Pentagon Blows $100 Mil; Proof of a Wasteful Government

This boggles the mind, i have no words, just total disbelief about how this country is run.

Probe: Pentagon Wasted $100M

The Defense Department spent an estimated $100 million for airline tickets that were not used over a six-year period and failed to seek refunds even though the tickets were reimbursable, congressional investigators say.
Congress' General Accounting Office (search) issued the findings in two reports on the Pentagon's lack of control over airline travel, copies of which The Associated Press obtained Tuesday. A prior report, issued last November, found that the Pentagon bought 68,000 first-class or business-class airline seats for employees who should have flown coach.

"At a time when our soldiers are patrolling the streets of Iraq in unarmored Humvees, and when the Bush Administration is asking for record Defense spending, Secretary (Donald H.) Rumsfeld is letting hundreds of millions of dollars that could be used to protect our troops and our country go to waste," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (search), D-Ill., one of three lawmakers who ordered the studies.

The GAO estimated that between 1997 and 2003, the Defense Department bought at least $100 million in tickets that were not used or used only partially by a passenger who did not complete all legs of a flight. The waste went undetected because the department relied on individuals to report the unused tickets.They did not do so.

unf**kingbelievable!!!!!!
does the title get your attention now?


[edit on 6-8-2004 by worldwatcher]

If this is true, there are no words to describe how pissed off I am about this. $100 million!? That is just insane.

I know this is going to sound strange, but with the US government, $100 mil. is nothing when it comes to 'waste'. In fact, this is nothing new, and has been happening in varying degrees, for quite sometime.



seekerof

Originally posted by Seekerof
I know this is going to sound strange, but with the US government, $100 mil. is nothing when it comes to 'waste'. In fact, this is nothing new, and has been happening in varying degrees, for quite sometime.



seekerof

Sure it might not be a lot to our government, but $100 mil could buy a lot of school books.

seekeroff, i know you like our govt, but it does sound strange...a $100 mil is nothing? don't sugarcoat and make it easier for me to swallow my friend, this # is bad!!!

so many programs would benefit from even a hundred thousand to help citizens of this country. Imagine the good that could have been done with a $100 million...and what gets me, it got wasted on tickets that were never even used!!!!

I have a fairly good idea on why they did not try and get a reimbursement. To much paper work. To much of an effort.

When I was in the Navy I would go to an on base supply store with a check to cover the items that I was getting. The first time I did it I was proud of myself because I had gotten all of the items I was suppose to and had not needed the full amount of the check.

I got my A** reamed because I came back with money left over and it took to much paper work and effort to put the money back into the account. I was told that in the future if I had money left over to just grab whatever I wanted to use up the money.

It's NOT their money. It's OUR'S. Besides, better for them if they waste it, then thay can appropriate more next year to waste.

I say everybody claim exempt, or 9 dependents and screw filing . . .

And yes, that is nickles and dimes compared to the waste that happens all the time bye our dear Gov.

Whatcha' gunna do about it people? Any suggestions?

This should not come as a shock to anyone who has followed the gov'ts handling of OUR tax dollars....

It seems like this timeframe coincides with the issuance of the Gov't credit cards( VISA or AMEX or possibly both) issued to every unit (to save money & time by making purchases and requisitions easier with less paperwork), the problem was the checks & balances part of the program wasn't tight enough and the use of the cards was madness, I know because I saw it first hand while serving in the Nat'l Guard.

sidenote... I find it funny that this article is pointed toward Rumsfeld and the current Admin, last I heard Clinton was in office 1997-2000..............

as quoted by worldwatcher
....don't sugarcoat it....

Facts are facts worldwatcher....there are tons of examples if one so search's for them.
Do you think you are the only one paying taxes?
How many millions of people in the US are voicing their concerns of government waste? How? On message boards, instead of letters to their state representitives, congressmen, and senators?

Please....k.

