I noticed something odd in the Army, and now I realize they were funneling tax dollars through the military and into the hands of elite US arms dealers
153 2016-08-20 by LightBringerFlex
First off, I wondered why the Army doesn't create its own equipment to save money but then I figured hiring private corporations might be better for the economy.
But then, I noticed the price tags on the equipment. Keep in mind, these are 1999 prices and so you have to account for inflation.
A handheld, metal tool - $867
A 3 inch piece of rubber - $300
A laser tag system for a tank - $60,000
Tank computers that often burn out every week and need replacing - $100,000
Gas Mask - $800
First, I figured the corporations were making back room deals to maintain high bids so they can sell everything at insanely high prices so everyone can make a fortune since the Army's buying policy is simple (lowest bidder gets contract).
Now, I am realizing the government has been complicit all along. Even the privates were made aware of the wasted tax dollars. Everyone knew it was highway robbery but it's not like we can call the president and complain.
This has been happening for decades. Every single day, these private arms dealers are sucking our tax dollars way beyond the value they give back. The military in total must be doing this and this military is the most expensive part of the government.
If we can at least find a better way that doesn't allow for abuse, the economy would actually improve.
Basically, the middle class busts ass to pay taxes. The government misuses this money to further enrich some of the elite. These things are happening in all industries including health care and most every institution.
32 comments
23 EyeRespondToLolz 2016-08-20
I was in too. I was aware of the idea that we overpaid for everything, but I never saw costs. The thing I did notice (cause fraud waste and abuse was drilled into my head a lot), was the man power waste. There's a lot of not doing dick all in the mil.
Fast forward to civi life, my company has a gsa contract and the hypocracy is much more evident. I'm not talking major dollar shit in the scheme of things but waste is evident, like: I need X part, quantity doesn't matter, just make the total at or less than $50k, or when we first got our contract, I saw a bid request and the eventual award for 50ea of a $5,000 a pop hand tool. A year and a half later I see the same bid pop up, for the same tool at the same base, same unit, same building. They bought 50 more. They didn't need 50 in the first time and those things are easily and relatively cheaply maintained. No way in fuck they needed 50 more.
The best and most illogical/mental gyntastic happened recently. The gov had an incident where a major contractor was misrepresenting its product as TAA (some bullshit trade agreement that excludes products manufactured in bad guy countries) compliant. So all contracting officers contact their vendors and have them recheck and resubmitt TAA compliance letters from the manufacturer. In my case, the mfg of the products I sell had, since they signed the last TAA doc for us (2 yrs prior) moved some of its manufacturing for certain item #'s to China. We had to remove those items from our contract. Now, these are things the gov has bought for years that are proven and reliable, that will have to be tossed cause they're non compliant now.
My wtf moment was when i realized that our government was the one that made it advantageous for this company (a strong 100 yr old US equipment mfg) to move some it's mfg overseas.
Bonus personal thought edit: the foreign arms deal/foreign aid shit is especially troubling. We ear mark billions of tax payer dollars for "foreign aid" with the caveat that it's used to buy us guns or planes or whatevs. So our tax dollar (that we had no say in how it's spent) goes to a defense contractor who likely are so heavily incentivized they pay no corporate tax (not to mention the incessant fraud and corruption and palm greasing and lobbying it takes to get a deal like this done).. Muh jobs and all, if that's not a net loss for the American tax payer, I don't know what is. It's a fucking hamster wheel of fuckery. At all levels
11 Earthmover75 2016-08-20
You had me at "hamster wheel of fuckery"
5 EyeRespondToLolz 2016-08-20
Ha! pulled that one from the ether (thank you ether)
19 socialwar 2016-08-20
See also: military industrial complex, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Tammany Hall
13 voteforcorruptobot 2016-08-20
'War is a racket'.
5 HiveNode 2016-08-20
This is nice, but the book is definitely worth a read. It's in the public domain by now, so you can find it online for free very easily.
That being said, link for the lazy.
9 lurch350z 2016-08-20
I work within the military industrial complex. I know, I know, give me hell, I deserve it. (But it provides for my family and hasn't changed my views) The shit the companies charge in relation to the work put out is absolute bananas. It's a total racket, and the small time schmucks like me know it. War really is the biggest profit tool there is.
3 perfect_pickles 2016-08-20
and guess what, the domestic grunts that make the items are paid $10ph with minimal benefits.
1% labor costs are normal.
7 J_Dub_TX 2016-08-20
All this goes into the black budget. If you want to know the truth find out who these companies are that are charging these insane amounts for rubber pieces and you'll find an closet in Bangladesh to some corporation who "won" the contract for the work. Dr Steven Greer does a great job of explaining about these "fronts" in his videos.
7 BigBrownBeav 2016-08-20
I'll never forget the time I watched some guys throw a bunch of electrical cables into a burn pit. These were those big fuckers that power the camps. Had to be worth a lot of money. All because they had to clean a sea container and they didn't know where or who the cables belonged to. Boom, into the fire.
6 photonicphacet 2016-08-20
It is all a big con.
3 Evobby 2016-08-20
I was in the military and they do this for a major reason, and not only does the military do it but any state or federal entity does as well.
