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Pentagon "misplaces" $2.3 trillion in transactions.

youtube.com — That's with a T. $8000 for every American.

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  • threepio, on 10/12/2007, -5/+24Every single GI told to claim "I misplaced my receipts from my off-base dinner at Applebees!"
    • Eggzb, on 10/12/2007, -2/+26and were then promptly audited by the IRS.
    • darkened, on 10/12/2007, -65/+2Out of all the spending of the govt does I support the money going to the military. And of course money will disappear and honestly it's not a bad thing. Why would we want to document our top secret development projects? Isn't a bit contradictory?
    • PhantomRogue, on 10/12/2007, -1/+37@darkened
      Except we have no idea where this money went. Whether its top secret or what, it still needs to be budgeted, and misplacing that much in funds is, well, rediculous.
    • lwoj, on 10/12/2007, -1/+50@darkened
      If you didn't get it, the government itself admitted it has no idea where the money is. If you give $2.3 TRILLION to a secret project, then you know where the money is. So is the government incompetent because it doesn't remember where it allocated the $2.3 TRILLION, or because $2.3 TRILLION has just gone missing? Either way I think you end up with an incomptetent government.
    • Azur2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+28@darkened: there is a secret black budget already, that's where the secret projects get their funding.
      Just letting money disappear is a problem because it invites corruption.
    • thespace, on 10/12/2007, -1/+32The fact that we have the most insane military budget in the world is the FIRST problem. The fact that we lost trillions of dollars is ***** in comparison.

      Make Lobbying Illegal
    • dvfreelancer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+36Top secret or not, the American taxpayers are picking up the tab and they deserve to know where their money is going. That's the price of living in a free country. Some of your development efforts are going to be more transparent than China or Russia. Tough, deal with it.

      I'm actually more concerned with culture of secrecy and denial in Washington than I am about terrorism. Terrorists we can beat. What we can't beat are people in this country who think they're above the law just because their buddies at Diebold were able to tilt an election enough to get them in office.

      There's waste in any big system and the Pentagon is no exception, but not being able to account for 25% of your budget while our guys in Iraq are raiding junk yards for vehicle armor is totally unsat. Just another example of Congress not doing their job when it comes to oversight. As long as those juicy pork military projects are going to political supporters it's all good in their eyes.
    • chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20A visual guide to where your tax money goes: http://www.thebudgetgraph.com/view.html (really sweat interactive flash graph).

      Gives you an idea of how much money is simply *dumped* into Military in the USA.

      Also, if you break it down to cookies (the delicious delicacies), it becomes even easier to understand just how much insane amount of money the USA "spends" (in quotes because I'm sure a large percentage is "lost" or "no-bid" spent) on Military.

      Military spending, Cookies and You(tube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YzPuCGShI8
    • DogmaticAtheism, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Azur2: *invites* corruption? The whole government is corrupt, the only thing that could possibly be invited is integrity due to their being none. Of course, it will most likely be a false invitation...
    • bugsy187, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@ darkened

      I have a "secret weapon program," so give me all of your money. Do you feel safer?
    • geoffrobinson, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3@thespace

      You can't make lobbying illegal. It falls under our first amendment rights.

      I usually find people who agree with their interests are just fine. If you disagree with them, they are "lobbyists."
    • ernkush, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2I do not think the money is "missing" per se, but probably the gov just hasn't figured out whether it used the money or spent it and if so, on what.
    • Cl1mh4224rd, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Here's the thing...

      This "loss" is a product of the Pentagon's outdated recording-keeping system. It's likely that *most* of it didn't just disappear, unspent. It could have been used for any valid program over the years, but they just can't track it down today.

      So, this seems more a problem of poor and out-dated record-keeping than disappearing money. Subtly different.
    • littlebylittle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Limit all Corporations to a 1% profit for any war related activities or production. Period. We didn't allow war profiteering in WWII.

      This kind of ***** would go away.
    • OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What are you going to do about that, John McCain! You're no hero, you're just another politician now. Like your buddy Randy Duke Cunningham, once an Ace pilot, and now a convicted crook!

      I guess what I am saying is that John McCain turned to the Dark Side. And I would like to know who or what is going to do anything about these crimes US contractors, generals, and their political flunkies in office have been committing for decades.

