The Biggest Scandal in US History That We're Still Not Talking About

[eridani]

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/19/1413372/-The-Biggest-Scandal-in-US-History-That-We-re-Still-Not-Talking-About

The above is roughly what 8.5 Trillion dollars would look like... and those are $100 bills. Take another look and let that sink in for a bit... I find it absolutely astonishing that the pentagon could lose track of this much money and for there to be no MSM coverage of this scandalous amount of mismanagement and fraud. Where is the demand for accountability? Why is the first question to ANY candidate for president not "What would you do about the massive fraud and waste at the Pentagon?" Where are the hearings, nay indictments, that are warranted when a sum equal to 1/2 of our national debt can be sent to the pentagon to never be accounted for

We progressives need to work this scandal into every political conversation we engage in, especially when we talk to conservatives. Cutting government spending and accountability are supposed to be core GOP values.

Combine "Known" Pentagon waste (like the 1.5 Trillion dollar F35) with missing pentagon money and you have a good chunk of our entire national debt represented.

"What's that? Body cameras for all cops will be too expensive? How bout we find 1/10,000th of the money we sent to the pentagon."

"Oh really? There's 500 million in provable food stamp fraud going to poor people how bout the 8.5 TRILLION the pentagon can't account for?"

"Oh really? You think Obama care is going to cost us almost a trillion dollars over 15 years? How about the 8.5 Trillion that just disappeared into the ether at the pentagon? What's you're take on that?"

"Oh really, you're concerned about deficit spending and the debt? Fully 1/3 of the national debt it is money we sent the Pentagon and they can't tell us where it went. It's just gone."

"College for everyone will cost too much? You must be really pissed at the 8.5 Trillion, with a 't', dollars the pentagon's spent and can't tell us where it went."

[Mnemosyne]

1. Rumsfeld, war criminal, states 2.3 Trillion missing Sept. 10, 2001. Adds up... nt

[forest444]

10. And guess where the records of said investigation (and of ENRON) were:

Some guys have all the luck, don't they.

On a more festive note, Happy New Year Mnemosyne. All the best for 2016!

[Mnemosyne]

24. Let me guess! Ah, Building 7 it seems. nt

[fasttense]

51. How could records of the missing money have been in bldg 7?

It went missing after the bldg collapsed.

[WinkyDink]

71. Yep---and some guys MAKE their own luck, IYKWIMAITYD.

[forest444]

72. I hear you.

And the people who did this will hear from all of us soon.



Happy New Year, WinkyDink. All the best for 2016.

[WinkyDink]

81. Oh, Happy New Year to you as well, forest444!

It is, however, with a heavy heart as I type, for my 46-year-old cousin is, at this very moment, having her funeral service in NJ. Her mother just last October also lost her only sister (my mother, who was also that cousin's Godmother). I'm waiting for that proverbial "other door" to open, you know?

[forest444]

82. My warmest condolences, WinkyDink. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Your mother was no doubt a great woman who knew the real meaning of family values - which is exactly what DU is about, among other worthwhile things.

Please accept my best wishes for you and your family. While not religious, I truly believe your mom and your other recently departed loved ones are in a much better place.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

44. +1...

... you beat me to it.

[Mnemosyne]

80. I think that we need to dismantle the Pentagon. Be nice to feed the kids. nt

[PatrickforO]

2. You forgot to copy the URL address so you could picture the graphic in your post.

?1439950249

Because THIS is what $8.5 trillion looks like in $100 bills. A picture is worth a thousand words, isn't it? Or perhaps $8.5 trillion...

[Doctor_J]

3. And still they get whatever they ask for, and none of them are in prison

After president Hillary starts another couple wars, maybe she'll tell them to cut it out (the theft and racketeering)

[Fast Walker 52]

17. good luck with that.

[Duval]

69. Naw, she'll tell 'em to "just stop it". Sigh!

[brer cat]

4. It is mind boggling

that this isn't constantly in the news and being discussed by candidates. It is truly an epic scandal.

[Fast Walker 52]

18. the corporate media has no interest in upsetting the status quo

they are not our friends... they are traitorous psychopaths.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

45. Of course they are...

... all you ever have to do is watch Weird Al Yankovic's, "UHF", picture.

