THEY'RE KILLING US ALL- Pentagon's Weapon Spending Surges to $1.6 Trillion in 2007

[Orwellian_Ghost]

Pentagon's weapon spending surges to $1.6 trillion in 2007

WASHINGTON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Defense Department's spending on weapon systems has surged to 1.6 trillion dollars in 2007, doubling from 790 billion dollars in 2000, said a congressional report released on Tuesday.



According to the report by the Government Accountability Office(GAO), the acquisition costs were 26 percent higher than the original estimates in 2007, and the spending on research and development were 40 percent over the budget.



Despite the higher-than-budget cost, about 72 programs were still falling behind schedule by averagely 21 months, including fighter jets, combat ships and satellites, the sixth annual report on the Pentagon's weapon programs.



However, the Defense Department, whose personnel and budgets have been strained by the Iraq war and Afghanistan war, still plans to invest about 900 million dollars over the next five years in weapon systems' development and procurement, it added.



http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/02/content_7901086.htm

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Prescott would be proud.

[aquart]

2. Republicans steal everything that isn't nailed down.

And then come back for the nails.

What percentage of that crap is manufactured on mainland US soil?

[napoleon_in_rags]

3. Somebody should more broadly define the defense interests

so that they include things like energy independence, environment livability, and so forth. Then spend on defense programs that are "dual use" in that they can benefit the greater economy and health of the nation as well as aid in defense. There's no reason the military can't be a powerful source of solutions...After all, it was DARPA that brought us the Internet. But with threats defined so narrowly that they have a human face, these opportunities are being missed, IMHO.

[Ishoutandscream2]

4. But...but...but...it's the lazy welfare queens that are taking our money

Yeah, all those lazy (expletives) on welfare and food stamps.

[L. Coyote]

5. But can they build a windmill?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. U$A!! U$A!! If we don't give the generals more toys the bogeyman will get us!!

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken

[Hannah Bell]

7. 1.6 trillion = 3 years+ of social security.

1.6 trillion = 3/4+ of the entire Social Security Trust Fund.

You know, the one they borrowed into the general fund, but now have "no money" to redeem?

[Quantess]

19. That's the one.

K & R

[Octafish]

8. Use It or Lose It.

Once the environment can no longer support humanity, these turds will turn the nukes and all their fancy killing machines on humanity.

They may start sooner, rather than later, with Admiral Fallon gone.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

9. FYI- United States Weapon Systems

http://www.fas.org/man/index.html

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/index.html

[unkachuck]

10. you know folks....

....we can't stop them, this is bigger than all of us combined....this is bigger than the entire voting population in the US....they are unstoppable!

....we're just here for the ride....

[RC]

11. That is totally obscene.

There is no way any other country in the world can, will or even tries to come close to what we spend (read waste) on all this needless killing technology.

If we would spend half that amount helping people instead of what we do killing them, we would not need any of these death machines.

[spanone]

12. this is absurd....how many times do you have to be able to destroy the world

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. HA HA HA..the joke is on them

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

the United states is bankrupt...they'll never get paid...the money is worthless.
The more they fall behind schedule, the less the money is worth.

Ha ha ha....


snark

[Stinky The Clown]

14. Carlisle Group ..... Need Money ........ Do War ....... Install Idiot Son of Wimp Boss .......

.... Hire all Former Heads of State as Reward ....... Spend .......

[Selatius]

15. Can you imagine how RICH you could be if you got a slice of that gravy train with WAR CONTRACTS?

War. It's what's for dinner.

[OneBlueSky]

16. this is obscene, and it says that our country is obscene . . .

that's the word that comes to mind . . . this country is obscenely wealthy, obscenely greedy, obscenely war-mongering, obscenely offensive, obscenely uncaring, obscenely unjust, obscenely corporate, obscenely self-centered, obscenely inequitable, and obscenely stupid . . .

and by "this country" I mean the ruling corporate/government oligarchy . . . most people are far less obscene . . . because they don't know enough to make informed decisions about anything . . . rather than obscene, they're just intentionally uninformed and uninvolved -- which, upon reflection, is probably almost just as bad . . .

whoever is elected must end the absolute madness of U.S. military spending . . . we'd do a lot more to defend the country by spending just a portion of this being good world citizens and helping others in need . . . by building constructive things rather than destructive things . . . and by ending American aggression worldwide . . .

[Orwellian_Ghost]

17. Bush Administration Wastes Trillions in Worthless Weapons

Bush Administration Wastes Trillions in Worthless Weapons
By Robert Scheer, Truthdig. Posted April 3, 2008.


A trillion dollars here, a trillion dollars there, and soon you're talking real money. But when it comes to reporting on what the Bush war legacy has cost American taxpayers, the media have been shockingly indifferent to the highest run-up in military spending since World War II. Even the devastating defense spending audit released Monday by the Government Accountability Office documenting the enormous waste in every single U.S. advanced weapons system failed to provoke the outrage it, and five equally scathing previous annual audits, deserved.

This is not about the waste of taxpayer dollars -- already pushing a trillion -- in funding the Iraq war, which, while reprehensible enough, pales in comparison to the big-ticket military systems purchased in the wake of 9/11. In the horror of that moment, the floodgates were lifted and the peace dividend promised with the end of the Cold War was washed away by a doubling of spending on ultra-complex military equipment originally designed to defeat a Soviet enemy that no longer exists, equipment that has no plausible connection with fighting stateless terrorists. Example: the $81-billion submarine pushed by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, presumably to fight al-Qaida's navy.

That's the huge scandal the media and politicians from both parties have studiously avoided. But as the GAO's authoritative audit details, the costs are astronomical. The explosion of spending on expensive weaponry after 9/11 had nothing whatsoever to do with the attacks of that day. The high-tech planes and ships commissioned for trillions of dollars to defeat an enemy with no navy, air force or army, and using $3 knives as its weapons arsenal, were gifts to the military-industrial complex that will go on giving for decades to come.

...

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/81099/

[Echo In Light]

18. Killing is their business and business is good

Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerers of deaths construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds, oh lord yeah!

Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor

Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait till their judgment day comes

Now in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have their power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of judgment, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings, oh lord yeah!

Black Sabbath, War Pigs

[fascisthunter]

20. Will the GOP/Neocon Dream Come True after the Bankruptcy of America?

Will they get to rebuild a government and economy in their own fascist image? You all know this debt is deliberate, right?

[jazzjunkysue]

21. Where are all the so-called conservatives?

From now on, I refuse to consider "conservatism" respectable in any way. As long as they let us trash our own economy, none of the angry Hannity/Limpoaw lovers are conservative.