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>Nobody stole the money. They just squandered it on a gas station to nowhere. The conspiracy theorist in me says the gas station was just a front to funnel the
by a_bonobo 11y ago
>Nobody stole the money. They just squandered it on a gas station to nowhere.
The conspiracy theorist in me says the gas station was just a front to funnel the money somewhere else, somewhere with no governmental oversight.
But that person has no proof, of course.
- rhino369 11y agoThe DoD already has off the books budget stuff. If it was black budget this letter would have never happened. If you want to conspiracy theorize, this fits with the classic gov't construction grift model. Gov't employee gets a huge bribe. Gov't employee gives a huge lucrative to the person who bribed them. They waste of a bunch of money on contractors who don't show up or show up and don't work. Years later its way over budget and the delivered project sucks. That's classic government corruption. One telltale sign is the amount of overhead - 30 million - on a 42 million dollar project.
- dfc 11y agoOne telltale sign of increased overhead: operating in warzone.
- rhino369 11y agoSure and the inspector general is being purposely obtuse about factors like that.
- superuser2 11y agoOr more optimistically, an unauthorized, unintentional welfare program. The military industrial complex is not that different in form from the massive public works jobs program many propose to replace it with, except that the latter would also have the side effect of good infrastructure.
- markdown 11y ago> except that the latter would also have the side effect of good infrastructure. And would happen at home in the open with competitors and political opponents keeping a watchful eye on things (in their own interest), not in some far off country hidden away from prying eyes.
- notahacker 11y agobut it wouldn't be "unpatriotic" or "weak on defence" for said political opponents to criticise it...
- mikeash 11y agoA lot of this military waste has the side effect of (some) good infrastructure too, it's just in other countries! I always think it's weird that we're so willing to spend tons of money building stuff in other countries, but not our own.
- superuser2 11y agoWell, Devil's Advocate, we didn't literally bomb our own infrastructure. That does confer a moral responsibility to replace it.
- mikeash 11y agoThat's a fair point, although I'd say it doesn't apply too much in a place like Afghanistan which was fairly thoroughly destroyed before we even got there.
- c-slice 11y agoBlack projects are a way of life at the CIA, so it's really not that much of a stretch to suggest that the money went to to other projects. It's pretty much accepted that CIA budget reports sent to the GAO are basically farces.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- madaxe_again 11y agoThe gas station is probably actually an elaborate listening station with... nah, they just pocketed the cash. The sad thing is this is where about 90% of your taxes generally go - corruption, nepotism, bribery, private hands.
- agentgt 11y agoSort of joking but what do you think happens in the private world with banks, hedge funds and other large financial institution/collectors. It seems wherever there is a lot of power/money there is a good ole boys club.
- oldmanjay 11y agoI guess the joke is that your logic is logic-free? or maybe where you live, banks, hedge funds, and other large financial institutions use their legal monopoly on violence to force you to pay for them.
- refurb 11y agoThe difference is that the money that banks, hedge funds waste isn't mine money. Tax payer money is.