      Ghouliani may have cleaned up Times Square, but I doubt he's going to go up against Halliburton, Lockheed and the rest of these crooks. Don't even mention Hillary, unless you are trying to make a joke?
  • sammyjones, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11So does that include what they spent (so far) on the Iraq war?
  • fuckingusername, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11missplaced it in some politacal party.
    time for a new goverment,,,,lol this ones brain dead,,,
    • xutopia, on 10/12/2007, -9/+22Are you a communist? How dare you go up against capitalism?

      Someone send this guy to gitmo! He's a terrorist!
    • MikeWeller, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6They didn't misplace it. You don't misplace or lose 2.3 trillion...

      it's called a Black Budget. They're using it for some scary top secret stuff.
    • bitcloud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If you're paying for it, why's it so top secret?
      I understand the need to keep specifics secret, but if there's any *spending* going on, they're not going to spend my god damned money on their secrets...

      it's YOUR country.. theres no "government"... just a representitive collection of citizens... (at least thats the way it's supposed to work)
  • jawadde, on 10/12/2007, -25/+2I did not even RTFA, but talking about budgets in terms of a country like USA (which I'm not a citizen of) is ALWAYS confronting.

    if you'd headline "15trillion spent by congress !!!", most people would be worried, while 99% might be properly spent & documented

    Please stop baffling people with budget numbers they are not used to, but are "ordinary" when it comes to a GDP like the USA
    • dukeinlondon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20That's trilions sir....
    • jawadde, on 10/12/2007, -15/+3@ dykeinlondon : so ? 10.000$ for a car may sound like 'affordable' for you, but outrageous for someone in north-east russia who has to survive on 20$ a month

      numbers mean nothing.
      a bit like your experience level in warcraft3 :-)
    • tehnico, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14You don't have to RTFA, you just had to WTFY (Watch the ***** Youtube).
    • dvfreelancer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Just what's "ordinary" about not being able to account for 25% of your budget? You think that's routine even in government budgets?

      What's the moon like on your world?
    • waltwalt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@ jawadde

      Ok, so lets not deal with huge numbers that baffle you, lets use your example. A person in NE Russia living on $20/mth, somehow he misplaced $5. Is that better?

      -w
    • martalli, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7WTFY

      Was there no print article to read? I really tire of watching video that would take a tenth of the time to read in print.

    • unitedstatians, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@martalli
      http://digg.com/politics/The_War_On_Waste
    • alski707, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Please stop baffling people with budget numbers they are not used to, but are ordinary when it comes to a GDP like the USA"

      Actually, 2.3T is 18.4% of the USA’s GDP, and as already pointed out above 25% of the annual budget, how much of the budget do you have to “misplace” before it becomes something to be concerned about?
  • TonyCubed, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2It didn't get misplaced, it just got rerouted to the war on terror! :P
    • Klaus777, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Those transactions were misplaced before 9/11. Rumsfeld was speaking on 9/10/01.... You can easily take that number and x10 now maybe more...
    • Silencer7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Typically, in Washington, bad news is announced on Fridays, so as to have it out of the spotlight, and get lost over the weekend. A missing $2.3 Trillion qualifies as very bad news indeed, and announcing it on a Monday--September 10, 2001-- would nearly guarantee a week of outrage/editorials/debate over funding the DoD. That's sheer idiocy...unless people were confident that come the next morning, no one would be thinking about that at all...
      ...And to be honest, where do you think that money went?
    • fulldecent, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Yes, 10x it. That means 250% of the money is missing
  • aviat0r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25Wonder how much of the $$$ went to Cheney's buddies in Haliburton Corp...
  • lwoj, on 10/12/2007, -1/+522.3 TRILLION DOLLARS??? How do you just LOSE 2.3 TRILLION DOLLARS??? I don't care how much of a fanatical Republican you are, at some point you have to just throw in the towel. As if we haven't seen enough incompetence already...I'm starting to think the only actual skills and intelligence these guys possess are in manipulation. What a bunch of idiots. I can't wait til more info comes to light and the big picture starts falling into place, so we can finally grasp their true motivations. All we have right now is mostly lies to distort public perception about their decisions...

    nail in the coffin...
    BUSH=WORST GOVERNMENT EVER.
    • lucaq, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12so much for the republican core value of fiscal responsibility.

      Damn I wish the current-day GOP was fiscally conservative instead of soclially conservative.

