Some of us remember the big stink about the $500 hammers and the $1000 toilet seats the military buys. Since then there have been a few attempts to straighten out procurement but not much has changed.
The Government Accountability Office found $70 billion in waste in big weapons systems.
http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2011/03/...A separate Congressional report found $60 billion on contract fraud and abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.stripes.com/mobile/news/repor...But all of these estimates at waste and fraud are just guesses. Nobody really knows where all of the military money goes. There is an enormous amount of secrecy among the 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies who work for the military, and every little project jealously guards how much appropriations they are getting from every other department. Why isn't there a comprehensive audit or budget department to track funding and to cut waste?
http://garyjohnsongrassroots.com/viewtop... We spend as much on our military as the rest of the world combined. Obama came to office promising to end the wars and he ended the combat troops in Iraq and is supposed to start drawing down troops in Afghanistan. Our military mission is pretty much over. We have killed Osama Bin Laden and severely weakened Al Queda, so there are less than a hundred in Afghanistan. Why can't we reduce the size of the military to pre-2001 levels now?
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found 51 percent of Americans support reducing defense spending, and only 28 percent want to cut Medicare and Medicaid health programs for the elderly and poor. A mere 18 percent back cuts in the Social Security retirement program.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41993528/ns/...#.TmAC-F2o1uw
The Republican plan is pretty much the opposite of what the people want. They want to end Medicare and Social Security and instead of cutting the military budget they voted to increase the military budget $17billion. They are slashing programs people need but they are forcing the military to accept weapons systems they did not ask for or need.
http://www.minnpost.com/community_voices...The Republicans like defense spending because there is likely a defense plant in every district, but defense spending is the worst kind of stimulus you can think of. You get fewer jobs, and less of the the money spent gets into the economy. Worst of all We don't really get anything the people can use for the money. If we spent the same amount on rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure or on research we could get new bridges, highways, water supplies and green jobs. If we spend it on war we get more enemies.
Now the Super Committee needs to find $1.2 trillion in savings from the budget. That shouldn't be too hard to find if you look at military spending. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield said there was $2.3 trillion that the military just lost because of waste, fraud, corruption, and poor book keeping.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/2...There has also been a big push to privatize the military. We have more private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan than regular troops and many of these mercenaries get paid five times what our troops get for doing the same thing. It costs a million dollars a year for each one of our troops over there. Are we spending $5 million a year for each mercenary? No one knows how much we are spending for "private contractors" or for "Black Ops".
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-w...Governor Gary Johnson who is one of the many republicans running for president in 2012, says that he can cut the military budget 43% without weakening our defenses.
http://garyjohnsongrassroots.com/viewtop...If we cut $280 billion form the military, $280 billion from domestic spending, $280 billion from corporate welfare, and $280 billion from the rich who refuse to pay their fair share in taxes, we would have $1.1 trillion.