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I worked for a major tire manufacturer prior to starting my own business. We had major contracts with the Gov. to produce the rubber pads for tank tracks(needed to protect the roads, mainly).
As a point of clarification, this info is from the early 1980's.
As a consequence of the contract, we had to have Government inspectors on site(about 20, IMSMC).
They brought pillows to work(so they could nap on their desks).
The mail room was always b*tching about having to deliver all the magazines to their office.
Even the people who worked in the Governmet Inspector's office b*tched about the boredom.
One story going around was about a girl who missed 4 days of work a week for over a year while looking for a new job (if you missed 5 days, you had to have a doctor's note).
No reprimand, no punishment whatsoever.
She eventually went to work for IDEM(Indiana Department of Environmental Management).

On a more personal note, I personally closed a deal with a Government contractor worth over $90,000. He later admitted that the stuff he bought was scrapped and thrown away.
He was just trying to "flush the budget" to insure his funding would remain intact for the next year.
Rumsfeld, I think is trying to end this crap.
Hence, the pushback from the "Generals".
IMHO.

Rumsfeld, I think is trying to end this crap.
Hence, the pushback from the "Generals".

I would say that's exactly it.

We gave a good friend who worked at Lockheed for years. He has some unbelievable-but-true stories, like yours, in dealing with the government.

But "flushing the budget" is done all the time when grant monies (whatver the source) aren't completely spent before the deadline. If they're not spent, they must be returned. I worked for a few years for a nonprofit and come June, we'd order lots of giveaways and other things or the money would have to go back. It made me angry to see it because in the end those were my tax $$ (most of their funding came from the State). I finally left for MANY reasons.