CSPAN many moons ago, and had a bar graph diorama set up, using Oreo cookies as the bar, of where the federal budget goes. DoD spending took up about multiple columns with the cookies piled so high they fell over --- there must've been about 200. The rest of the departments had single columns, with the next-highest getting seven or eight cookies, Medicare/ Medicaid had one cookie, etc.

 

Our military is so unorganized it's pathetic. And you know why they are? B/c they get so much money, they don't have to be organized.

 

Maybe instead of slash'n'burn, tho, for reasons you write, we're going to have to do a gradual decline of 2% per year, while instituting better accounting and methodology. Step 1 would be to pretty much copy Walmart's computer system and how they track inventories. Chide them all you want otherwise, but Walmart can literally tell you how many boxes of Strawberry Pop-tarts they sell in areas where Level 3 hurricanes are three days from impact. Ask someone in the Air Force how many C-130s are currently in the fleet and they wouldn't know whether to sh-- or turn purple. The most basic tenet of organization and efficiency is knowing what you have vs. what you need.

 

Great post, but I'll just throw in my two cents of experience from my Air Force days. It seemed to me that every organization on every level of the military would look for ways to get rid of inventory we had so that we could claim to have the need for it in the next budget. We still have paint left over? Paint every post in the maintence shop even though its got 30 coats of paint on it already. Just things like that. Cutting military spending and keeping the military able to fight will not be easy. Every department, squadron, brigade whatever will fight tooth and nail to keep its funding. And remember the base closing fight? Communities will fight too. This should be interesting to watch unfold with the new Congress and president.

[Wacka]

Its all government like that. I was in grad school and we had a NIH research grant. The prof came to us and said that we had to come up with 30K in equipment and supplies we needed that month or the grant would be cut by that much next year. No incentive to be frugal.

[molson_golden2002]

Another slimball commie .He probably wants to fight with dildos.

The Democrat party is now officilay named the Communist party

 

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.d...40332/-1/NEWS10

The USSR had the biggest military in the world. Military spending hurt them at every step of the way.

[Boomer860]

The USSR had the biggest military in the world. Military spending hurt them at every step of the way.

If it were not for thier military spending their system would have collapsed sooner. Barney Frank is a POS and should be in jail for his part Fannie May

freddy Mac collapse. Democrats love hearings .My enemies in Washington are Peolsi , Reid, Frank Durbin ,Kerry and a few others why? they hate the troops. As usless a Biden is at let he doesnt hate the troops.

[swede316]

Or how about the nearly 100 billion sopent on education and training, one sixth of the military budget? We don't seem to be getting much bang for the buck there.

I kinda disagree with you here...Training is important...Very important...Could money be spent more wisely..Absolutely. As much as I hate to admit it...I'll agree with Molson...End of quarter money had to be spent..ASAP...We didn't want to have our funding cut for the next fiscal year. Was and still is the mindset.

[UBinVA]

The nail just got struck on the head.

 

Ben and Jerry (of ice cream fame) were on CSPAN many moons ago, and had a bar graph diorama set up, using Oreo cookies as the bar, of where the federal budget goes. DoD spending took up about multiple columns with the cookies piled so high they fell over --- there must've been about 200. The rest of the departments had single columns, with the next-highest getting seven or eight cookies, Medicare/ Medicaid had one cookie, etc.

 

Our military is so unorganized it's pathetic. And you know why they are? B/c they get so much money, they don't have to be organized.

 

Maybe instead of slash'n'burn, tho, for reasons you write, we're going to have to do a gradual decline of 2% per year, while instituting better accounting and methodology. Step 1 would be to pretty much copy Walmart's computer system and how they track inventories. Chide them all you want otherwise, but Walmart can literally tell you how many boxes of Strawberry Pop-tarts they sell in areas where Level 3 hurricanes are three days from impact. Ask someone in the Air Force how many C-130s are currently in the fleet and they wouldn't know whether to sh-- or turn purple. The most basic tenet of organization and efficiency is knowing what you have vs. what you need.

