Pentagon Entitlements

[Nbadan]

So much for long-held wing-nut belief that all our tax money is going to entitlements.....

Pentagon's weapon spending surges to $1.6 trillion in 2007


WASHINGTON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Defense Department's spending on weapon systems has surged to 1.6 trillion dollars in 2007, doubling from 790 billion dollars in 2000, said a congressional report released on Tuesday.

According to the report by the Government Accountability Office(GAO), the acquisition costs were 26 percent higher than the original estimates in 2007, and the spending on research and development were 40 percent over the budget.

Despite the higher-than-budget cost, about 72 programs were still falling behind schedule by averagely 21 months, including fighter jets, combat ships and satellites, the sixth annual report on the Pentagon's weapon programs.

However, the Defense Department, whose personnel and budgets have been strained by the Iraq war and Afghanistan war, still plans to invest about 900 million dollars over the next five years in weapon systems' development and procurement, it added.

Gene Dodaro, the GAO's acting comptroller general, accused the defense budgets "spent inefficiently in developing and procuring weapon systems" of compromising "many other internal and external budget priorities."

"These inefficiencies also often result in the delivery of less capability than initially planned, either in the form of fewer quantities or delayed delivery to the warfighter," he said.

In response, the Pentagon said in a statement that the department would make an informed comment after reading the report.

Link (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/02/content_7901086.htm)

Imagine the good we could do if we spent more of that money at home instead of on weapons to defeat phantom enemies....

[Nbadan]

Must costs the DOD a lot of money to spy on Americans...

ACLU obtains documents after suit over National Security Letters


The military is using the FBI to skirt legal restrictions on domestic surveillance to obtain private records of Americans' Internet service providers, financial institutions and telephone companies, according to Pentagon documents.

The American Civil Liberties Union expressed outrage at the new revelations, based its conclusion on a review of more than 1,000 documents turned over by the Defense Department after it sued the agency last year for documents related to national security letters, or NSLs, investigative tools used to compel businesses to turn over customer information without a judge's order or grand jury subpoena.

"Newly unredacted documents released today reveal that the Department of Defense is using the FBI to circumvent legal limits on its own NSL power," said the ACLU, whose lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court.

Rawstory (http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Documents_show_Pentagon_now_using_FBI_0402.html)

[Wild Cobra]

Pentagon's weapon spending surges to $1.6 trillion in 2007
Come on Dan. Look at the budget figures. That article is absolutely wrong.

Are the Chinese paying you to repeat the propaganda they tell their people?

[Nbadan]

said a congressional report released on Tuesday.

So you know better than a congressional report?

[Wild Cobra]

So you know better than a congressional report?
Come on Dan, I know you aren't that dumb.

Did they cite the figures in context? Did they link the report? Can you find it?

I simply don't believe the author of the article.

Find the numbers for me from the government site if you insist on believing the bullshit the Chinese feed their people. They are likely justifying their military buildup over better national programs. Their people don't have the ability to see the truth as the internet for them is censored.

All I'm asking for is that if you continue to believe such nonsense, is to provide some reliable evidence. Not a piece that to me is obvious Chinese propaganda.

Hey Dan... Wanna buy a bridge for cheap?

[Nbadan]

Wanna buy a bridge for cheap?

Depends, is it on the moon?

[Extra Stout]

Total U.S. military expenditures in 2007 were $626.1 billion.

So, dan, are you a spy for the Chinese, a stooge, or just a useful idiot?

[Nbadan]

Total U.S. military expenditures in 2007 were $626.1 billion.

So, dan, are you a spy for the Chinese, a stooge, or just a useful idiot?

:rolleyes

Congress must be a Chinese stooge too.

[SPARKY]

:rolleyes

Congress must be a Chinese stooge too.


Where's the link to the GAO report? Where's the link to the AP story?

[xrayzebra]

The way I figure it, is we just had the money spent on entitlements
for weapons programs, we could have a really, really great military.

[Spurminator]

http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-08-467SP

[Nbadan]

It's coming...we are at least two day ahead of the M$M in this forum..


Lives In the Balance...


jFowNFvmUxw

[SPARKY]

http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-08-467SP

So that is not an annual figure.

Duh.

[Spurminator]

It's coming...we are at least two day ahead of the M$M in this forum..



http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/01/pentagon.overspending/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/31/AR2008033102789.html?hpid=topnews

[Spurminator]

So that is not an annual figure.

Duh.


Less sensational, I know.

[SPARKY]

So out of a budget of $3 tril or so, $600 bil is going to defense. Any guess on what the largest item in the budget might be....?

[Nbadan]

no, 1.6 trillion is going to defense....


"The nature of major weapon systems development is that you have to expect that the initial estimates, and typically the initial contracts, are overly optimistic and unrealistic," he said. "Unfortunately the purchaser -- the government -- typically lacks the discipline to freeze the configuration such that the contractor has any reasonable chance of developing what it promised on time and for the price promised."

[SPARKY]

ROFL. You were wrong, Mofo. Again.

[Nbadan]

Really, How so?

[SPARKY]

Uh, take a look at the actual GAO report, for starters. It's referring to the total cost of those programs, not the total annual cost.

[SPARKY]

And it's the total "planned" cost of those programs. Not the actual spent in that budget year.

[Nbadan]

So it's OK to overestimate the annualized costs of SS, with the most dire predictions available 15-45 years out, but it's not OK to overestimate the annualized costs of weapons just one year out - check.

[SPARKY]

So it's OK to overestimate the annualized costs of SS, with the most dire predictions available 15-45 years out, but it's not OK to overestimate the annualized costs of weapons just one year out - check.

Nah, it's stupid to believe that the Defense budget is $1.7 tril per year.

[Nbadan]

Yeah, because we all know there will be even new weapons procurements for 08..

:rolleyes

[SPARKY]

So there's going to be $1.1 trillion in new spending for '08?

[Nbadan]

I guess we'll find out in 2009...

[Spurminator]

Bookmark

[Nbadan]

Let's bookmark the thread about SS too...

[boutons_]

This kind of difference between the contracted values and delivery dates and the actual money spent and delivery date has been going on forever, but the DOD is as sacred and turf-defending as it is extremely wasteful Nobody has the balls to take on the DOD. It would be unAmerican, "love the enemy", etc.

Of course, that the weapons actually work is an after-thought and wonderful bonus.

DoD is primarily eternal, inflation-proof corporate welfare for defense contractors.

DoD is part of the fear-mongering crowd.

"Just give us a few $100B more this years, or for next 10 years, and we'll all be safe, promise."

Meanwhile, ragheads with AK-47s and RPGs and suicide belts tie down 180K US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for decades. with no increase in US security.