A friend of mine shared a small ancedote about some ridiculous waste of socks. Literally pallets of socks where the order got doubled (no idea what actually happened) but they had it show up and had no idea what they were for.
Random story that has no impact whatsoever on the overall budget, but I found it amusing.
Ya, we use to “accidentally” order extra Gerber knives…
Or why do we need to spend more not trim it down… or why do we need bases in every country? Like we still gotta worry about Japan or Germany… Or why the fuck are we still buying tanks and subs, and shit we dont use… All we need is drones & spys…Shits dun changed fuck they might as well waste billions on muskets
Heres why the Military industrial complex and $$$ at least thats what Mel Gibson says
The same way we pay for roads, bridges…
It’s no more coercive than the public-school system.
If you feel this way, you could always relocate somewhere where there is no government. I hear Mogadishu is nice this time of year…
There is nowhere in the world without it. Hence “necessary evil”.
Which is a whole thread on its own.
Au contraire, Pierre. I just gave you a locale devoid of formal government. Tell the skinnies ‘hey’ for me.
Further, the fact that most of the world is under the auspices of a govt doesn’t make it “necessary;” rather, it suggests that govt represents a state of social organization that our species gravitates toward.
Our species gravitates toward many destructive things.
So just wave the magic wand. “We are increasing costs on you and you aren’t allowed by law to raise prices.” Maybe the government could hand out red pens while their at it.
It doesn’t fix it. And youre right there are many opportunities for improving efficiency. The issue is that the guys on the ground get assfucked while the contractors and R/D keep the remaining funds. That’s the problem. The problems actually exist in tandem–lack of equipment, or lack of training rounds (we restricted range time and ammo quite some time ago) exists BECAUSE the guy on the ground gets fucked to save the expense of others.
Now that is due partially to pure inefficiency–the Army can be considered a giant corporation with more than a million employees…the interia and inefficiencies inherent in any organization that size are problematic. Part of it is due to ahit rolling downhill.
So no, throwing more money won’t fix anything, but cutting funds will disproportionately hurt the grunts, infantry, and warfighters (and VA/GI benefits) compared to where it actually NEEDS to get cut.
Right. I agree we can cut some, but its not just the sheer number either–proportionately entitlements make up a far greater percentage of our budget than military, and there is NO getting around that gorilla in the room.
Besides which we are the only country on the globe with the truly global kind of force projection and deployments that would necessitate that kind of spending. We subsidize other countries lack of relative spending.
Also, if we contract the vacuum is filled by China and Russia…two countries I do not want taking world hegemony from us. So it is not very simple, certainly not as simple as “just cut funding”.
Right. The Government Option Tax Act of 2018. I’m not sure how we’ll dump healthcare into the Boston Harbor… Maybe we’ll have to just dump MDs 
I’m sure there’s a plethora of random stories.
I know I have my share … but you’re right, in the grand scheme of things, that ticky tacky shit barely adds up to be anything close to significant.
However, some of the stories printed about military waste does. Especially when one considers that not all waste of a significant caliber is reported…
yea, but at least that could be argued to be operational oversight 
nah, they’ll be too valuable in the post-apocalyptic wasteland … maybe the just the execs…
I’d prefer politicians personally.
That’s in no way how a cost/benefit ratio works.
Which couldn’t matter to me less. I’m not of the opinion that our taxpayers need to subsidize the world’s lack of spending (especially when I don’t see their spending as lacking).
I’m by no means saying “cut defense until we’re at a surplus.” But I’m appalled at “conservatives” that are more than willing to cut things like medicaid and welfare, but god forbid we buy less F35s, tanks, and bombs.
Show me in the constitution where Medicaid and welfare are and I might agree.
Show me in the constitution where we dictate federal military spending in excess of the next 10 countries combined and I might agree.
Semantics aside, I don’t have a problem cutting entitlements. What I DO have a problem with is INCREASING military spending when it’s already an over-inflated nitemare. If you want to cut excessive spending, cut excessive spending.
Okay, I am at a loss here.
If the government increases costs on an insurance company by mandating that all plans cover certain things or people with pre existing conditions must be allowed to purchase at the same rate as a healthy person, how can the government ensure that insurance companies not raise prices to offset the added cost? Do you expect a business to take the hit and not raise prices?
Yes, in the same way I expect my gas company not to raise my per unit cost when winter rolls around.
Edit: side note. the scenario i put forward as a hypothetical would in no way stop insurance companies from raising prices