 

You're a complete jack-a$$. The primary responsibility of our government is to defend this nation and is one of only a few areas spelled out in the constitution were the government is allowed to collect revenue to support a military. Meanwhile, the politicians have bloated our taxes to pay for things not even mentioned that account for over 60% of our current spending and debt.

 

I could tell you exactly how many aircraft we have in our inventory down to the tail number, were there located, and how much we spend on maintenance for each one. I work with these numbers and databases all day. So for you to issue that statement with knowledge of our capabilities or lack thereof is plain foolish.

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

You're a complete jack-a$$. The primary responsibility of our government is to defend this nation and is one of only a few areas spelled out in the constitution were the government is allowed to collect revenue to support a military. Meanwhile, the politicians have bloated our taxes to pay for things not even mentioned that account for over 60% of our current spending and debt.

 

I could tell you exactly how many aircraft we have in our inventory down to the tail number, were there located, and how much we spend on maintenance for each one. I work with these numbers and databases all day. So for you to issue that statement with knowledge of our capabilities or lack thereof is plain foolish.

 

You may know where all the aircrafts are located but you don't seem to know that there's an "h" in where, nor the difference between there, their, and they're. O well.

[/dev/null]

Great post, but I'll just throw in my two cents of experience from my Air Force days. It seemed to me that every organization on every level of the military would look for ways to get rid of inventory we had so that we could claim to have the need for it in the next budget. We still have paint left over? Paint every post in the maintence shop even though its got 30 coats of paint on it already.

 

September in the military is like the movie Brewsters Millions.

 

I used to work with a guy who was previously an IT in the Navy. He told me about how in September the IT shop would take a look at their budget and see how much they had left over. Any leftover amount would be cut in next years budget, starting in October. Of course nobody wants their budget cut so they had to go on shopping sprees to use up their funds.

 

One year his IT department bought batting cages. Yes batting cages for an aircraft carrier funded by the IT shop.

It gets better. A couple months later they pull into a European port and donate the batting cages to some children's park

[Boomer860]

September in the military is like the movie Brewsters Millions.

 

I used to work with a guy who was previously an IT in the Navy. He told me about how in September the IT shop would take a look at their budget and see how much they had left over. Any leftover amount would be cut in next years budget, starting in October. Of course nobody wants their budget cut so they had to go on shopping sprees to use up their funds.

 

One year his IT department bought batting cages. Yes batting cages for an aircraft carrier funded by the IT shop.

It gets better. A couple months later they pull into a European port and donate the batting cages to some children's park

And the worse part is that all levels of do the same thing. About the budget not batting cages.

[In-A-Gadda-Levitre]

As long as the abuse to the financia systeml goes unpunshed the financial markets will decline. Bottom no one trusts the financial manangers or corrupt politicians.

how does someone misspell 4 words in 2 sentences and not notice it?

[In-A-Gadda-Levitre]

September in the military is like the movie Brewsters Millions.

 

I used to work with a guy who was previously an IT in the Navy. He told me about how in September the IT shop would take a look at their budget and see how much they had left over. Any leftover amount would be cut in next years budget, starting in October. Of course nobody wants their budget cut so they had to go on shopping sprees to use up their funds.

 

One year his IT department bought batting cages. Yes batting cages for an aircraft carrier funded by the IT shop.

It gets better. A couple months later they pull into a European port and donate the batting cages to some children's park

while maybe batting cages might be over the top, this is standard operating procedure for IT in the private sector as well. I've been told to ship empty boxes, hand carry invoices or PO's (bill them, but don't necessarily ship it yet) through the process, etc. just to use up left over funds.

[DC Tom]

September in the military is like the movie Brewsters Millions.

 

I used to work with a guy who was previously an IT in the Navy. He told me about how in September the IT shop would take a look at their budget and see how much they had left over. Any leftover amount would be cut in next years budget, starting in October. Of course nobody wants their budget cut so they had to go on shopping sprees to use up their funds.

 

One year his IT department bought batting cages. Yes batting cages for an aircraft carrier funded by the IT shop.

It gets better. A couple months later they pull into a European port and donate the batting cages to some children's park

 

No different in any other government program. On my contract, I've known the managers to hire temps to sit around and do nothing for a month, just to burn the excess cash before fiscal year end.