Pentagon can't account for $21 trillion, up from $6.5 trillion (UPDATED W/ REAL ARTICLE -- POST #66)

But why do you think the accounting system is garbage?

The accounting system is garbage because the Navy has to buy $300 hammers in order to balance their books.

Mafia accountants would probably have a goddamn stroke trying to fix the DoD books.
 
No. I just had to inform you that making the Trump connection made zero sense. I get it though, that’s the hip thing to do nowadays. Especially in the war room.

776.jpg
 
One of the biggest challenges is that we're at war all the time, so shit moves around constantly and things get broken and lost and there isn't time to figure everything out. But the way accounting works for the DoD is that it's all cobbled together from old specialized systems to meet local requirements, and the systems do not interface particularly well. Records retention is not done as well as it should be, but more important than that, there's no fucking way that everybody is spend their whole day calling around to get people to pull records from filing cabinets, or to look them up. They have real work to do.

It needs to be re-tooled from scratch, the whole thing. But there will STILL be massive problems with accountability. It would be, by far- really really far- the largest and most technical and difficult accounting system ever designed. It's the accounting equivalent of landing on Mars. It can be done, but Christ. I can't properly explain just how fucking difficult it is to do that. Maybe somebody like @PolishHeadlock who has big corporate accounting experience can chime in on that. I'm out of my element on this.


I'm not going to pretend I understand government accounting but here's something to think about

Wal-Mart is the largest Company in the world as measured by both employees ( 2.3M) and revenue ($500B).

The US department of defense has 3.2M employees and a budget or $700B...
 
Last edited:
I'm not going to pretend I understand government accounting but here's something to think about

Wal-Mart is the largest Company in the world as measured by both employees ( 2.3M) and revenue ($500M).

The US department of defense has 3.2M employees and a budget or $700M....
*B

and ~2.2 Trillion assets lol
 
I'm not going to pretend I understand government accounting but here's something to think about

Wal-Mart is the largest Company in the world as measured by both employees ( 2.3M) and revenue ($500B).

The US department of defense has 3.2M employees and a budget or $700B....
 
One of the biggest challenges is that we're at war all the time, so shit moves around constantly and things get broken and lost and there isn't time to figure everything out. But the way accounting works for the DoD is that it's all cobbled together from old specialized systems to meet local requirements, and the systems do not interface particularly well. Records retention is not done as well as it should be, but more important than that, there's no fucking way that everybody is spend their whole day calling around to get people to pull records from filing cabinets, or to look them up. They have real work to do.

It needs to be re-tooled from scratch, the whole thing. But there will STILL be massive problems with accountability. It would be, by far- really really far- the largest and most technical and difficult accounting system ever designed. It's the accounting equivalent of landing on Mars. It can be done, but Christ. I can't properly explain just how fucking difficult it is to do that. Maybe somebody like @PolishHeadlock who has big corporate accounting experience can chime in on that. I'm out of my element on this.
I simply do not think the gov't would accept that answer for any corporate entity no matter how large.

hey gov't shit gets moved around and broken and lost. We may have Billions of revenue unaccounted for but just trust us this is the number you should tax on.

Gov't... "fix it, pay penalties regardless... or off to jail you go".
 
I'm giving a presentation on blockchain tomorrow to coworkers, and we are all gov contractors. I should use this as an example. Lol
 
I simply do not think the gov't would accept that answer for any corporate entity no matter how large.

hey gov't shit gets moved around and broken and lost. We may have Billions of revenue unaccounted for but just trust us this is the number you should tax on.

Gov't... "fix it, pay penalties regardless... or off to jail you go".
I agree we should have much better systems for meeting accounting requirements. I can also almost imagine what that would take (at least, I understand the scope of this), and it's a monumental challenge. Nobody has figured out how to fix it. The Pentagon has access to the best minds in the world. It has become a priority. So, I expect that we will do what we can. But I also expect that people will continue to make outrageous claims of corruption where none exists, especially when garbage fuck journalists are writing such garbage fucking articles about it.
 
Our travel management and financial management systems are pieces of crap, oracle-based systems . . . completely unreliable and often unusable

Oracle is fine but they probably use the oldest version lol.

Also lord only knows how many different instances of Oracle they have and what they use to consolidate it.
 
And the IRS fines me for owing like $1k lol, good to know this country has its priorities right

The IRS computer system is from the 60s.... it crashed this year on tax day so they had to extend the filing deadline by a couple of days.
 
Its over the course of 20 years and is the Pentagon. Is normal.
I did he math in here already. Highest budget ever was 680 billionish. Round that up to 700 and multiply it by 20 years. It’s short by seven trillion.
 
That article is excoriating, holy fuck.

Looks like all that "We can't afford healthcare" bullshit is right out the window. Universal care here we come.

The article shows a great example of how government isnt held accountable, and you suggest we give it more more power over something like healthcare? Brilliant
 
@HunterSdVa29 would you venture to guess on the average amount the DOD spend on one their 3.2M employees in regards to salary, healthcare, bonuses, GI Bill type shit, retirement benefits and payroll taxes?

Is $100k per employee out of line as an overall average?
 
I'd love to 'borrow' like, 50 mill from them. Drop in the bucket imo
 
The article shows a great example of how government isnt held accountable, and you suggest we give it more more power over something like healthcare? Brilliant



Yeah well, this is kind of how Liberals think. Their Government knows what's best for them and all.
 
Hey, that's been one of the talking points against it, i'm just pointing out that it's not relevant anymore.

We spend more than any other country, by all metrics it would be way more efficient than what we have now. For the people that don't listen to the metrics for whatever reason, it's a bit of a wake up call on their side imo.

Let's just say there is a mighty lot on our plate in terms of internal socioeconomic issues and wealth distribution, but as far being a geopolitical entity and nation on a macroscale, this narrative about the US being in decline is fucking laughable tbh. There's some serious recalibration in the pipeline in the near future as developments dictate.

One glimpse of US geography and accessible resources relative to any other country in the world reveals a wildly advantageous base position before you even get into anything else. The US is on the way down at the same time it's soon to become the world's largest petroleum producer, energy independent and undergoing rapid re-industrialization to reclaim its position as the top manufacturing nation on the planet? Interesting.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top