Rumsfeld Inherits Financial Mess (DOD loses 1.1 TRILLION)

InsightMag.com ^ | Unknown | Kelly Patricia O'Meara

[FormerLurker]

1.1 trillion dollars here, 1.1 trillion dollars there, etc...

[NEWwoman]

And they talk about ENRON's mismanagement? And this same bunch is going to tell the private companies how to run things ethically?

[FormerLurker]

It's sort of like Curly telling Moe what to do I think..

[toenail]

Quick! Increase cigarette taxes!

[independentmind]

A very interesting article. Thanks for posting.

[gaspar]

Every Senator on the Senate Armed Services committee should be taken out, dunked in the nearest septic tank, lashed 200 times, tarred and feathered and sent to Cuba for rehabilitation.

[AlligatorEyes]

Nothing to see here. Move along please.

Eyes

[BJClinton]

Every year trillions of dollars are unaccounted for by federal agencies

What's our total Fed budget? Isn't it like $3.5 Trillion? Is this implying that over half of the total budget is unaccounted for?

[jimtorr]

Insight spends the whole article blaming contractors. I don't thinks so. Outside of a few bad eggs like AMS, contractors do good, honest work.

The real problems, I think, are with what the contractors are asked to do and how the new systems are used. Garbage in, Garbage out.

Attention should also be paid to bad program management at DOD. Too many system specifications are being written by bueracrats who don't know what they are doing.

They also have a habit of changing their minds in mid-program and making changes that double the cost and make the whole thing un-workable. California does the same thing.

[jimtorr]

The article is misleaing. I beleive the dollar figures are the total since 1995 since the GAO started keeping track. This is not just for one years budget. The annual DOD budget is a small fraction of the 4 trillion mentioned at one point in the article.

[Irish Eyes]

I think that I remember hearing that Hilliary's world travels were billed to the DOD. Did she travel THAT much??

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

In other words, at the end of the last full year on Bill Clinton's watch, more than $1 trillion was simply gone and no one can be sure of when, where or to whom the money went.

"What's Bush so annoyed about?" Podesta asked with a devilish smile. "He's got four years to try to undo all the stuff we've done."
Link.

"We laid a few traps," chirps a happy Clinton aide.....

[Itzlzha]

The Defense Department cannot account for $1.1 trillion that seems to have vanished within the tangled system of financial accounting put in place by private contractors.

My advice, check the pockets of Klinton and Co., as well as ANY of their cronies!

Hey, Shrillary...care to open YOUR finances for inspection?

[Itzlzha]

In other words, at the end of the last full year on Bill Clinton's watch, more than $1 trillion was simply gone and no one can be sure of when, where or to whom the money went.

"What's Bush so annoyed about?" Podesta asked with a devilish smile. "He's got four years to try to undo all the stuff we've done."

This is the SAME crowd that allowed military personnel to be forcwed onto WELFARE, because they were short-changing them (dare I say DISENFRANCHISING), and cutting back on training, equiptment and WAGES...the whole ADMINISTRATION should be put up against the wall and SHOT after the NEXT Islamazi terror attack on us!

[sarasmom]

BINGO.

Balance of post self-deleted.

PS.The DOD has nothing and no reason to hide.Nor can they. IMNSHO.

Follow the money, and the trail will make Enron = Monicagate, pale too Chinagate = ?????.

Dont you love dominos?

[FormerLurker]

Public companies are accountable for the accuracy of their financial statements; why shouldn't government agencies be held to the same standard?"

Isn't the government a public company? Think about it...

[FormerLurker]

What's our total Fed budget? Isn't it like $3.5 Trillion? Is this implying that over half of the total budget is unaccounted for?

A little under half actually...

[FormerLurker]

Too many system specifications are being written by bueracrats who don't know what they are doing.

I would imagine that a lot of that is deliberate.

[FormerLurker]

I beleive the dollar figures are the total since 1995 since the GAO started keeping track.

1.1 TRILLION over 5 years, 1.1 TRILLION over 1 year, either way, 1.1 TRILLION is vanished, caput. That is more than chump change, even for the federal government..

[Spirited]

"They also have a habit of changing their minds in mid-program and making changes that double the cost and make the whole thing un-workable."


Yes, Yes and Yes. It's a sickness in all of government. Indecision is big and indecision is costly.