The original tea party movement was motivated by a tax controversy, and likewise, a big driving force behind the modern tea party is tax and spending policy. Whatever one's political color, one cannot help but be shocked by sheer scale of the waste perpetrated by the government each year. This brief article aims to inform tea party conservatives about this problem, and indeed any citizen who cares about their country and how their tax dollars are used.
The Department of Defense has some horrific examples of waste and incompetence, although in fairness this is sometimes the fault of politicians rather than military leaders. Mismanaged and/or canceled projects have resulted in the waste of many billions of dollars. Policy makers often try to portray project cancellations as savings while ignoring the billions that have already been spent on what may be perfectly valid projects.
In 2002 the $2 billion SPH (Self-Propelled Howitzer) was canceled after army supremos decided it wasn't light or mobile enough. They wrote off a further $7 billion when they terminated the Comanche reconnaissance helicopter project in 2004. They also subsequently terminated its replacement, writing off hundreds of millions of dollars.
The air force and navy too have their share of stillborn projects. The EFV (Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle) project that was developed for the marine corps was canceled in 2011 after having $3 billion of a projected $15 billion spent on it. It was an amphibious assault vehicle designed to transport soldiers from the sea onto hostile beach terrain. It was abandoned after policy makers decided the cost per vehicle was too high.
The military has also squandered millions on careless civil aviation expenditures. It spent a colossal $100 million between 1997 and 2003 on 270,000 airline tickets that it never used. These tickets were in fact fully refundable but Pentagon staff didn't trouble themselves with claiming the refunds. Between 2001 and 2002 the Pentagon was also found to have paid twice for 27,000 tickets (incurring a further $8 million of waste).
If the military has a match for the sheer scale of its waste, it has to be Medicare. A report by the Department of Health and Human Services found that compared to the VA it pays on average twice the amount for its supplies. For certain items it was found to have paid up to 8 times more than it should have done.
The preceding examples are bad enough, but at least the money spent has been accounted for. A 2003 report by the Department of the Treasury revealed $24.5 billion in so-called 'unreconciled transactions'. These are expenditures that auditors are unable to account for, or put more simply, it's money that has simply vanished.
This kind of extravagance and incompetence is making increasing numbers of taxpayers angry. Lawmakers however, despite talking endlessly about making reforms, seem unable to ever actually do it. If grass-roots organizations like the tea party can find ways to get momentum behind their cause, they may one day get the value for money they want.
The Department of Defense has some horrific examples of waste and incompetence, although in fairness this is sometimes the fault of politicians rather than military leaders. Mismanaged and/or canceled projects have resulted in the waste of many billions of dollars. Policy makers often try to portray project cancellations as savings while ignoring the billions that have already been spent on what may be perfectly valid projects.
In 2002 the $2 billion SPH (Self-Propelled Howitzer) was canceled after army supremos decided it wasn't light or mobile enough. They wrote off a further $7 billion when they terminated the Comanche reconnaissance helicopter project in 2004. They also subsequently terminated its replacement, writing off hundreds of millions of dollars.
The air force and navy too have their share of stillborn projects. The EFV (Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle) project that was developed for the marine corps was canceled in 2011 after having $3 billion of a projected $15 billion spent on it. It was an amphibious assault vehicle designed to transport soldiers from the sea onto hostile beach terrain. It was abandoned after policy makers decided the cost per vehicle was too high.
The military has also squandered millions on careless civil aviation expenditures. It spent a colossal $100 million between 1997 and 2003 on 270,000 airline tickets that it never used. These tickets were in fact fully refundable but Pentagon staff didn't trouble themselves with claiming the refunds. Between 2001 and 2002 the Pentagon was also found to have paid twice for 27,000 tickets (incurring a further $8 million of waste).
If the military has a match for the sheer scale of its waste, it has to be Medicare. A report by the Department of Health and Human Services found that compared to the VA it pays on average twice the amount for its supplies. For certain items it was found to have paid up to 8 times more than it should have done.
The preceding examples are bad enough, but at least the money spent has been accounted for. A 2003 report by the Department of the Treasury revealed $24.5 billion in so-called 'unreconciled transactions'. These are expenditures that auditors are unable to account for, or put more simply, it's money that has simply vanished.
This kind of extravagance and incompetence is making increasing numbers of taxpayers angry. Lawmakers however, despite talking endlessly about making reforms, seem unable to ever actually do it. If grass-roots organizations like the tea party can find ways to get momentum behind their cause, they may one day get the value for money they want.
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