The reason being is because the military is provided a budget that budget is disbursed between each of the branches. The branches of the military then give X amount of dollars to each unit to use. If the unit doesn't spend the money they're provided that can cause issues with the military budget. They don't get to save any budget money for the next fiscal year they either have to use it or lose it. If they spend under the budget they were provided then the next fiscal year they will look at cutting the budget. That is why you always see them overspend or spend more than what they need to.
13 LightBringerFlex 2016-08-20
Then why don't they fix that stupid broken system and try something new. My god. This isn't rocket science. How many billions are lost every year. There is a better way that would save us money and reduce income inequality. They won't fix it because they're in cahoots with the billionaires.
5 Dunkh 2016-08-20
Happens in corporate America too. Use it or lose it.
1 andredawson 2016-08-20
Bullshit. Bullshit bullshit bullshit. You aren't thinking hard enough.
7 andredawson 2016-08-20
Say they are given a budget of $10B. Say they want to spend $8B on shit they can't report. So they spend the last $2B on stuff they can report...but they need to report that they spent $10B. So they buy a $50 drill bit for $1000 but the DOD gets a $800 kickback to the slush fund. The vendor makes bank ($200 for something worth $50). The army gets their drill bit. The accounting looks ok. The slush fund gets $800 added.
2 deaddrop23 2016-08-20
In other words, money laundering.
1 Audrion 2016-08-20
Ah, but the budget is through debts so the problem is nor in the budget but who collects those debts.
1 deaddrop23 2016-08-20
Yep, the military is overspending just so they don't get their budget cut and they can continue to overspend....and the only reason is to continue lining the pockets of the MIC with ever increasing amounts of taxpayer dollars.
1 dheaguy 2016-08-20
My mother worked for the VA Hospitals for a lot of years. She told me one year they got new carpets put in, then tore them out the next year and put new ones in again for this same reason.
3 dont-YOLO-ragequit 2016-08-20
The same thing is going on in the insurance field.
I've heard recently that there is a gig where you buy a triplex, stage it into an upscale Air BnB style and you can rent out your appartments to an insurance company.
To be honnest, even if it's fully functional( internet, appliance full decoration) for being so far from downtown it should be 2/3 to half the price he's claiming to the insurance. But the claim ajuster happily said the full price knowing it will all end in their renter's insurance premium.
I think the same thing is happening with hospitals and that shkreli med. $3000 to your insurance claim( knowing they take any price to raise their premium) but next to nothing if you take the time to go through the paperwork.
6 LightBringerFlex 2016-08-20
Unreal. I got a cut on my eye that needed sticking. They scanned me in 6 different machines since I had insurance. Nothing came out of it except a few stitches. Can you imagine how much money was wasted for absolutely no reason other than making money for fraud? This has gone way out of hand.
1 TheUltimateSalesman 2016-08-20
What? Are you saying that insurance companies are using airbnb when they have to house someone? It's probably cheaper than a hotel.
1 dont-YOLO-ragequit 2016-08-20
No. You can rent out an appartment to an insurance company. You get compensated by the month when they insurance claimers while they fix their appartment.
3 pauljs75 2016-08-20
I remember dealing with funky supply side stuff, but from the Navy. (Was over a decade ago though.) What's funky is a lot of the CAGE codes for things that made sense in WWII are still active. (As in WWII a lot of factories were put into emergency production.) Buick Aviation Division in my opinion was the oddest (what the hell are they still selling?), IMO, but I'm sure there's many others.
If you can dive into FEDLOG or other acquisiton systems, there's a lot of weird stuff poking around the corners of the logistical chain.
2 bozobozo 2016-08-20
Field protective mask.
2 kringpo 2016-08-20
Check out: http://timshorrock.com
His book Spies for Hire is great. It talks about this but more specifically about the intelligence community and the revolving door between government and private sector.
1 10gauge 2016-08-20
America only gives discounts to countries that hate us. If we buy for ourselves, it's a 400% markup for cronyism.
1 outbackdude 2016-08-20
"The government misuses this money to further enrich some of the elite."
Hello?! - the government is the elite.
1 SmedleysButler 2016-08-20
Everything you said is true but there is another systematic problem that creates these costs. My dad worked sub contracting for Grumman. The issue is unrealistic design requirements set up by bureaucrats for contracts. An example is all screws in this item must have thirteen turns. Now these are basic screws for a purpose not requiring special strength or anything but now the company has to go through the expense of finding and throwing out any screws with less than 13 turns for literally no reason other than a bureaucrat gets to have his little stipulation in a contract so he can say he did something. That's how you end up with a 10$ screw. These stipulations can also be used to keep a company with a cheaper product out of the competition in bidding through pay offs to those in the bidding process. Its staggering to realise how much tax payer money has been wasted through corruption and waste.
1 enjoytrees 2016-08-20
I think you're looking too far into it man. The military subcontracts out their work because it helps the economy grow. I am a machinist and the family run shop that I work at has gotten government jobs in the past. We made shock absorbers for tank seats that sold for 3-500 a pop. Simple cut, mill, and weld steel. I can promise you there is no conspiracy in that, and I can also promise you my boss is not one of the elite
1 911bodysnatchers322 2016-08-20