6 ms·

This is just a single example but it was eye opening when my friend told me about one of his clients. He is the chief mechanic at an exotic car dealership and o

This is just a single example but it was eye opening when my friend told me about one of his clients. He is the chief mechanic at an exotic car dealership and one of their biggest customers is an active duty general in the Marines, this guy has millions of USD worth of cars.

isoskeles 7y ago
Forgive me if I am misinterpreting, but wouldn't the taxes of an individual general in the Marines be completely different from the Department of Defense itself?
- xapata 7y ago
  The implication was that they should be distinct but are not.
  - isoskeles 7y ago
    I didn't get that at all. Can you explain?
    - xapata 7y ago
      Generals do not earn millions in salary. To afford millions worth of automobiles, the general must have misappropriated funds.
      - dragonwriter 7y ago
        > To afford millions worth of automobiles, the general must have misappropriated funds. Or have, or at least have once had, a lucrative side business (military personnel can do this, legally.) Or have inherited money. Or have a spouse with a greater income or inheritance. Or restore cars, such that the market value of their vehicles vastly exceeds the purchase price. Or purchase cars that have significantly appreciated in value for other reasons (lots of high-end luxury cars that are limited run not only are pricey but limit sales to selected buyers, and the market value of the cars is almost immediately much higher than the purchase price and appreciates rapidly.) Or a combination of the above.
        xapata 7y ago
        What's the most plausible explanation? My wild guess is inherited wealth. The lucrative businesses come after retirement, as far as I know.
    - michaelt 7y ago
      xapata's interpretation of solotronics's post is that "Pentagon's impenetrable, unauditable accounting" + "Reports of trillions of dollars missing" + "General with a multi-million-dollar sports car collection" = The sports cars were paid for by embezzlement. Of course, it's also possible the general saved up, or made lucky investments, or married into money, or there was an exaggeration or misunderstanding.
wnissen 7y ago
Each general is the CEO of a multi-thousand person organization. Whether CEO pay is reasonable is a different discussion, but it would be surprising if generals were not paid well.
- isoskeles 7y ago
  Generals are not paid that well, at least not compared to a Silicon Valley software engineer's salary. I think they make ~$200k (https://militarypay.defense.gov/Portals/3/Documents/ActiveDutyTables/2019%20Military%20Basic%20Pay%20Table.pdf https://militarypay.defense.gov/Portals/3/Documents/ActiveDu...), so if any of them are obscenely wealthy, best guess is they make a lot of money off of "speaking events" like any other person with political connections.
  - sidlls 7y ago
    They also have many other benefits, including housing subsidies, commissary access, essentially free health care, etc. Officers especially are compensated very well.
    - sigstoat 7y ago
      combat zone pay, as well, perhaps? seems like a general with a 40 year career who could (and did) save all of his money could have accumulated a few million dollars in cars without very many shenanigans, if that was their sole financial goal in life.
- whafro 7y ago
  According to [0], a major general (O-8) makes something like $160k, depending on years of experience. I'm sure there's additional hazard pay and such, but you wouldn't expect a general to be making millions through their core pay. [0]: https://www.navycs.com/charts/2019-military-pay-chart.html https://www.navycs.com/charts/2019-military-pay-chart.html
  - 01100011 7y ago
rayiner 7y ago
Without some concrete statistics, it’s hard to analyze that. A non-trivial number of officers have family money.
- walshemj 7y ago
  In the UK id buy that chaps joining the guards regiment their fathers /grandfathers did I kind of got the impression that the military isn't seen in that way in the USA and didn't have such a high social status
  - rayiner 7y ago
    It’s not as high social status as the UK, but there are plenty of officers who come from relatively wealthy families. The officer corps skews upper middle class, with 40% of ROTC recruits coming from the top quantile of households in terms of income. (At Harvard or Stanford, 65% are from the top quantile.) The other major entry point for officers, the service academies, requires excellent test scores and two letters of recommendation from the Vice President or a Member of Congress. By no means are officers all from wealthy families, but those folks are definitely over represented.
    - dragonwriter 7y ago
      > The other major entry point for officers, the service academies, Of academy, ROTC, OCS, and direct appointment, I'm relatively certain that, unless things have shifted recently, the academies are the least significant source of commissioned officers in the US military overall, rather than the second major entry point.
sudhirj 7y ago
Any indication as to whether this was career or family money?

