Reuters Reports Pentagon Waste Worse Than You think

            A recent report from Reuters details the amount of fraud that we know about in the Pentagon. We have to specify “that we know of” because the story details just how much book doctoring the military does to hide the huge discrepancies. They even have a name for the made up expenses they use to fill in the areas where they cannot account for funds spent – they call them “plugs”. The supervisors were required to approve the fabricated numbers and workers tried to make things add up as best they could.

            The totals for a single year of “plugs” were in excess of $9 Billion. This at the same time that we are seeing cuts to benefits for veterans and pay for military personnel and their families. For a comparison, the cuts to veterans benefits could be restored for a paltry $6 Billion – leaving another $3 Billion for other important causes – such as stimulating the economy, restoring food stamps to feed the hungry and housing homeless persons. Realistically – how many would expect that the Pentagon would be willing to give up the funds that it cannot account for? The story is also rife with accounts of military waste from purchases of weapons and munitions that are either out-of-date or hopelessly redundant, driving home the point that $9 Billion is just the starting poin, we may never know the total cost of military waste.

            This story reminds one of the Veterans For Peace question – “how is the war economy working for you?”