[Fast Walker 52]

48. how is that? Please explain.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

63. Watch the movie...

... Kevin McCarthy is brilliant as the corrupt, sociopathic/psychopathic mainstream local broadcasting station owner that does not want any alternative competition.

[Fast Walker 52]

66. Thanks, but were you saying they want to upset the status quo or don't want to?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

74. Some of the corporate media gets that money....

Like NBC owned by GE which has contracts with the Pentagon.

They know.

[truebluegreen]

5. Unfortunately, I doubt that our nation of bedwetters

will have a problem with this: the Pentagon will just tell them it was necessary for National Security.

Remember, you are talking to the people who think "provide for the common defense" is the only legitimate function of government, and everything else needs to be cut to pay for it.

[Fast Walker 52]

14. that's the problem for sure-- as long as GOP assholes keep pushing the terrorist bogeyman

the incredible waste of the Pentagon budget is not going to get any traction. And the corporate media has every interest in pushing for war. It's such a fucked up situation.

[shadowmayor]

42. Bedwetters

Thank you tbg for such an apt (and often overlooked on my part) description. I promise to use it fully!!!!

[truebluegreen]

50. ...

[jalan48]

6. My guess is that our Reps. don't want their planes to crash accidentally when they are flying home.

[Fast Walker 52]

15. I think you mean "accidentally"

[rwsanders]

16. Agreed. Most of the money went to black ops.

Media doesn't cover because according to J. Fletcher Prouty in his book on JFK's assassination, the CIA has had operatives in the media since WW2. At first to prevent information from leaking, then after the war to control perceptions.
http://www.prouty.org/

[newfie11]

29. +infinity!!!!!!'nn

[HassleCat]

7. And the beat goes on

I wonder what's in the new spending bill. Congress frequently forces the military to buy things they specifically say they don't want. When you do that, you can't very well turn around and demand to know where a few trillion dollars went missing. "I forced you to spend money on weapons you said were outdated and wasteful. Now tell me why you lost track of other funds."

[RichVRichV]

61. Whether they wanted the money or not is irrelevant to being able to keep track of it.

Every single department in every division of the military should be able to show their total income, as well as their payroll data, contractor expenses, purchase receipts, and cash on hand for the past year, just like any business is capable of doing.


There is absolutely no reason this can't be submitted to an independent audit division with classified level access (when necessary) under the president.


It is absolutely ridiculous that our own government doesn't know where it's own money is going. We as citizens and taxpayers should demand it. Every lost and wasted dollar is a dollar that can't be spent on something beneficial to our society.

[SoapBox]

8. Ugh...

Just sickening.

[Octafish]

9. K&R

Welfare for the Pentagon, rather than for transforming the nation and planet.

William K. Black for Inspector General.

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. look what George Bailey went through for just 8,000.00

couldn't resist...

Mr. Cheney...er, Potter.

/

Happy New Year, DU pals!

[kath]

12. A-fucking-men!

Disgusting that this isn't even talked about.

[begin_within]

13. Where did the money go?

[williamedstrom]

19. heroin from US-occupied Afghanistan is bigger scandal

165,000 Americans are on track to be killed by heroin from US-occupied Afghanistan the next 10 years. The details about how opium went from none in 2001 to 500,000 acres of opium in US-occupied Afghanistan now plus how the heroin gets to US is a bigger scandal. "Heroin Dealer In Chief" - http://www.pravdareport.com/society/stories/29-12-2015/132958-heroin-0/ has pages of details on the heroin scandal.

[newfie11]

28. They just switched countries or added countries

Instead of just the CIA drug running from South America!

[Enthusiast]

20. Kicked and recommended to the Max! It's corruption from sea to shining sea.

[libdem4life]

34. When something is too big to be regulated, it's too bih

to exist. .at least as it is. Where it is. going is a duh for me. Bribery abroad, black ops, in Swiss bank accounts, DC crowd,

Just your everyday Oligarchy system. Of course we know where its going and there is Nothing we can do...without a Sharp Turn.:'

We Peasants are not stupid... just symptoms of the Oligarchy.

[Enthusiast]

36. We desperately needed a sharp turn heading into the new century.

That stolen election really did signal a sea change. The country morphed into something I no longer recognize as "my country". And nothing has even so much as slowed down that push in the wrong direction.

I ask myself, what kind of a country do these malevolent bastards want to live in? It seems they have lost their fucking minds. Deeply disturbing.

