The original tea party movement was motivated by a tax controversy, and likewise, a big driving force behind the modern tea party is tax and spending policy. Whatever one's political color, one cannot help but be shocked by sheer scale of the waste perpetrated by the government each year. This brief article aims to inform tea party conservatives about this problem, and indeed any citizen who cares about their country and how their tax dollars are used.
The US military has a sorry record of mismanaged equipment procurement, although to be fair this has often been the result of political decisions. Wasteful, badly handled procurement initiatives have led to the loss of many billions of dollars over the years. Political leaders talk up the need to make savings while overlooking the huge sums already sunk into what are often sound projects.
In 2002 the Crusader mobile cannon was abandoned at a cost of $2 billion after army chiefs decided it no longer met their requirements. In 2004 the army also canceled the Comanche armed reconnaissance helicopter after spending $7 billion on it. They then later canceled its replacement incurring further losses that ran into the hundreds of billions.
The air force and navy too have their share of stillborn projects. The EFV (Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle) project that was developed for the marine corps was canceled in 2011 after having $3 billion of a projected $15 billion spent on it. It was an amphibious assault vehicle designed to transport soldiers from the sea onto hostile beach terrain. It was abandoned after policy makers decided the cost per vehicle was too high.
The military has also squandered millions on careless civil aviation expenditures. It spent a colossal $100 million between 1997 and 2003 on 270,000 airline tickets that it never used. These tickets were in fact fully refundable but Pentagon staff didn't trouble themselves with claiming the refunds. Between 2001 and 2002 the Pentagon was also found to have paid twice for 27,000 tickets (incurring a further $8 million of waste).
If the military has a match for the sheer scale of its waste, it has to be Medicare. A report by the Department of Health and Human Services found that compared to the VA it pays on average twice the amount for its supplies. For certain items it was found to have paid up to 8 times more than it should have done.
The preceding examples are bad enough, but at least the money spent has been accounted for. A 2003 report by the Department of the Treasury revealed $24.5 billion in so-called 'unreconciled transactions'. These are expenditures that auditors are unable to account for, or put more simply, it's money that has simply vanished.
This kind of extravagance and incompetence is making increasing numbers of taxpayers angry. Lawmakers however, despite talking endlessly about making reforms, seem unable to ever actually do it. If grass-roots organizations like the tea party can find ways to get momentum behind their cause, they may one day get the value for money they want.
The US military has a sorry record of mismanaged equipment procurement, although to be fair this has often been the result of political decisions. Wasteful, badly handled procurement initiatives have led to the loss of many billions of dollars over the years. Political leaders talk up the need to make savings while overlooking the huge sums already sunk into what are often sound projects.
In 2002 the Crusader mobile cannon was abandoned at a cost of $2 billion after army chiefs decided it no longer met their requirements. In 2004 the army also canceled the Comanche armed reconnaissance helicopter after spending $7 billion on it. They then later canceled its replacement incurring further losses that ran into the hundreds of billions.
The air force and navy too have their share of stillborn projects. The EFV (Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle) project that was developed for the marine corps was canceled in 2011 after having $3 billion of a projected $15 billion spent on it. It was an amphibious assault vehicle designed to transport soldiers from the sea onto hostile beach terrain. It was abandoned after policy makers decided the cost per vehicle was too high.
The military has also squandered millions on careless civil aviation expenditures. It spent a colossal $100 million between 1997 and 2003 on 270,000 airline tickets that it never used. These tickets were in fact fully refundable but Pentagon staff didn't trouble themselves with claiming the refunds. Between 2001 and 2002 the Pentagon was also found to have paid twice for 27,000 tickets (incurring a further $8 million of waste).
If the military has a match for the sheer scale of its waste, it has to be Medicare. A report by the Department of Health and Human Services found that compared to the VA it pays on average twice the amount for its supplies. For certain items it was found to have paid up to 8 times more than it should have done.
The preceding examples are bad enough, but at least the money spent has been accounted for. A 2003 report by the Department of the Treasury revealed $24.5 billion in so-called 'unreconciled transactions'. These are expenditures that auditors are unable to account for, or put more simply, it's money that has simply vanished.
This kind of extravagance and incompetence is making increasing numbers of taxpayers angry. Lawmakers however, despite talking endlessly about making reforms, seem unable to ever actually do it. If grass-roots organizations like the tea party can find ways to get momentum behind their cause, they may one day get the value for money they want.
About the Author:
When you are looking for information about Tea Party conservatives, pay a visit to the web pages online here today. You can see details at http://www.teapartycrusaders.com now.
No comments:
Post a Comment