Just normal American Utopia...

BigRedBuster said:
I’m going to be amazingly shocked if republicans slash the defense budget.  :laughpound
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https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4992913-pentagon-fails-7th-audit-in-a-row-but-says-progress-made/

It is a problem, but like everything else it is being sensationalized.  The DOD didnt "lose" a billion dollars.  However, they were not able to track it in a clear enough way that the auditors could see where/when money was spent.  My understanding, could be entirely wrong, is that it's like keeping track of how much money you spent at the grocery store but you didn't keep the receipt to know exactly how much that steak weighed.  But there does appear to be progress.

"McCord likened the correction of material weaknesses to balancing a checkbook, and said it was “the biggest sign of progress” toward clean audits across the Pentagon.

He added the Pentagon has improved from less than 7 percent to more than 82 percent of its funding being free of material weaknesses since 2021."

This looks like an area where coming in and firing a bunch of people is actually going to make it worse.  Kind of like the underfunded IRS.  It takes a lot of good, hard-working people to keep track of all of this.  This isn't like a 3 person accounting team sitting in the back corner of the office..

 
funhusker said:
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4992913-pentagon-fails-7th-audit-in-a-row-but-says-progress-made/

It is a problem, but like everything else it is being sensationalized.  The DOD didnt "lose" a billion dollars.  However, they were not able to track it in a clear enough way that the auditors could see where/when money was spent.  My understanding, could be entirely wrong, is that it's like keeping track of how much money you spent at the grocery store but you didn't keep the receipt to know exactly how much that steak weighed.  But there does appear to be progress.

"McCord likened the correction of material weaknesses to balancing a checkbook, and said it was “the biggest sign of progress” toward clean audits across the Pentagon.

He added the Pentagon has improved from less than 7 percent to more than 82 percent of its funding being free of material weaknesses since 2021."

This looks like an area where coming in and firing a bunch of people is actually going to make it worse.  Kind of like the underfunded IRS.  It takes a lot of good, hard-working people to keep track of all of this.  This isn't like a 3 person accounting team sitting in the back corner of the office..
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A lot of that money goes to dark projects. Of course you're not going to be able to account for that money.

 
knapplc said:
A lot of that money goes to dark projects. Of course you're not going to be able to account for that money.
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What is the difference between a “dark project” and fraud or waste?

If they can’t or won’t account for where huge sums of money went, that is a problem.

 
JJ Husker said:
What is the difference between a “dark project” and fraud or waste?
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Dark projects produce things like the SR71 and stealth aircraft. 

Fraud and waste are... fraud and waste. 

Top-secret projects can't have a line on a spreadsheet. So their funding comes from missing money, or what often gets labeled as "waste." 

 
knapplc said:
Dark projects produce things like the SR71 and stealth aircraft. 

Fraud and waste are... fraud and waste. 

Top-secret projects can't have a line on a spreadsheet. So their funding comes from missing money, or what often gets labeled as "waste." 
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Yes, but it CAN be accounted for as a “Top Secret” project. It seems to me the $2.4 Trillion (or whatever the staggering number is) that they can’t or won’t account for is not all top secret projects.

Gotta admit $2.46T unaccounted for is a serious problem. The nonchalant, dismissive attitude of Dep Def Sec Hicks in that Jon Stewart clip is a massive red flag of unaccountability within our by far largest revenue eater.

Do I trust Trump to ferret it out and fix it?  No. But somebody needs to.

 
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DevoHusker said:
Better option than any of the choices we've had in 8 years
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He ingratiated himself with me pretty well after his dedication and fight for 9/11 first responders. When a media personality can (and has) done more for people like 9/11 first responders than a lot of other actual elected officials, that's pretty telling.

 
I have no idea where to put this because it deals with Gov spending which is an issue regardless of Party.    This account does a great job highlighting all the crap our government wastes money on.   Some projects are just downright hilariously stupid.  
 


 
Archy1221 said:
I have no idea where to put this because it deals with Gov spending which is an issue regardless of Party.    This account does a great job highlighting all the crap our government wastes money on.   Some projects are just downright hilariously stupid.  
 
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None of what you posted shows whether this is waste or not. You'd need to understand what value the research could provide vs the cost.

 


Isn't this the entrenched mentality EVERY incoming Secretary of Defense faces? 

Followed by neither party punishing the DOD or cutting its budget because the Pentagon is always over-spending in somebody's Congressional district. 

So is Just Normal American Utopia the thread where we talk about things that are so systemically broken that neither party gets the credit or blame?

I thought it started as a place to share happy news. 

 
Archy1221 said:
I have no idea where to put this because it deals with Gov spending which is an issue regardless of Party.    This account does a great job highlighting all the crap our government wastes money on.   Some projects are just downright hilariously stupid.  
 
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Could be. Who knows? Pretty small amount of money in the big picture.

Was it the words Environmental Justice that took you straight to "hilariously stupid?"  The links provide no story behind this particular grant, but "environmental justice" often refers to the habit of both government and private projects to locate their most toxic and disruptive elements in low-income areas, often with little or no public transparency or accountability because poor people are hilarious.

May not be your cup of tea, but it may not be the stupidest thing the government spends money on.

I do support a robust audit of everything.

Hey, is there any chance RandoLand.us isn't a huge a$$h@!e who gets banned even from X for spewing ridiculous horses#!t? 

Of course not. 

 
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