[libdem4life]

54. I don't feel they lost them, they are right on schedulr

to be the cozy group of Oligarchs they set out to be. It is intentional as they must prove their control by rendering the. peasants harmless.

The book Johnathon Livingston Seagull comes to mind...it is an allegory but a classic.

Can't forget the book 1984... This has been in the works for a Long Time.

[Enthusiast]

57. Yup. We were always worried about the Soviet Union "taking us over".

What has actually taken place might prove to be worse than any imagined or real red scare.

[libdem4life]

58. Just a convenient part...now it's Muslims . Tomorrow???

Made me think of the new Michael Moore. documentary. Who Will We Invade. Next?

[Enthusiast]

60. I want to see that movie!

[libdem4life]

68. I watched part of an interview and he did not film

any of it in the US. It's apparently how much of the world sees us. I can't wait to see it.

[GoneFishin]

21. Disgusting. Kick.

[madokie]

22. I still remember

the 800 billion that was sent to Iraq in 20 dollar bills. 20 some odd c130 plane loads. All of it was gone post haste with no trace.

[newfie11]

27. gotta buy dodge trucks for boogie men in black

[Fast Walker 52]

49. thought they were Toyota!

[newfie11]

76. Oops! Sorry dodge!

[hfojvt]

23. is this the money that they used

to cover up the Kennedy assassination?

Near as I can tell $8.5 trillion represents the TOTAL defense budget since 1996 to today.

Is ANYBODY here or on DKos really going to say that it was ALL embezzled or something?

Really?

Really?

And we think Donald Trump and Sarah Palin are stupid.

smh

[EX500rider]

25. The entire US military budget is only 598 billion in 2015...

.....and the entire US GDP for a year is 16 trillion.

That figure of $8.5 trillion was the entire military budget since 1996. Somehow I doubt all that was wasted (since we have ships and subs and planes and tanks and bases and troops.. etc..) , no doubt some of it was wasted but certainly not 100%.

[libdem4life]

35. Usually those are in the budget. many we don't need."

Just more playing monopoly with helpless taxpayers (peasants) money. MIC is calling and they want their Christmas Bonuses.

[Warren Stupidity]

41. It is actually closer to 700B out of a 1.11T total discretionary budget,

and that is what ought to be looked at when considering where our deficit comes from. The 598 figure does not include veteran's benefits or military spending in dept of energy and science funding.

All other discretionary spending amounts to around 400B.

It is a question of priorities.

The 8.5T figure is accurate - the Pentagon has been unable to comply with federal auditing requirements for the last 20 years - it has consumed 8.5T and can't account for it.

Not shocking at all, agencies and outside investigators who have looked into it continue to uncover massive waste fraud deception and idiocy. But nobody in charge cares, because everyone in charge is in on the game. We are sold fear, and then we are harvested for our tax dollars to enrich the billionaire class. We have 4 or 5 times the military we need and our handlers make sure we are so scared we keep voting for more of it.

[RichVRichV]

62. The point is we don't know how much of it is wasted or lost because we don't audit it.

Even if it only wastes 10% of it's budget a year, that's still $60 billion a year that could be used elsewhere. That would solve a decent number of domestic cuts we're currently making.


The simple fact is if the amount saved by auditing is greater then the cost to audit, then it's worth it to audit the whole thing. The entire armed forces (every branch, every division, ever base, every deployment) should be filing quarterly or yearly reports just like people do with taxes, and businesses do with the SEC. Then we should audit a certain percentage each year to verify they're being truthful.


Every single dollar (or as close as we can feasibly get) should be accounted for every year on every government agency, including the DoD. That much is owed to the US taxpayers.

[newfie11]

26. The MIC is out of control

We somehow need to rein them in. Rummy said, conveniently after 911, all the money missing from the pentagon was simply a math error.

Conveniently the area destroyed contained the only records on that money.

[Scuba]

30. If we can't afford to educate our children, to heal our sick or care for our elderly ...

... just what is it the defense budget is defending?

[Enthusiast]

37. That is the real point.

All this military stuff is fake security. These foreign entanglements have been counterproductive at best.

[CanSocDem]

31. K & R (eom)

[HereSince1628]

32. I suspect it is not unknown where it went, but what it bought is 'unspeakable'

More and more of the military budget goes to hidden operations, which can't be discussed, and it probably goes from secret development spending to 'black ops'.