isoskeles 7y ago

Forgive me if I am misinterpreting, but wouldn't the taxes of an individual general in the Marines be completely different from the Department of Defense itself?

xapata 7y ago
The implication was that they should be distinct but are not.
- isoskeles 7y ago
  I didn't get that at all. Can you explain?
  - xapata 7y ago
    Generals do not earn millions in salary. To afford millions worth of automobiles, the general must have misappropriated funds.
    - dragonwriter 7y ago
      > To afford millions worth of automobiles, the general must have misappropriated funds. Or have, or at least have once had, a lucrative side business (military personnel can do this, legally.) Or have inherited money. Or have a spouse with a greater income or inheritance. Or restore cars, such that the market value of their vehicles vastly exceeds the purchase price. Or purchase cars that have significantly appreciated in value for other reasons (lots of high-end luxury cars that are limited run not only are pricey but limit sales to selected buyers, and the market value of the cars is almost immediately much higher than the purchase price and appreciates rapidly.) Or a combination of the above.
      - xapata 7y ago
        What's the most plausible explanation? My wild guess is inherited wealth. The lucrative businesses come after retirement, as far as I know.
  - michaelt 7y ago
    xapata's interpretation of solotronics's post is that "Pentagon's impenetrable, unauditable accounting" + "Reports of trillions of dollars missing" + "General with a multi-million-dollar sports car collection" = The sports cars were paid for by embezzlement. Of course, it's also possible the general saved up, or made lucky investments, or married into money, or there was an exaggeration or misunderstanding.

wnissen 7y ago

Each general is the CEO of a multi-thousand person organization. Whether CEO pay is reasonable is a different discussion, but it would be surprising if generals were not paid well.

isoskeles 7y ago
Generals are not paid that well, at least not compared to a Silicon Valley software engineer's salary. I think they make ~$200k (https://militarypay.defense.gov/Portals/3/Documents/ActiveDutyTables/2019%20Military%20Basic%20Pay%20Table.pdf https://militarypay.defense.gov/Portals/3/Documents/ActiveDu...), so if any of them are obscenely wealthy, best guess is they make a lot of money off of "speaking events" like any other person with political connections.
- sidlls 7y ago
  They also have many other benefits, including housing subsidies, commissary access, essentially free health care, etc. Officers especially are compensated very well.
  - sigstoat 7y ago
    combat zone pay, as well, perhaps? seems like a general with a 40 year career who could (and did) save all of his money could have accumulated a few million dollars in cars without very many shenanigans, if that was their sole financial goal in life.
whafro 7y ago
According to [0], a major general (O-8) makes something like $160k, depending on years of experience. I'm sure there's additional hazard pay and such, but you wouldn't expect a general to be making millions through their core pay. [0]: https://www.navycs.com/charts/2019-military-pay-chart.html https://www.navycs.com/charts/2019-military-pay-chart.html
- 01100011 7y ago

rayiner 7y ago

Without some concrete statistics, it’s hard to analyze that. A non-trivial number of officers have family money.

walshemj 7y ago
In the UK id buy that chaps joining the guards regiment their fathers /grandfathers did I kind of got the impression that the military isn't seen in that way in the USA and didn't have such a high social status
- rayiner 7y ago
  It’s not as high social status as the UK, but there are plenty of officers who come from relatively wealthy families. The officer corps skews upper middle class, with 40% of ROTC recruits coming from the top quantile of households in terms of income. (At Harvard or Stanford, 65% are from the top quantile.) The other major entry point for officers, the service academies, requires excellent test scores and two letters of recommendation from the Vice President or a Member of Congress. By no means are officers all from wealthy families, but those folks are definitely over represented.
  - dragonwriter 7y ago
    > The other major entry point for officers, the service academies, Of academy, ROTC, OCS, and direct appointment, I'm relatively certain that, unless things have shifted recently, the academies are the least significant source of commissioned officers in the US military overall, rather than the second major entry point.

sudhirj 7y ago

Any indication as to whether this was career or family money?