$17.2 Trillion and not a peep ? - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

sloride · #16 11-21-2013, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by engatwork

If y'all think it is fun now wait till the US$ is no longer the "worlds" currency.

I pretty much agree with JD except for the last sentence. He can't make me buy anything. Oh wait, I forgot about the health insurance thing.

The first thing I would do if I were BO starting my third term would be to set it up where everyones check (no more of this 401k, mortgage tax deduction and write off foolishness) gets sent to the Fed/IRS to be evenly distributed throughout the land. Think of how many more supporters he will have and what a better job the Fed can do handing it out, opps, I mean stimulating the economy than the average consumer. (I'm talking about ppl that work and get a check now). I'm sure the IRS will do a fair job of evenly distributing it

.

Welcome to BO Utopia

, all aboard

.

There is no way that he would distribute all of that confiscated money evenly. If he did that evenly, then he would be sending some money to the terrible 1% that we have here. He would not go for that, it would be unfair to the bottom 45% to send some of that back to the rich.

davidmash · #17 11-21-2013, 04:37 PM

Looks like the DoD would be a really good place to start trimming the fat. They seem to be wasting tens of billions if not 100's of billions or more.

From the sounds of this Reuters article the DoD could survive a 25% plus cut and not even break the skin. Their accounting is so FUBAR they do not even have the capability to determine how *****ed up their accounting actually is.

aklim · #18 11-21-2013, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidmash

Looks like the DoD would be a really good place to start trimming the fat. They seem to be wasting tens of billions if not 100's of billions or more.

From the sounds of this Reuters article the DoD could survive a 25% plus cut and not even break the skin. Their accounting is so FUBAR they do not even have the capability to determine how *****ed up their accounting actually is.

I think that every dept can trim fat. Problem is when you hit my sacred cow, I scream. But I will point out that we can cut from another project I don't care about but someone does and he screams and so on and so forth. I'll bet that if you trimmed military funds, there will be cries of how troops are being used as cannon fodder by areas that depend on the spending. Since I don't care, cut away. Therein lies the problem.

davidmash · #19 11-21-2013, 05:17 PM

This has nothing to do with sacred cows or anything else like that. This has to do with the military getting more money than it needs (literally) to the point that they have no clue where the money is going.

I was thinking they should find a firm that has a proven track record for building software. Find out how much and how long. Set up a bonus if it works and penalties if it does not. Once it is set up, just have the DoD hit the reset button and start over. There is no way they will find all the money that they have already pissed away. I think it would be cheaper to just start over. Then we can start to see how much it really costs. I think this idea could be applied to other departments as well.

greazzer · #20 11-21-2013, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidmash

This has nothing to do with sacred cows or anything else like that. This has to do with the military getting more money than it needs (literally) to the point that they have no clue where the money is going.

I was thinking they should find a firm that has a proven track record for building software. Find out how much and how long. Set up a bonus if it works and penalties if it does not. Once it is set up, just have the DoD hit the reset button and start over. There is no way they will find all the money that they have already pissed away. I think it would be cheaper to just start over. Then we can start to see how much it really costs. I think this idea could be applied to other departments as well.

Perhaps you're right ... except I highly doubt we are paying our troops enough. Want to give our soldiers sub-standard equipment? Less R&D so they have 2nd class equipment down the road.

I agree there are a lot of fat kats out there making a bundle who should be trimmed off the government teet, but when it comes to our soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen, I would make sure they are well paid and equiped. They are certainly working for it ... unlike the millions whose sole job in life is walking to the mailbox to get their well earned welfare check. Let's start with those folks first and at the same time the fat kats out there. Hmmm, I can think of one major government contractor right now, and its called CGI.

They did a bang up job on BO-Care's web page. Wonder who they knew in the White House to get that no-bid contract. Must be nice.

sloride · #21 11-21-2013, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greazzer

Perhaps you're right ... except I highly doubt we are paying our troops enough. Want to give our soldiers sub-standard equipment? Less R&D so they have 2nd class equipment down the road.

I agree there are a lot of fat kats out there making a bundle who should be trimmed off the government teet, but when it comes to our soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen, I would make sure they are well paid and equiped. They are certainly working for it ... unlike the millions whose sole job in life is walking to the mailbox to get their well earned welfare check. Let's start with those folks first and at the same time the fat kats out there. Hmmm, I can think of one major government contractor right now, and its called CGI.

They did a bang up job on BO-Care's web page. Wonder who they knew in the White House to get that no-bid contract. Must be nice.

Absolutely in regards to your statement on CGI. When I contract out for a home improvement I would pay a portion to the builder for materials, and one third of the labor when the materials are delivered,and stipulate when the work has progressed to a certain point then they would get the next third of the cost. There would be no additional funds until they have proven that progress equivalent to that has been made. That is not the way to buy votes though. If you send one of your political donators a few hundred million dollars of other peoples money they really do not have to deliver anything other than votes.

davidmash · #22 11-21-2013, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greazzer

Perhaps you're right ... except I highly doubt we are paying our troops enough. Want to give our soldiers sub-standard equipment? Less R&D so they have 2nd class equipment down the road.

I agree there are a lot of fat kats out there making a bundle who should be trimmed off the government teet, but when it comes to our soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen, I would make sure they are well paid and equiped. They are certainly working for it ... unlike the millions whose sole job in life is walking to the mailbox to get their well earned welfare check. Let's start with those folks first and at the same time the fat kats out there. Hmmm, I can think of one major government contractor right now, and its called CGI.

They did a bang up job on BO-Care's web page. Wonder who they knew in the White House to get that no-bid contract. Must be nice.

Read the article. Pay and quality of equipment is to the issue. The issue is the waste. The massive amount of waste in the DoD.

CGI was on the no bid list for 7 years already.

greazzer · #23 11-21-2013, 09:38 PM

I highly doubt any person could argue there is no massive waste in the federal government. CGI Federal is a symptom of a bigger problem. It received the contract for the BO-Care disaster through its connections with the white house, and in particular the first lady. Is that new? Of course not.

Get rid of all waste in DoD and get rid of the do-nothing federal agencies and all the handouts and gifts. My guess is that Ron Paul was correct in his views of slicing the federal government down by 50% or more.

I am betting our deficit and public debt will go down too. Just a hunch. Our BO has had about 5 years to tackle this problem and our debt just hit over $17 trillion and not a peep.

aklim · #24 11-21-2013, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidmash

This has nothing to do with sacred cows or anything else like that. This has to do with the military getting more money than it needs (literally) to the point that they have no clue where the money is going.

I was thinking they should find a firm that has a proven track record for building software. Find out how much and how long. Set up a bonus if it works and penalties if it does not. Once it is set up, just have the DoD hit the reset button and start over. There is no way they will find all the money that they have already pissed away. I think it would be cheaper to just start over. Then we can start to see how much it really costs. I think this idea could be applied to other departments as well.

It has everything to do with the sacred cow. How do you figure it doesn't? You pay the company for all kinds of unwanted or unneeded things and if my territory is a beneficiary, you bet I will scream if you want to cut it off. It is absolutely necessary for us to buy 30 rifles for each man, for example. Not because they will use it but because the rifles are made in my state and I'll fight you tooth and nail to say it is necessary. OTOH, I'll gladly cut the pork out of YOUR territory.