… AND LITTLE BLUE PILLS, TOO
|| By FITSNEWS || We’ve railed in previous posts against the excessive growth in U.S. defense spending … and the ill-conceived global interventions they are intended to finance.
America can’t afford either of those things, people.
But what about waste within the Pentagon itself? You know … like the F-35? Or the Littoral Combat Ship (a.k.a. “little crappy ship“)? And what about piss poor asset management?
Glad you asked. According to former Ronald Reagan advisor Steven H. Hanke, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) operates a whopping 562,000 facilities worldwide with 24.7 million total acres. How much land is that?
Take a look …
(Click to enlarge)
(Pic: Via)
Yeah … that’s Virginia (which is roughly 25 million acres “big”).
So … are those warmongers simply unwilling to let go of their land? Not necessarily …
“The Pentagon has surprisingly indicated that it might be wise to shed some of its real estate,”Hanke wrote this week on The Cato Institute’s Downsizing Government website. “Congress has stonewalled the Pentagon on this. Indeed, Congress has barred the Pentagon from even thinking about the Department of Defense’s excess asset problem.”
What?
That’s insane …
Also insane? A this week by Elizabeth Harrington for The Washington Free Beacon. According to Harrington, the Pentagon spent $504,816 in 2014 on Viagra – which it classified as “Troop Support.”
LOL … well, until you realize that’s a half million dollars of your money down the drain so a bunch of aging generals can keep it up.
Look, we get that a half million dollars isn’t even a molecule in a drop of a $4 trillion budget … but once again it’s the principle of things. Taxpayers shouldn’t be subsidizing erectile dysfunction medication … for anyone.
31 comments
“Pentagon spent $504,816 in 2014 on Viagra”
How else to you expect a bunch of old crooks to get it up so they can dick the taxpayer?
I figured the thought of burning tax dollars was enough to get them up.
GM’s HMO spent more than $17,000,000 on Viagra http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/04/gm_viagra.html
Who’s screwing you harder, GM or the US Military?
Medicare spent $172,000,000 on penis pumps and another $3,100,000 on Viagra http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/penis-pumps-cost-medicare-172-million-report-article-1.1578951 http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/149245-report-medicare-paid-31-million-for-viagra-ed-drugs
Who’s screwing you harder, Medicare or the Military?
It’s all a screwing, just because I’m being raped with a smaller dick than others in the gang bang doesn’t mean I should be thankful for the small dicked one.
Also, I wouldn’t give two shits about GM spending money via it’s HMO proxy if they weren’t bailed out(and technically, they spent that before the bailout) with taxpayer money.
If I am being raped I think I would want be smaller penis doing the raping. But in reality, .5 million for 2.5 million troops isn’t that bad. General Motors is screwing you twice what’s from the bailout and the second time in the price of their cars.
Don’t forget that retirees who use Military Treatment Facilities and their pharmacies also are paid for out of that half a million. Why, exactly shouldn’t DoD pay for Viagra for those who need it?
“General Motors is screwing you twice what’s from the bailout and the second time in the price of their cars.”
lol…that’s pretty funny.
I actually bought a new GM back in 07′, hears the funny thing- at the time I thought to myself:
“Self, I’m going to buy American, even if I’m a dumbass for doing it, so do I buy Ford or Chevy?”
then I thought, “Shit, Ford just took out a whopper loan, better go with GM because they seem more financially sound.”
All I can say is, good thing I don’t have to make decisions like that for a living, and I’ll never buy another GM product again.
*here’s
I plan to buy a ‘vette one day but it’ll be an old one. My last GM was a ’99 suburban, still have it, 200,000 miles but it’s become a bit of a “hangar queen”, AC quit 50,000 miles ago (kids are driving it now and I don’t care if they’re hot…), I’ve replaced every door four handle, all the window motors, switches, coolant pumps, alternators, just about everything but the small block 350 (someone’s getting a front row seat in car heaven for the small block chevy motor…)
I’ve got HHR(the 07′ purchase), which is the mid level business/get around car-it’s a shit box and had bad wheel bearing straight out of the factory that the dealership couldn’t even diagnose, a 93′ GMC conversion van(2500) that’s a 3rd vehicle for towing/camping/weekend use,(5.7/350 legacy product, good stuff), & an old get around Mercedes 300TE station wagon that the wife/kids use.
I’m done with new cars for a while, the cost makes no sense for me. 160k on the HHR(which now leaks oil for it’s stupidly designed/glued block/casting), 150K on the GMC, 260K on the 300TE.
Do about 50% of my own wrenching depending on what’s going on in my life and the nature of the repair.
My kids aren’t old enough to drive(thank God), but as I’m getting older(43), I find myself less willing to do my own wrenching.
