6 upvotes, 6 direct replies (showing 6)
View submission: Elon Musk can’t balance the budget
They do waste a lot. We buy aircraft carriers for multi billions while our generals tell us we don't need them. We have a pentagon budget littered with items like a $700 "unidirectional impact generator", aka a claw hammer. We spend more than anyone else on healthcare and get less for it.
Comment by James_McNulty at 26/11/2024 at 02:20 UTC
23 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I think you're partly misunderstanding politics if you think what you're describing is waste. Defense spending is a jobs program + slush fund to funnel public dollars to private companies. Healthcare spending is likewise set up to funnel as much public money to private owners as possible.
If there was a good faith effort to right size the military and make our healthcare spending more efficient, we could do a HUGE amount of good. But that isn't Musk's objective, or any Republicans. Or even most Democrats.
Comment by Mindless_Rooster5225 at 26/11/2024 at 02:17 UTC
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
The first step to get waste of our the government is to change to a publicly funded election system so our politicians don't have to go out and beg for money and then get bribed I mean *lobbied*. We get stuff in the military we don't need becuase defense contractors bribe the shit out of our politicans.
Comment by Hemingwavy at 26/11/2024 at 11:32 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Actually it's the tanks they don't want.
Congress Again Buys Abrams Tanks the Army Doesn't Want
Also it'd be an admiral commenting about aircraft carriers. Although I guess generals don't want them since they mean money spent on the navy.
Comment by [deleted] at 26/11/2024 at 16:49 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The $700 hammer is simply classified project spending. The hammer doesn't exist, the research on a satellite to cause a volcano to erupt under Moscow or whatever does exist.
Comment by SirStrontium at 26/11/2024 at 02:31 UTC
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
The $700 hammer is a myth
https://www.govexec.com/federal-news/1998/12/the-myth-of-the-600-hammer/5271/
Comment by caveatlector73 at 26/11/2024 at 02:07 UTC
0 upvotes, 2 direct replies
That's rather silly. The Pentagon can't just run down to Lowe's for a claw hammer when the hammer needed is specifically designed to do a job any old tool won't do. That would be one of many myths about government spending. Thanks for helping to highlight that myth.