      Doesn't it always seem as though the parties do the exact opposite of what they claim to stand for? shrinking liberties and bigger governments under conservatives who claim to oppose them and surpluses, lower spending and more freedom under liberals who, intuitively, should be pushing for a bloated socialist state that imposes laws on its citizens? That's why I am a republiocrat - fiscally conservative and socially liberal! lol Balanced budgets and tequila for everyone! Vamanos chicos, vota piedra! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Rausseo
    • ScoobyG, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4This isn't anything new, and as much as I despise the Bush administration, the overspending and "misplacement" of funds has been happening for a long, long time - see the video, they interview a guy who was warning of this in the early eighties. He says it's gotten worse ever since :-(

      Depressing.
  • tehnico, on 10/12/2007, -0/+38The real scary thing is that this is 2.3 trillion dollars that they couldn't cook through the books. 2.3 trillion dollars that they couldn't fake or sink anywhere else with creative accounting practices. The estimated amount that was truly wasted away is closer to 6 trillion with an estimated 3+ trillion dollars crafted away.
    • Darkness123, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Like that guy said they cooked $300 Million with no problem. $2.3 Trillion is what they couldn't cook, I wonder how much they did.

      I think some people got very rich.
  • spliffy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12are we american citizens ever going to do anything?

    i think we have no choice but to stand by and let it all get worse and much more ridiculous.
  • subgeniusd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+23For some of our International friends (as well as lots of Americans who pay no attention to where their taxes are going) this is the result of the Unholy Triad.

    1. Defense industry contractors. 2. High Pentagon officials 3. Congressional commitee chairmen in charge of budget allocations.

    It's a vicious circle where retired Generals go to work for defense contractors who lobby (bribe) the politicians in charge of spending the money. There's a lot more to the whole dirty business but you get the idea. Lot's of "black budget" money disappearing into rat holes. Old, obsolete weapons systems etc production facilities maintained in Congressional districts for votes.

    Average US tax payers work from Jan 1 to May 1 every year to pay for all this----and they still keep voting in the same old clowns. Democrats are bad. Republicans are worse. I vote Libertarian.
    • Azur2, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8@subgeniusd: Bravo! Couldn't have said it better myself!
      Although since I like to have my vote count, I voted democrat.

  • williamdyer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Everyone who says radical change is not needed should carefully consider these numbers. You are being robbed blind. The only thing that will reduce waste sharply is to reduce the size of government sharply - like cut it in HALF, and then cut that half in half. THEN we might get a handle on where money is going.
    • BobsYourUncle, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1You mean, keep a quarter of the gov't...
    • williamdyer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah, but with our luck we'll get stuck with the 25% that disappears into the pockets of the beltway bandits.
  • fvaldivia, on 10/12/2007, -7/+6youre being robbed!! come on!! get that supercrapresident out of the whitehouse NOW!! ypu northamericans are so stupid.
    • zenmechanic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Please don't lump Canada in with your generalizations.

      Thanks.
    • subgeniusd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Mexico is actually part of North America too. Ever heard of the N-orth A-merican F-ree T-rade A-greement?
  • Archeologist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6But who's gonna pay for all the water for waterboarding? Water is expensive these days ya know. /sarcasm
  • Keloran, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7ooo i forgot to carry the 1
  • JesperL, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Transcript....

    Narrator: Pentagon, the day before 9/11. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared war, not on foreign terrorists.

    Rumsfeld: The adversary is closer to home, it's the Pentagon bureaucracy.

    Narrator: ... he said money wasted by the military poses a serious threat.

    Rumsfeld: In fact it could be said that it's a matter of life and death.

    Narrator: Rumsfeld promised change, but the next day, the world changed. (clips from the 9/11 attack) And in the rush to fund the war on terrorism, the war on waste seems to have been forgotten.

    Bush: My '03 budget calls for more than 48 billion dollars in new defense spending.

    Narrator: More money for the Pentagon, when its own auditors admit that the military cannot account for 25% of what it already spends.

    Rumsfeld: According to some estimates, we cannot track 2.3 trillion dollars in transactions.

    Narrator: 2.3 trillion, with a "T", that's 8000 dollars for every man, woman and child in America. To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions, consider the case of one military accountant, who tried to find out what happened to a mere $300 million.

    Military Accountant: We know it's gone, but we don't know what they spent it on.

