How is this acceptable?

[nate]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/18/middleeast/new-syria-force-fighter-abu-iskander/index.html

 

We spent $41m training 56 Syrians to fight Assad and ISIS.  Why aren't the deficit hawks up in arms about this?  Republicans love talking about big government but for some reason that doesn't extend to wasteful spending on the military.

 

The whole ISIS thing is so ****ing stupid and such an example of defense contractors and our war mongering joint chiefs brainwashing the public to believe that there is a threat they need money and resources to fight.

 

Meanwhile our infrastructure is aged and crumbling throughout the country.  There was an article recently that CA's main water pipes are close to 100 years old and many more will probably burst like the one at UCLA.  No money to fix that but $41m to train a handful of Arabs halfway around the world.

[mtangelsfan]

The government is corrupt. It doesn't matter what part of the government it is, there is corruption and waste.

This is why I have so little hope for this country, it is going to take thought, hard work, pacience and sacrifice to fix it and the U.S. isn't very good at any of that

[Jason]

They all want a lot of government. They just have different things they want to spend our money on.

[Tank]

i'm not sure you can govern a country of this size with a small gov't.

 

but i do believe you can cut out the waste and mismanagement and reduce the sheer number of gov't workers. so maybe a smaller gov't is possible.

[hen3ry]

The bureaucracy must continue to expand to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.

 

What bothers me is the use of the public fisc to enrich some at the expense of others.  Whether that's guaranteeing profit margins to public utility monopolies, or claiming to spend 3/4 of a million bucks to train a single soldier (something the US Army manages to do for far cheaper... and ISIS does for practically nothing at all) when really all that money has snaked out to some subcontractors somewhere.  Cronyism should have no place in our Great Plutocracy.

[Amazing Larry]

The bureaucracy must continue to expand to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.

 

Haha. Well said.

[nate]

And as I posted this a water main broke in Newport...

[Adam]

Too many people believe that it's all good because we have less smog and because Hector was able to get his surgery before marrying Tony.

[Spirit]

Congratulations Hector and Tony!   You crazy kids. 

[wopphil]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/18/middleeast/new-syria-force-fighter-abu-iskander/index.html

Republicans love talking about big government but for some reason that doesn't extend to wasteful spending on the military.

This is one of my biggest gripes about the Republican party. The quickest and probably easiest way for this country to become more fiscally sound is by cutting military spending. But God forbid anyone who suggests doing that is weak, doesn't support the troops, wants the terrorists to win, etc.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

This is one of my biggest gripes about the Republican party. The quickest and probably easiest way for this country to become more fiscally sound is by cutting military spending. But God forbid anyone who suggests doing that is weak, doesn't support the troops, wants the terrorists to win, etc.

Unfortunately there are still those who believe that with a big enough military and enough weapons, we can solve any problem. The last Republican presidential candidate went on record as supporting the addition of 100,000 troops to the military and giving the Department of Defense a fixed portion of federal revenue. As I recall, the figure was around three percent, which is an incredible amount of money. With a fixed percentage of the budget, the military would never have to justify any expenditure or explain it to Congress. They would essentially become the fourth branch of government - only they would be the only branch not subject to checks and balances.

When I lived in Oklahoma, for decades the state Department of Human Services got a fixed percentage of sales tax revenue. They never had to ask for money or approval for anything. The waste in their facilities was colossal. Their facility heads lived like kings and they bought the best of everything. This lasted until an Oklahoma City television station did a series exposing all of the fraud and waste.

If you believe that government is wasteful now, give one of its largest agencies a blank check budget and make them accountable to no one.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Vegas Halo Fan

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On the last one - the opulence in DHS facilities was incredible. When I worked in the central office for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, three DHS facilities were transferred to us (they had been juvenile detention facilities). One of my good friends was the administrative assistant to the Deputy Director of Institutions, and he was on the advance team inspecting the facilities to see what changes we would need to make for them to be suitable for housing adults. The first facility he went to had an Olympic-sized swimming pool and an auditorium with a polished hardwood stage, a state-of-the-art sound system and microphone stands that retracted into the floor when they were't in use. The superintendent's office was paneled in mahogany and it had a massive wooden desk (most of us had metal desks, except for upper administration). A former facility administrator was buried on the grounds, and his grave site had an "eternal flame" not unlike the one used for President Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

One of the biggest challenges was figuring out what to do with all of the top shelf upgrades. If they were kept, they would need maintenance that we weren't budgeted for. We wound up taking a lot of them out.

Edited August 24, 2015 by Vegas Halo Fan