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Old 01-22-2013, 10:12 PM
 
3,352 posts, read 6,407,522 times
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I know the base of that question sounds quite obvious but bare with me. The budget of the military is what $600-700 billion dollars, but when those trillions were first reported missing the budget was probably around $500 billion dollars. Cool, so where does a multi-trillion dollar figure come in? Its not like we give the pentagon trillions per year, so how in the world does that money become lost? Is it literally lost, like it ended up in the wrong hands or lost as in its been spent but we don't know where its been spent at?

I have one more question regarding the military's budget, what's in the military budget? The troops pay? Cost of war? Weapon cost? I know Obama said with the Iraq war winding down, we are supposed to start saving money so when does that supposed to begin? It seems like our military budget will only continue to grow at a fast pace even without wars happening, so I'm assuming wars aren't in a military budget.
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Old 01-22-2013, 10:19 PM
 
2,539 posts, read 4,072,649 times
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Now you know why Washington DC is a boom town.
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Old 01-22-2013, 10:21 PM
 
1,596 posts, read 1,154,465 times
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Default When the Pentagon or Secretary of Defense says Trillions of Dollars is missing, what does that mean?

It means destroy the books and records, and get that gold out of the basement.
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Old 01-22-2013, 10:23 PM
 
1,596 posts, read 1,154,465 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bnepler View Post
Now you know why Washington DC is a boom town.
Careful the way you word things.
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Old 01-22-2013, 10:23 PM
 
3,352 posts, read 6,407,522 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bnepler View Post
Now you know why Washington DC is a boom town.
The street I live on in DC is full of construction right now, so I know its a boom town. Are you suggesting the lost money is going to developers or going to too many contractors? I honestly don't understand what you are implying, so help me here.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Statutory Ape View Post
It means destroy the books and records, and get that gold out of the basement.
Military-Industrial Complex?
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Old 01-22-2013, 10:27 PM
 
23,838 posts, read 23,035,663 times
Reputation: 9407
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMOREBOY View Post
I know the base of that question sounds quite obvious but bare with me. The budget of the military is what $600-700 billion dollars, but when those trillions were first reported missing the budget was probably around $500 billion dollars. Cool, so where does a multi-trillion dollar figure come in? Its not like we give the pentagon trillions per year, so how in the world does that money become lost? Is it literally lost, like it ended up in the wrong hands or lost as in its been spent but we don't know where its been spent at?

I have one more question regarding the military's budget, what's in the military budget? The troops pay? Cost of war? Weapon cost? I know Obama said with the Iraq war winding down, we are supposed to start saving money so when does that supposed to begin? It seems like our military budget will only continue to grow at a fast pace even without wars happening, so I'm assuming wars aren't in a military budget.
1) The administrative costs (ie. personnel costs) of the military are expected to consume the ENTIRE Pentagon budget in less than 2 decades. That does not account for wars, weapons, vehicles, delivery platforms.....etc. Only pay, insurance, benefits, etc. Sickening right? 20 years is just right around the corner, but we've yet to hear either party discuss this predicament. One thing is sure.....Pentagon budget cuts are on the horizon.

2) There's no such thing as "savings" from the Iraq or Afghan wars since neither were part of the official Pentagon budget and since both were financed through borrowed funds. You don't "save" money by borrowing less.
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Old 01-22-2013, 10:34 PM
 
3,352 posts, read 6,407,522 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AeroGuyDC View Post
1) The administrative costs (ie. personnel costs) of the military are expected to consume the ENTIRE Pentagon budget in less than 2 decades. That does not accout for wars....weapons....vehicles...platforms.....etc. Only pay, insurance, benefits, etc. 20 years is just right around the corner, but we've yet to hear either party discuss this predicament.

2) There's no such thing as "savings" from the Iraq or Afghan wars since neither were part of the official Pentagon budget and since both were financed through borrowed funds. You don't "save" money by borrowing less.
In the first paragraph are you saying that there will be too many troops therefore there will be only enough to pay for them but not actual equipment? As you guys can see, I'm not the smartest person when it comes to the military so I'm asking as many questions as I can to understand it.

And yeah I've heard those wars were put on a credit card, does that mean we just borrowed through national debt to pay for those wars or what? If its not included in the Pentagon's budget, I don't see how they're being funded. The money can be borrowed but the money has to be going somewhere in this case, the Pentagon.
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Old 01-22-2013, 10:36 PM
 
1,596 posts, read 1,154,465 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BMOREBOY View Post
The street I live on in DC is full of construction right now, so I know its a boom town. Are you suggesting the lost money is going to developers or going to too many contractors? I honestly don't understand what you are implying, so help me here.

Military-Industrial Complex?
Go higher.
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Old 01-22-2013, 10:40 PM
 
Location: Jacksonville, FL
11,057 posts, read 10,615,153 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BMOREBOY View Post
In the first paragraph are you saying that there will be too many troops therefore there will be only enough to pay for them but not actual equipment? As you guys can see, I'm not the smartest person when it comes to the military so I'm asking as many questions as I can to understand it.
Yes.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BMOREBOY View Post
And yeah I've heard those wars were put on a credit card, does that mean we just borrowed through national debt to pay for those wars or what? If its not included in the Pentagon's budget, I don't see how they're being funded. The money can be borrowed but the money has to be going somewhere in this case, the Pentagon.
That's pretty much what we did. In an odd sort of way, other countries are footing the bill for us to be in Iraq and Afghanistan... at least temporarily. The problem is, we have to pay it back, and we don't have any way to do so unless there are some massive spending cuts somewhere.
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Old 01-22-2013, 10:42 PM
 
23,838 posts, read 23,035,663 times
Reputation: 9407
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMOREBOY View Post
In the first paragraph are you saying that there will be too many troops therefore there will be only enough to pay for them but not actual equipment? As you guys can see, I'm not the smartest person when it comes to the military so I'm asking as many questions as I can to understand it.

And yeah I've heard those wars were put on a credit card, does that mean we just borrowed through national debt to pay for those wars or what? If its not included in the Pentagon's budget, I don't see how they're being funded. The money can be borrowed but the money has to be going somewhere in this case, the Pentagon.
I'm not sure if it's because of too many troops....as I understand it, our current force plus the number of living veterans is a costly endeavor that is increasing every year with no end in sight. So much so that the entire Pentagon budget is expected to be consumed in its entirety in about 20 years.

Regarding borrowed funding, i'm not entirely sure how that works either. All I know is that politicians who proclaim that we will realize "savings" by winding down the wars are not being intellectually honest. We don't save money by borrowing less. That's like saying you're saving money because you graduated college and aren't borrowing via student loans anymore.
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