    Narrator: Jim Minnery, a former marine turned whistleblower, is risking his job by speaking out for the first time about the millions he noticed were missing from one defense agency's balance sheet. Minnery tried to follow the money trail, even criss-crossing the country looking for records.

    Military Account (Jim Minnery): The director looked at me, and he says "Why do you care about this stuff?" (laughs). It took be aback, you know? My supervisor asked me why I cared about doing a good job (laughs).

    Narrator: He was reassigned, and says officials then covered up the problem by just writing it off.

    Jim Minnery: They're gonna cover it up. That's where the corruption comes in. They gotta cover up the fact that they can't do the job.

    Narrator: The Pentagon's inspector general partially substantiated several of Minnery's accusations, but could not prove that officials tried to manipulate the financial statements. 20 years go, Pentagon employee Franklin C. Spinney made headlines exposing what he calls "The Accounting Games". He's still there, and although he does not speak for the Pentagon, he believes the problem has gotten worse.

    Franklin Spinney: Those numbers are pie in the sky, the books are cooked routinely year after year after year.

    Narrator: Retired Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan commanded the Navy's second fleet the first time Donald Rumsfeld served as defense secretary.

    Jack Shanahan: With good financial oversight, we could find 48 billion dollars and loose change in that building (pentagon) without hitting the tax payers.

    Narrator: In the two and a half minutes since this report began, the Pentagon has spent nearly two million dollars, and it may never know where 25% of those tax dollars went. In Los Angeles, I'm Vince Gonzales, for Eye on America.
  • angeloloria, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12that's a a lot of coke and hookers.
  • inafewdays, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11As bad as my government's made my feel in the last few years (I'm from the UK) I cant recall anything like this.

    You Americans really need to do something about the way your country is being mismanaged. If a private company revealed this sort of error it would be finished overnight.

    That sort of money could help resolve so many issues.


    • subgeniusd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Why do you suppose China is buying up so much of our debt? I forget the volume of US Treasury bonds (makes me too sick to spend 15 seconds googling) but it would confuse all the Bush zombies if they knew, No,,,,they'd just blame Bill Clinton and carry on.

      Meanwhile the Dragon bides it's time, licking it's chops. You're kids better start learning Mandarin.........
    • williamdyer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Ni hao. Wo jiao William.
  • BruceDeuce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8More anomalies associated with 9/11........... Are you still standing on the wrong side of history?
  • fungible, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Goddamn democrats... in power for only two weeks and already they've lost 2.3 trillion dollars.

    /sarcasm but get ready to hear things like this
    • VolatileWhimsy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3very true, everybody likes to point fingers one way or another :(
  • diggdong, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6http://www.whereisthemoney.org/59billion.htmAccounting Problems at HUD

    From Wikipedia entry:
    Susan Gaffney, Inspector General of HUD, testified before Congress in 2000 that she could not sign off on the fiscal 1999 audit because of “the undetermined effects of the conversion problems of the general ledger from the Program Accounting System [PAS] to HUD’s Central Account and Program System [HUDCAPS] during the fiscal year, the integrated state of HUD’s reconciliation efforts and their documentation for the general ledger accounts for the fund balance with Treasury, and the late manual posting of numerous and significant adjustments (some as late as Feb. 25, 2000) directly to the financial statements, for which we lacked sufficient time to test their legitimacy.” See Gaffney's testimony documenting $17 billion of undocumentable adjustments in fiscal 1998 and $59 billion of undocumentable adjustments in fiscal 1999
  • krewemaynard, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Keeping those Independence Day alien ships secret ain't cheap.
  • Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Your kleptocracy at work...
  • pipedreambomb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I heard they're building a robot army with the money.
    • spriggig, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3With that kind of money, they probably could build a robot army.
  • stelriah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5why isn't this the top story?
    • henriquemaia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Because we can't track 25% of the diggs.
  • VolatileWhimsy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Anyone surprised that the Gov misplaced any money? I think Haliburton is sucking most of it up.. We really should bring them up on charges.
  • slpmep, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Can anyone on DIGG give me the specific source of the 25% or 2.3T number ? I'm
    doing research.

    All I can find is "Rumsfeld: According to some estimates, we cannot track 2.3 trillion dollars in transactions"

    So I'm wondering what the real number is, vs. what Rumsfeld said back then. I believe he had an agenda, and am now looking for facts....