That isn't to say that spending is very well tracked, but I suspect that this spending is pretty well known within the departments involved.

[raccoon]

38. I think you're onto something there. nt

[Fast Walker 52]

64. yes, that's definitely part of it-- going to the invisible government that controls so much of the

country.

[HereSince1628]

65. yes, and no one has -really questioned military spending since, well, forever.

[Fast Walker 52]

67. I guess the people who do question the military in any way, either have scandals erupt on them or

die in unexpected plane crashes, etc.

Sigh.

[stellanoir]

33. A fundamental law of energetics:

Any entity that invests more of its resources to destructive & defensive endeavors, which grossly exceed that which it devotes to self nourishment,

is investing only in its own demise.

[valerief]

39. WAR MONEY is the biggest scam on the American taxpayer. nt

[PowerToThePeople]

40. Time to defund the DOD.

eom

[certainot]

43. if those 1200 talk radio stations were working on it it wouldn't

take long to get some action.

unfortunately those 1200 radio stations and the republicans they help elect work for the MIC

[Helen Borg]

46. Luckily it's all digital money...

Just shift a few zeros and you got a trillion.

[bobthedrummer]

47. Yep. K&R. There is another "scandal" that few want to acknowledge, and it continues

Chapter 21-Omaha
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016139460

[99th_Monkey]

52. And there is only ONE candidate in our Primary who'll look into this elephant in the LR

and it isn't HRC.

[libdem4life]

55. Very true. Money. who has it., who controls it and who can align themselves

most closely those must climb over the economic graveyard that was once called the middle class.

the gif of flipping off whatever on her jacket epitomizes the assumption of that perfectly. Those who vote for her,IMHO, are approving the rule of and by the Upper 1%/Oligarchy. What crumbs of Rights we have have not stopped the frantic race for the middle class to be replaced by a Peasant Class.

Been in the works full speed since the World Wars. Many have tried to warn us, but already there was little we could do. Busy working 2-4 jobs to survive, maybe save a little. Each party has their own insidious way this the other party can scoff at...but the end result is similar if not the same .

Let them eat cake.

[JDPriestly]

53. Bernie has said he will audit the military. It is about time.

We need a strong defense, not a gravy train that begins and ends at the Pentagon.

[smirkymonkey]

56. K and Fucking R!

[ViseGrip]

59. Kick to the caucuses!

[polynomial]

70. The book of liars

The last century in biblical terms should be called “The Book Liars” good reason for the seeming divine intervention in the next generation.

Trillions, perhaps hundreds of trillions have been tapped from the treasury by our past and contemporary politicians regardless of party. It does not matter who is president, the complicity, and gorge to power and money is what grapples the mind tunneling into corruption.

One thing is clear the American amendment to cast out religion as the prime factor largely connected to government has failed.

America in an age by the “current media” driven conservative and liberal culture it is pernicious ~ having a harmful effect especially in a gradual or subtle way society transcends. Especially motivated anyway by religion, the righteous right, Islam, or Judeo Christianity

Americans are educated trained manipulated and willing to think and vote against their good fair intentions, driven by mainstream media.

The time draws near in this realization to a renaissance similar to that of the past period in which education knowledge flourished, however this time with the Internet a worldwide consciousness beyond what has ever happened before will shape a new world. The question is how pretty will this transition be?

[snot]

73. Very helpful! It would also be helpful to know . . .

the 8.5 trillion – over what period, exactly? (dates)

[Rosa Luxemburg]

75. Yes the whole thing should be audited

those responsible for the fraud - jailed. Rumsfeld, Bush and Cheney first.

[underthematrix]

77. For me, the biggest scandal that

never gets airtime is the connection between whiteness and capitalism.

[pwhtckll]

78. We ain't seen nothing yet

Just wait until the ball starts rolling on the Air Force's new Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B).

The F-35's days as the biggest black hole of wasteful defense spending will come to a close once this project begins.

Even if we were to assume that the LRS-B is needed, how many billions of dollars will be wasted when the project inevitably goes over budget and behind schedule? How many people could be lifted out of poverty? How many hungry families could be fed? How much of our crumbling infrastructure could be rebuild or refurbished?

[Fast Walker 52]

79. the role of the saudis is huge in all this

http://off-guardian.org/2015/12/18/historic-new-harpers-article-exposes-who-controls-america/