I’m in your mode…”toys” will be classic muscle or track day stuff. Local gov’t has made daily driving no fun and cars for such have become appliances.
Ugh, HHR, so much potential so poorly executed…
Newest car in my driveway has 120,000 miles on it. I don’t buy new anymore, I search out proven used cars, having pretty good luck for the most part. Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander and a beat down old Ford to go with the ‘burban (2 kids, 2 hoopties)
“Ugh, HHR, so much potential so poorly executed..”
Exactly, but you know, they made it in Mexico for a pricepoint…and even though I dislike it in many ways(starting out with bad wheel bearings didn’t help) it has four doors with a small 4 banger w/decent power, 87 oct and good mpg, and fold down seats for lots of capacity which is important in my work.
So you are right, the execution sucked but the concept was(and is?) still valid in terms of raw usability for a guy wanting good gas mileage, room for 5, & storage.
The 5 door focus hits that target as well, but is probably better executed.
Take the three door version, drop it a couple of inches, throw a 350 into it, tub the rear for slicks, throw in a power glide and you’ve got a potential dragster to be reckoned with…
lulz…those days are behind me till my kids grow up and I get to stop acting like an adult again
I’ll probably be a Formula 500/600 car or Formula 1000 if I can do it without busting the bank 15 years from now…I’ll probably be too old and my reflexes too slow by then to do decent lap times but I can pretend
Basically a 1955 V-8 design, and still a performer.
True dat. My ‘burban has the fabulous 5.7L / 350CID with fuel injection, when the truck finally dies, I’m probably going to pull it, scrap the body and have the motor rebuilt for a “kids are finally out of the house” hotrod. Maybe put it in a ’69 G-10 van (think Scooby Doo) set up “skate style”, complete with shag carpet and Mexican blanket seat covers.
Different strokes for different folks. And hey, you all forgot the military boob jobs and Botox shots.
Military doctors do sometimes perform elective cosmetic surgeries primarily because they have to to keep their skills up for when they’re actually needed. It’s hardly a TRICARE plastic surgery party. They’re very few and far between.you normally have to sign up as a volunteer and then wait until someone needs a sign off in their skills book. I’m unaware of any botoxing but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened.
I was referring to active duty and civil service/contract providers to active duty folks, not Tricare services. And, trust me on the Botox. And also trust me that RHIP (and their spouses) when it comes to military health care, but you know that.
Same rules apply to MTFs as to TRICARE covered services. Yes, RHIP but I know a SSG whose wife has a new set of sweater puppies, right person, place and time…
Or Paula Broadwell.
Interesting name, Paula.
The LCS is an excellent idea being killed by the Carrier Admirals – it’s a program that was screwed up intentionally. LCS ships are small, have small crews, are commanded by Commanders instead of Captains or Admirals and just aren’t “sexy” enough.
They intentionally fielded flawed designs and then change ordered the bejeebus out of the program to drive costs up. The need for a littoral combat ship is real, 70% of the worlds population lives within 60 miles of the oceans/seas. LCS can be used to enforce freedom of the sea lanes operations in waters not controllable/patrolable by a carrier task force.
The pentagon is forced to hold onto facilities that they’d like to get rind of by the same congressman who lament the out of control spending in Washington. They’re also forcing production of the M-1 tank (maybe a good idea or not, http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2013/October/Pages/OverArmyObjections,IndustryandCongressPartnertoKeepAbramsTankProduction%E2%80%98Hot%E2%80%99.aspx ) we’d be better off upgrading the fleet we have.
“The need for a littoral combat ship is real”
The Navy boys got excited when they thought you said “need for a clittoral ship”.
I don’t agree with much of your politics but I do appreciate your expertise on certain things. I’m clueless as to what goes on within the military and I enjoy posts such as this.
Are you saying that Sic Willie’s drivel is not “expertise”?
If you’d masturbate you could get rid of that hard on dogging you.
We can’t allow our fighting forces to be flaccid!
What about fleshlights?
http://www.duffelblog.com/2012/04/fleshlights-issued-to-male-soldiers-in-bid-to-decrease-combat-zone-pregnancies/
One of these days, I am going to start listening to that little inner voice when it says, “don’t click that link. You’ll regret it.”
“562,000 facilities worldwide with 24.7 million total acres.” Perhaps true, but just try to close a single facility. Governors, Chambers of Commerce, business owners in the locales, local legislators and, of course, Senators and Congressmen will come out of the woodwork to shout you down. The U.S. defense budget has little connection to the legitimate national security interests of the nation. It is just a bottomless taxpayer-funded trough at which contractors feed. Those same contractors provide hefty contributions to politicians of every stripe. The result? Nothing will change.
did the pentagon actually issue a purchase order? or is it how much the health insurance paid out on drug claims