2.3 trillion dollars missing from the Pentagon budget!

reply to post by wcitizen


The Pentagon had some 40 different accounting systems, each with different data formats which made it
impossible to consolidate all the expeditures into one consolidated ledger

Its lioke this = last week had a $100, this week dont. Now I know I bought gas, went shopping at supermarket
and ate lunch at McDonalds. Now am trying remeber what date did what and how much was spent

The $100 is not missing, but was spent. Only have trouble documenting expenidutes

Originally posted by hooper
reply to post by wcitizen

 

Other important questions are where did the money come from.....and what was it for?

Really? Those are your questions? Where does the funding for the US Defense come from? Ever hear of taxes? What was it for? Defense spending. Military is expensive and a lot of it is secret for good reason. Even simple stuff like the budget for food for submarines. Has to stay "secret" in that specific expenditures for specific patrols are not accounted separately for fear that it migh reveal duration and therefore the intended patrol limits and mission.

Yes, those are my questions. The money has disappeared and, apparently, it can't be part of the normal budget - so yes, I'm not so stupid that I don't know their income comes from taxation and other crimes against the people, but if it wasn't part of the normal budget, where did it originate? How did they get this money?
And what was it intended for? Sure I've heard of black ops.....but which ones was it destined to finance? The fake terrorist groups, perhaps?

To me these questions are as important as where it has gone. It's another rabbit hole, imo.

There was also the $6 billion in cash 'lost' in Iraq. Where did that come from? What was it for? Was it part of the missing trillions.

They seem to 'lose' a lot of money, the military.

Please ditch the sarcasm, thanks.

Originally posted by thedman
reply to post by wcitizen

 

The Pentagon had some 40 different accounting systems, each with different data formats which made it
impossible to consolidate all the expeditures into one consolidated ledger

Its lioke this = last week had a $100, this week dont. Now I know I bought gas, went shopping at supermarket
and ate lunch at McDonalds. Now am trying remeber what date did what and how much was spent

The $100 is not missing, but was spent. Only have trouble documenting expenidutes

That is a possibility, but as yet unproven. Trillions of dollars are not small change, even for the Pentagon, so I find the 'accounting error' theory very implausible, personally.

reply to post by wcitizen

Trillions of dollars are not small change, even for the Pentagon, so I find the 'accounting error' theory very implausible, personally.

Do a web search for the Pentagon budget history.
They would have to steal the ENTIRE budget for the years 1994 through 2000 and then some. That's 7 years of money. What did they use to pay the troops?
Does it seem even remotely possible to do that?

reply to post by wcitizen

The money has disappeared and....

Ah, there's your problem right there. The money has not "disappeared".

Originally posted by samkent
reply to post by wcitizen

 

Trillions of dollars are not small change, even for the Pentagon, so I find the 'accounting error' theory very implausible, personally.

Do a web search for the Pentagon budget history.
They would have to steal the ENTIRE budget for the years 1994 through 2000 and then some. That's 7 years of money. What did they use to pay the troops?
Does it seem even remotely possible to do that?

Exactly. If it is true that this money is unaccounted for as reported, it means it must have been money outside of the budget....hence my questions where did it come from, what was it for, and, of course, where has it gone.

Imo it is impossible to 'lose' this amount of money, just impossible. So what really has been the deal here?

reply to post by wcitizen


I find myself wondering if certain DoD financial activities are not "line-item classified" which is to say that a review of the budget will not show what certain expenditures were used for, only that they were used. Ultimately, any audit would be left with mountains of questions since 'black budget' items are a 'blank check' which political appointees can use to funnel wherever they wish, citing 'national security' as there protection from accountability.

I used to think that must be why all the diverse and disconnected budgetary and accounting systems are in place... but frankly, that would be just too easy to abuse and I can't see any inspector general simply shrugging it off as "the way we do business."

reply to post by wcitizen

If it is true that this money is unaccounted for as reported, it means it must have been money outside of the budget....hence my questions where did it come from, what was it for, and, of course, where has it gone.

You can't have 7 years of the entire budget as 'outside' the budget. You are talking about one third the entire government budget for 7 years.

Originally posted by samkent
reply to post by wcitizen

 

If it is true that this money is unaccounted for as reported, it means it must have been money outside of the budget....hence my questions where did it come from, what was it for, and, of course, where has it gone.

You can't have 7 years of the entire budget as 'outside' the budget. You are talking about one third the entire government budget for 7 years.

OK. It's not me saying it. Here's a video of part of the discussion in Congress, the shortly before 9/11.

"How can we seriously consider a $50 billion dollar increase in the defense budget when DOD's own auditors, when DOD's own auditors say the Department cannot account for $2.3 trillion dollars in transactions in one year alone?"



So you tell me.... If this money was not part of the budget as you assert, where did it come from before it was 'lost'?

Are they lying about the amount of money going into the military? It's not rocket science, if $2.3 trillion is unaccounted for in one year alone, WTF is going on?

I wonder how much remains unaccounted for, and continues to go unaccounted for, if $2.3 trillion was the amount unaccounted for in one year alone.

It's outrageous that this story has been buried.

Originally posted by Maxmars
reply to post by wcitizen

 

I find myself wondering if certain DoD financial activities are not "line-item classified" which is to say that a review of the budget will not show what certain expenditures were used for, only that they were used. Ultimately, any audit would be left with mountains of questions since 'black budget' items are a 'blank check' which political appointees can use to funnel wherever they wish, citing 'national security' as there protection from accountability.


I used to think that must be why all the diverse and disconnected budgetary and accounting systems are in place... but frankly, that would be just too easy to abuse and I can't see any inspector general simply shrugging it off as "the way we do business."

Agreed. It can't possibly be written off as 'the way we do business' These are collossal amounts.