I merely mentioned a fact and you call it "sugarcoating"? Gotcha.

The US has a $350+/- billion annual budget, or round abouts, and your whining over $100 mil? I am far from saying that this is a "sugarcoated" message worldwatcher and I diffently don't condone it, but do you whine when Congress and Senate pass there 'porkbelly' spendings...you know, those state projects that range from mere millions to hundreds of millions that amount to nothing but wasted projects, etc.? Might want to watch NBC a bit more, in that they are steadily, and have been for years, running segments on government and state waste.

Here's another flip-side thought, in 'wasting' that $100 million, how much was possibly saved...another $100 million, $200 million, etc.?
Also, with over 300 million people in the US, how much does that average out to per person? $5, 6, 10 dollars per person?
And just in case, blame it on Bush, like everything else that seemingly gets pitched their way.

Again, I don't condone this, but this is certainly not a "sugarcoating"...far from it. Straight and to the point, its fact and reality.



seekerof

[edit on 8-6-2004 by Seekerof]

seekeroff, I am not whining, I for one, do write letters to my representatives, jeb probably has a fairly large collection of them by now, if he even sees any of them

i am just surprised as how to accepting some people are of this, I know it is not the first and only example of wastefulness, but this type of stuff never makes headlines in the news, it always a special report, probe, investigation etc, that get the last few minutes on a news show.

and don't get me wrong, I don't blame the Bush administration for this, government wastefulness has been occurring since the days of clinton when i first started paying attention to politics and i'm sure reagan had his wasteful tendencies too, btw the report does mention years that both Clinton and Bush should be responsible for.

maybe cuz i will never see $100 mil in my lifetime and the value of a dollar is more important to me, but somehow the figure is still large enough to cause alarm in my head...remember i'm the same person who found $340,000 paid monthly to Chalabi to be ridiculously high.

and do you really think we have saved any money? how so? i have never seen reports on US savings versus US spending.

I am 'accepting' of this because it has been going on for countless years and despite the amount of attention wasteful spending gets or recieves, it never ceases, has never been seemingly corrected, nor do I forsee a time that 'wasteful spending will cease or be corrected.

As to my comment on 'saving', it was merely given as a flipside argument, who knows really. I certainly don't, besides, the press won't concentrate or comment on any savings to the people anyhow. Media is agenda driven and 'bad' news is the focus, has been, and will probably ever be. Any type good news gets shifted to page 12 or given a 20 second slot on a news broadcast.

I understand your argument(s) and concerns, as any of us do that pay taxes, but maybe government wasteful spending is like the three facts of life: birth, taxes, and death?



seekerof

Wanna hear about wasted money

The Canadian government wasted 250 Million+ on frivolus ads, Canadian flags on peoples arms, spending 10, or even 100 times what it should have been (I'll stop short of saying it was used to buy or bribe Quebecs happiness). 1 Billion, yes with a 'B', missplaced. Thats it, they just lost it. They've spent 2 Billion dollars on a gun registry program that was suppose to cost 2 Million dollars.
All governments waste.
The Pentagon would have likely spent more paying someone to file for the refund then what the ticket was worth.
Be vocal about your discontent, let the elected know you aren't happy about it, vote them out next election.

This SO disenheartens me........
All I seam to need is a place to LIVE......a liitle house or trailer, a cave even...SOMPLACE DRY!...........and no NO NO NO I cant make enough money...I dont QUALIFY for loans......
I have no insurance.

and Governments can do things like THIS....no biggy.

this is a sick world.

I would have been MORE than happy to get some returns on these unused tickets, I surly would have done the footwork ect........but I betcha THEY have some kind of LAWS against some lay person who isnt Government affiliated.......doing ANYTHING that might resemble helping themselves to the 'excess waste'.
No doubt about that.

Originally posted by theRiverGoddess

and Governments can do things like THIS....no biggy.

this is a sick world.

