by William Hartung (hat tip TampaRed)
Here’s a question for you: How do you spell boondoggle?
The answer (in case you didn’t already know): P-e-n-t-a-g-o-n.
Hawks on Capitol Hill and in the U.S. military routinely justify increases in the Defense Department’s already munificent budget by arguing that yet more money is needed to “support the troops.” If you’re already nodding in agreement, let me explain just where a huge chunk of the Pentagon budget — hundreds of billions of dollars — really goes. Keep in mind that it’s your money we’re talking about.
The answer couldn’t be more straightforward: it goes directly to private corporations and much of it is then wasted on useless overhead, fat executive salaries, and startling (yet commonplace) cost overruns on weapons systems and other military hardware that, in the end, won’t even perform as promised. Too often the result isweapons that aren’t needed at prices we can’t afford. If anyone truly wanted to help the troops, loosening the corporate grip on the Pentagon budget would be an excellent place to start.
The numbers are staggering. In fiscal year 2016, the Pentagon issued $304 billion in contract awards to corporations — nearly half of the department’s $600 billion-plus budget for that year. And keep in mind that not all contractors are created equal. According to the Federal Procurement Data System’s top 100 contractors report for 2016, the biggest beneficiaries by a country mile were Lockheed Martin ($36.2 billion), Boeing ($24.3 billion), Raytheon ($12.8 billion), General Dynamics ($12.7 billion), and Northrop Grumman ($10.7 billion). Together, these five firms gobbled up nearly $100 billion of your tax dollars, about one-third of all the Pentagon’s contract awards in 2016.
For the entire article:
Conservatives ® will answer that “provid(ing) for the common defense” is one the few legitimate purposes of the national government. That doesn’t mean we should waste money. Especially now when we have a wall to build.
Fighting Israel’s wars has nothing to do with defense. It is rather insanity.
Bill, you are just figuring this out…..The DoD is a dead horse that everyone loves to beat. You should look at the rest of the government with their arcane procurement rules and of course the agency requirements. There is a boatload of money to be made fleecing the “social side of the house” as they are both agenda driven and clueless…
If you used the same thinking processes and procedures to build satellites like say the Fish and Wildlife build latrines in the western US we’d be bankrupt…….
sarc/off
I actually worked for three of the five big ones… although I was working for a subcontractor at NG, where a complete and total moron was my manager. Did I mention my manager was a moron?
As I recall, and this was a few years back, 55% of Defense spending was on personnel. Salaries, benefits, housing, food etc.
Now if we are going to have armed forces and send them in harms way we have a duty to equip them with the best weaponry we can build. If you don’t agree then I suggest you take some pilot’s, sailor’s or soldier’s place on the battlefield.
War is a racket…..will be that way until time on this Earth ends .
A few months ago the DoD finally decided to give half of every platoon a M-16 (good to 300 yds) and half a NATO 308 rifle (like the WWII 30-06 M1 Garand) that could reach the bad guys shooting at them from 800 yards. The program was just cancelled because the US Army does not have the funds to buy the 308s. Well, they have the funds for Army Restaurants for 0-6s and above and perky shitty shit like that. Also, if we could shoot down fat boys missiles headed toward Japan or the USA, he would be just so much big mouth road kill. The only thing close to being able to climb up to maybe 60 miles and destroy them are the ICBMs on submarines but is there any program to upgrade them to that capability. Of course not but we have 17 fat floating undefendable sitting duck carriers for Last War Want to be Admirals to command around the World and stir up trouble.
Without that money there wouldnt be any wage growth at all in the US. This is basically welfare for the middle class. At least in this case there is something to show for it. It might be grossly overpriced, but at least something comes out of it. Can you say $80 for a hammer?