I'm filing this one under "Don't believe everything you read on the internet" until more evidence surfaces. The number is just too fantastic. That's the about the same size as our national debt, making it very hard to believe a number that large is possible.
The number sounds ridiculously large but I'm not surprised that these things happen.<p>The entire financial system is built on fraud. I think that most people understand this at least subconsciously.<p>Many years ago, being honest and forthcoming was beneficial and people appreciated honesty.<p>If you made a mistake and were honest about it as soon as it came to your awareness, people would respect you for it and would be more lenient. These days this is not the case, being honest is actually a disadvantage. Lying and cheating is always the best option. People don't give a crap about honesty anymore, only money and social status.<p>So in a world where the value of honesty is a negative number, it's not surprising at all that fraud is rampant.
Read more carefully, that's the total of all improperly accounted for transactions, not lost money.<p>While it's still a complete shit show. There's a huge, almost click bate difference.
> Now, the Department of Defense has announced it will conduct the first department-wide, independent financial audit in its history<p>I recall a few (somewhere between 5 and 10) years ago they tried to do an audit and just threw their arms up in the air and said "impossible".<p>A bunch of people are going to choke on their morning coffee over this but I'm just going to say it: Trump promised to bring accountability to government and here's the DoD performing the impossible. I know, heresy...
I’m constantly amazed with the mental gymnastics people who advocate for tax increases partake in. The know the government is abysmal with money, yet think by giving it a blank check that magically all societal ills will be solved.
Where would a government department get this much actual money? Do they just have unlimited debit accounts? At some point someone in the treasury has to transfer the money and notice it’s above the budget right?
I’m sure it can be frustrating to try to follow the rules in that environment when everyone around you seems to be getting their purchases through the system and you’re constantly being told there isn’t any money. I can imagine it would create a culture that demands lack of ethics to get anything accomplished.
The entire 2015 federal budget was around $3.9 trillion. If just the army had spent $5.6 trillion in 2015 that would be noticed. This article can't make extraordinary claims with extraordinary proof (or any proof) to back it up.