What's even sicker, is that people keep trying to push Americans to give MORE money to these jokers so they can "aid the poor", among other things.

Do we really need another extremely wasteful charity?

100mil/350bil is roughly .2% of the american budget
that's a trivial amount
think about how much time and money would have been wasted if they wanted to regain this small waste..
You'd need a lot more extra staff employed to ensure that goes well, you'd need people to handle their paperwork, you'd need people to review them, you'd need people to make sure they arent fiddling the money, you'd need people to make sure they arent missing on any compensation...
etc...
100 mil is nothing, in the scheme of things.

Originally posted by KrazyJethro
What's even sicker, is that people keep trying to push Americans to give MORE money to these jokers so they can "aid the poor", among other things.

Do we really need another extremely wasteful charity?

If by wasteful charity, you mean the airlines...I agree.

Consider the $100 million a pre- 9/11 gift to keep the airbus industry solvent. Or rather a downpayment to the BILLIONS we spent to keep them afloat after 9/11.

Mind you I'm not condoning the lost $100 million, but Seekerof was dead on saying that's relatively nothing. A drop in the bucket to what it takes to manage a Superpower's infrastructure.

This nation is built on "welfare" industries IMO. Corporate welfare. Steel, automotive, oil, telecommunications, banking, energy, transportation,, farming...and to some extent THE MILITARY.

The real "welfare" or food stamps or whatever is also nothing...NOTHING compared to what we spend on the "necessitites" to keep the fat cat's fat. And it's cheaper than jail.

Why is the right so angry at poor people anyway? Get mad at AMTRAK! Get mad at Neil Bush for that matter. S&L bailout?

$100 million? That's like the cost to execute one mentally retarded black guy in Texas. Pffft.

[edit on 9-6-2004 by RANT]

Originally posted by JacKatMtn
This should not come as a shock to anyone who has followed the gov'ts handling of OUR tax dollars....

It seems like this timeframe coincides with the issuance of the Gov't credit cards( VISA or AMEX or possibly both) issued to every unit (to save money & time by making purchases and requisitions easier with less paperwork), the problem was the checks & balances part of the program wasn't tight enough and the use of the cards was madness, I know because I saw it first hand while serving in the Nat'l Guard.

I hate to burst everybody's bubble but this report is nothing new. The government has been wasting billions our tax dollars throughout the years. And do they care? Absolutely not. If they did they would either give it back to us if they couldn't find something useful to spend it on or "waste" it. If you go to www.taxpayer.net... you will find tons of articles on what our government waste. Everything from Energy to wasted roads is discussed.

Originally posted by RANT

If by wasteful charity, you mean the airlines...I agree.

Actually I meant a plethora of things, because to the government 100 million IS nothing.

I agree.

I was just sort of tacking it on the growing list of things that should be used as evidence to shrink the government and eliminate social and some subsidy programs, to name a few.

As a DoD contractor employee, I can tell you $100 million is not a big deal. Enough to get fired over, though!

Just think of the money as a small subsidy to the airlines so you and I can fly to Aruba for a few dollars less........

The waste went undetected because the department relied on individuals to report the unused tickets.They did not do so.

Kind of sounds like the employees failed to save the money and I don't see how they directly accuse "Rummy." I travelled alot when I was in the military. Stationed overseas, I spent alot of time running about working on "stuff" in the European area. I missed a flight one time (cuz of Sept 11th) and I was stuck in France. I told them I had missed the flight and they got the money back and were reimbursed. I ended up Chunneling back to the UK. I just don't believe that blaming Rumsfeld is the solution to the problem. Just sounds like a biased side of the plot.

I believe that the airlines should be held accountable for government waste too. There shouldn't be a biased approach on "how to save money." If there are unspent government tickets, airlines should report back to the DoD with records of what tickets haven't been used. This is what computers are good for these days. Remember, everyone expects the DoD to have such high values, why not the airlines too?

[edit on 9-6-2004 by WarBUCKs]