The House on Thursday passed the massive $858 billion 2023 National Defense Authorization Act

originally posted by: JinMI

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: putnam6

Some of those hammers and toilet seats are that expensive for good reasons.

I knew Nance and Paul hand their fingerprints all over this!!


Ok, ok, I'll see myself out.

very good sir Very Good 'applause ! '

Politicians does not works for the people, have not worked for the people in decades, they all own stocks in profitable companies and they pass law to benefit those benefactors.

This is called conflict of interest and once upon a time it was punishable

At least 15 lawmakers who shape US defense policy have investments in military contractors

prospect.org...

How can we forget the Bush era and all the wealth made thanks to Bush wars.

The Members of Congress Who Profit From War
Here are the senators and representatives who own stock in Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and other top defense contractors.

www.businessinsider.com...

a reply to: putnam6
They might as well round it up to an even 1 trillion. Doesn’t matter at this point. Most of us and them will be dead in a few years. Our kids…doesn’t matter either, 100 years from now, nobody will care. Carpe Diem, move on.

originally posted by: putnam6

originally posted by: asabuvsobelow
a reply to: putnam6

Fleets of Stealth Bombers and Fighters don't pay for themselves , 12 + Naval Carrier Fleets don't pay for themselves , Nuclear Submarines and massive grids of Tactical Reconnaissance satellites don't pay for themselves.

$858billion is just what the public see's , there is a black budget of equal amount for things that technically don't even exist.

Yea well Ive been hearing that stuff for decades, I guess what I am saying is when you black budget this stuff, it becomes a convenient and un auditable reason. It's no different than the trillions spent since WWII in the Cold War and in the end Russia definitely isn't the mighty bear it was sold to my generation to be. Could be the same for China? though I suspect they are the real concern though they are less belligerent.

your not wrong , and Yes China is the real threat Russia is just a Phantom at this point .

I heard a movie line once " The Soviet union is just painted Rust ' and that describes Russia quite well , But China on the other hand is a potential Military industrial power house similar to that of the USA in the 50's .

But with one great weakness , China's own people are forever at a boiling point threatening to boil over at any moment.

The military needs to be cut in half, at least.

It's a hugely inefficient bloated bureaucracy.
We don't need 200 bases across the world.

a reply to: watchitburn

People point to all the bases we have around the world, but few actually look into them. A large number are satellite relay stations, unmanned listening posts and the like.

originally posted by: JinMI
a reply to: putnam6

Our gov't is missing/can't account for/has a black budget should be enough impetus to cease all taxation until they figure it out.

The fact that inflation has F A R outmatched wages is yet another issue (the lefty in me coming out).

The absolute core function of gov't is not only seemingly beyond repair, its also above reproach.

Can't argue with you there and don't worry I sound a bit like Ralph Nadar discussing this as I am.

that said never mind I figured it out.. watching the Army Navy game and they both have snazzy new uniforms and the Navy's oddly enough has NASA on its helmet with a cool astronaut pic.

didn't that hacker find a listing for an off-planet fleet and officer's listing back in the 2000's

originally posted by: asabuvsobelow
a reply to: putnam6

Fleets of Stealth Bombers and Fighters don't pay for themselves , 12 + Naval Carrier Fleets don't pay for themselves , Nuclear Submarines and massive grids of Tactical Reconnaissance satellites don't pay for themselves.

They also don't operate or maintain themselves. How has recruiting been lately?

As for the budget itself, THIS is where a president needs to check Congress and veto the bill with "We're not spending that much # money!". But Biden being Biden he'll do whatever he's told.

This after the pentagon just failed it's 5th audit confirming 60% of their assets are up in the air.

You literally can't make this up...

originally posted by: JAY1980
This after the pentagon just failed it's 5th audit confirming 60% of their assets are up in the air.

You literally can't make this up...

IRS has just been given the go ahead to investigate you.

Better not have $600+ of unaccounted for income!

a reply to: JAY1980

No only that but all those billions send to Ukraine more than half nobody knows where it went.

a reply to: Zaphod58

That's not the point. We still have many huge bases spread all over the world.

A large portion of our service members are bad at their jobs, if they do anything at all. The promotion systems are all a mess. Leadership is full of groupthink lackeys.
We're going to lose a major war because of it.

Fraud, waste, and abuse is out of control.

It's a mess.

a reply to: watchitburn

Of course it’s a mess. No one is arguing that it isn’t. And yes, we do have large bases around the world. A lot of those are rented from host countries and aren’t actually ours. We need them in places we can support our allies from.

Our budget system has been broken a long time, but there was no incentive to fix it. The only reason they are doing anything now is because of the fear of flat budgets and not being able to buy what they want.

originally posted by: nugget1
I think the majority will find it's way to Ukraine.

I can't help but wonder how our defense capabilities for our own country are looking now.

They did allude they needed to rebuild not only our stockpile but most of NATO's as well. So not only will US Dollars be going into our esteemed military contractors but most of NATO will have to make significant purchases from our MIC.

Again I understand that we need a military budget perhaps I'd feel better if I had some money to invest in those defense sector stocks

Every year the pentagon fails to explain why a couple of Trillion Dollars is unnacounted for. Congress should just tell the pentagon, there will be no money for the year. I'm sure those Trillions will show from behind a couch.

Heck yea! Give more money to the people who fail every audit and have no accountability. Hell they can’t even account half the money they spend.

Naturally defence and secrecy go hand in hand. Except there is so much missing here it implies gross negligence and corruption more so then black ops budget.

a reply to: putnam6

originally posted by: nugget1
I think the majority will find it's way to Ukraine.

I can't help but wonder how our defense capabilities for our own country are looking now.

"War" or any so called 'conflicts' are just theater so they can continue their money laundering scams

originally posted by: ancientlight

originally posted by: nugget1
I think the majority will find it's way to Ukraine.

I can't help but wonder how our defense capabilities for our own country are looking now.

"War" or any so called 'conflicts' are just theater so they can continue their money laundering scams

That's where my train of thought leads. Now we have Putin doing another ramp-up with threats of unleashing hundreds warheads if even one more missile enters Russia.

You'd think countries that truly care about preserving their citizens lives would take him seriously, but I expect them to taunt Putin into action. We all know he will most likely follow through with his threat, yet our world leaders keep pushing for him to do it.

Are they all in this together? Is Putin just another player in this game who wins while us peasants all lose?

WTH?

"Take military actions that cost you nothing, but cost your enemy 10 times that in build-up and preparation."

If that's the Russian and Chinese SOP, it's working.

a reply to: ancientlight

Just thater huh...

Really should think about your words..

lotta people died, were crippled physically and mentally over the last 20 years.

Try I dont know corrupt leadership lied about the reasons to get us into war... theater implies people werent hurt, killed displaced etc.