    Any help / references to an real source would be helpful... thanks...
  • dsmx, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Man what a bunch of amateurs the accountants are at the pentagon, they can actually estimate how much they lose. An example of good accounting was concorde, the costs were so well covered up no-one has any idea how much was spent in r&d and the eventual cost of making each one.

    Now Thats good accounting.
  • floorman56, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3And no one bitches when the DOD says they want to save money by closing unneeded bases

    No really the DOD needs to look at other government programs to see how they save money. ...like welfare and heath care

    /sarcasm
  • Mullinator, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4How foolish can you all be. It's obviously funding for the Stargate project.

    Either way, I almost hope it actually IS funding for some massive secret project rather than government incompetence. At least secret projects are neat to fantasize about.
    • masterdieff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Which is worse: that I thought the exact same thing when I saw it, or that I want it to be true so badly?
  • brishchik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Time for GWB to borrow more money from China!!
    • VolatileWhimsy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Please tell me we did not borrow money from them?!
  • RaysinX, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Trillion that starts with T and rhymes with B and stands for Bush
    • p0s3r, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Too bad this is dated from 9/2001. I seriously doubt that from 1/2001 - 9/2001 the Pentagon lost $2.3T
  • hoff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+52.3 Trillion? That's nothing. Watch 'America: Freedom to Fascism', and find out how much MORE the US GOVT is stealing from it's people every year.
  • malkir, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I misplaced my car keys once.
  • egingras, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1All I have to say is......... lol.
  • Nickatnite101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I SAY WE DONT PAY OUR TAXES UNTIL WE GET SOME ANSWERS....
    I always wanted a legit reason to refuse to pay.
    And im sure this has been going on way before Bush.
    • knodi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3ya getting thrown in jail is not my tea cup.
    • williamdyer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1There are about 20 million illegal aliens with bogus SSNs out there. You vastly overestimate the IRS's ability to enforce tax law.
  • porkstacker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I warned all those dumbasses in 2000 not to vote for Bush, and then again in 2004, but noone seemed to listen.
    • AnonymousHero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0As far as military spending and waste goes, there is alas no difference in Rep vs. Dem parties. Rumsfeld was on the reform side before the power destroyed him ... See the recent "Why We Fight" documentary for a somewhat lame but effective explanation of why we are truly fyucked.
  • Nickatnite101, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I'm not pro Bush but you cant blame one man for all that is wrong in this country, just like you cant blame just the head coach for losing the game. Bush was not the only one turning a blind eye on the problem, watch the video again.
  • Ramtech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Its a pity some of us just ignore this ... "mistake" and go on with our days when right in front of us.. someone.. is making all of us.. look like fools....
  • Abx0r, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It was misplaced to Homeworld Security. Obviously, the Stargate Program needs emergency funds to save the world from impending doom.
  • Yage2006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3By misplaced they mean straight into there bank accounts
  • treelovinhippie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Haha, sounds like that money could have been funneled to Area 51 projects (hint, hint)

    A bit like what happens in Independence Day where the President asks hows this being funded, and the other guy says "do you really think a hammer costs $30k"
    • OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Sorry to make your fantasy world come crashing down on you, but Area51 was disinfo all along.

      But don't worry, the truth is far scarier than any alien story.

      It does involve been anally violated though -- by your government.
  • omarsdroog, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0I don't think that the money was necessarily lost. It was provided and spent. Most likely on things no one would really complain about. (I'm not saying there wasn't some unnecessary spending somewhere though) Rummy was talking about replacing the bureaucratic system that lost track of the money. There are many different systems all trying to work together at the pentagon.

    So how do we help it? Sitting here bitching doesn't seem like an answer to any problem.
  • DaBlade, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Oops..bury this comment.
  • mitrebox, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1The only people who should be complaining about this as a tax issue are those who actually pay $8000+ in federal taxes.
  • mk32066, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I do that all of the time. Yesterday I lost 10 billion, it was in my pants pockets, but I guess it fell out. :-(
  • Petrov101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There's a lot of young folks on digg, huh. Your government loses/misplaces money and that's a surprise? Of course they will...

    Why do you think people whine about raising taxes... the bozos running the show are only going to piss it away.
  • BIGmog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1See: Reaganomics
    Reduced taxes and increased defense spending.
  •  

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