US Budget Blunders

$17 million and counting: Mueller investigation cost to US taxpayers revealed
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia has cost the US taxpayer a whopping $17 million to date and returned no evidence of collusion. The investigation spent approximately $10 million between October 2017 and March this year, according to a Department of Justice report released Thursday. [...]
Save
Fragile: Pentagon report raises alarm that US industry can’t support war for much longer
Between globalization and nearly 20 years of constant warfare, the industrial part of the US military-industrial complex is not looking so good, putting future wars at risk, according to a new Pentagon report. The Annual Industrial Capabilities report, published by the Pentagon’s Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy, warns that reliance on foreign-sourced materials combined with [...]
Save
About Time: First Pentagon Audit Promises Eye-Opening Details
A first-ever full-scale audit of the Pentagon’s massive military budget promises details that may upset some, but according to government officials will be worth its nearly $1 billion price tag. According to US Department of Defense (DoD) undersecretary David Norquist, the ongoing audit of the Pentagon's books — the first ever for the enormous American military — will be worth the nearly $1 [...]
Save
‘Urgently engage with Russia’: US senators call for dialogue after new nuclear arsenal unveiled
A group of US lawmakers have called for strategic dialogue with Moscow. They feel that the matter is “more urgent” following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unveiling of a number of cutting-edge weapons systems. “A US-Russia Strategic Dialogue is more urgent following President Putin’s public address on March 1st when he referred to several new nuclear weapons Russia is reportedly dev [...]
Save
You Alive, F-35? Only Half of US’ Most Expensive-Ever Fighter Jets Flight Ready
The head of the Pentagon's F-35 office has confirmed that some 49% of the 280 planes delivered to the military by Lockheed Martin are suffering from a series of hardware and software problems. Vice Admiral Matt Winter, director of the F-35 Joint Program Office, has confirmed that just 51% the US new 5th-gen fighter aircraft are flight ready, with the initial production lots delivered starting in [...]
Save
Russophobia a futile bid to conceal US, European decline
It is an age-old statecraft technique to seek unity within a state by depicting an external enemy or threat. Russia is the bête noire again, as it was during the Cold War as part of the Soviet Union. But the truth is Western states are challenged by internal problems. Ironically, by denying their own internal democratic challenges, Western authorities are only hastening their institutional demis [...]
Save
Here we go again: US government shuts down for the 18th time
The US government shut down at midnight Friday, the 18th such event in modern US history. RT takes a look at previous instances of congressional stalemate that brought the country to a standstill. A shutdown occurs when Congress can’t agree on a spending bill. It results in the temporary suspension of “non-essential” civil services. [...]
Save
$250mn each day for 16yrs: The staggering cost of ‘War on Terror’
The ‘War on Terror’ cost US taxpayers at least $1.46 trillion since September 11, 2001, the Department of Defense’s cost of war report has revealed. The 74-page DoD dossier was obtained by the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy News. It breaks down the cost of the US’s various conflicts and reveals the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq account for the greatest chunk [...]
Save
Up Up and Away: Performance Uncertainty, Repair Issues Drive F-35 Cost Growth
The F-35’s dismal performance record is driving up operating costs for the fighters, according to a recent government report. The F-35’s unreliability and slow repair time contribute to its tendency to be something of a black hole for US taxpayer dollars. [...]
Save
Pentagon Denies It Hid Report Showing More Than $100 Billion in Waste
On Tuesday the Pentagon denied that it attempted to cover up a study from 2015 indicating potential savings in noncombat administrative programs of $125 billion. Through recommendations based on a back-office waste evaluation, the Defense Department hopes to save $7.9 billion in the next five years. [...]
Save
America is Tired
The major takeaway from the US Presidential election, and from the events which have shaped the first two weeks of Donald Trump’s Presidency - both his actions and the reactions of his opponents - is that America is tired. It is not difficult to see why since the US has for decades been behaving in a way that was guaranteed eventually to exhaust it. [...]
Save
The Reason College Isn’t Free in America: US Army ‘Misreported’ $6.5 Trillion
The Department of Defense finds itself in a controversy that continues to unfold in the wake of an Inspector General Report in June that found that the US Army's financial summaries misstated balances by $6.5 trillion. A June report by the Defense Department’s Inspector General uncovered that the Army made $2.8 trillion in wrongful adjustments to accounting entries in one quarter alone in 201 [...]
Save
Obama’s Offering of Largest Military Aid Package Ever Is Not Enough for Israel
Israeli officials play hardball, demanding that the Obama Administration pony up more than the record $40 billion ten-year offering made by the US -- by a cool $10 billion Last week, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford met with his Israeli counterpart at the Pentagon to discuss the new multi-billion-dollar military assistance package currently in negotiation between the Obam [...]
Save
US debt hits record $19 trillion
The United States federal debt has surpassed $19 trillion for the first time in history according to the Treasury Department. However, the real figure could exceed $65 trillion, according to a former US Comptroller General. The official debt of $19 trillion represents almost $60,000 for every man, woman and child living in America today. [...]
Save
‘Great partners’: Pentagon rejects Russian evidence of Turkey aiding ISIS
A Pentagon spokesman rejected Russia’s evidence of Turkey’s involvement in oil deals with Islamic State militants, calling Turkey a “great partner” just a day after his boss complained to Congress that Ankara was not fighting ISIS enough. “Let me be very clear that we flatly reject any notion that the Turks are somehow working with ISIL,” said Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for th [...]
Save
US financial bubble ready to burst – Robert Shiller
More and more investors are expressing concern that US stocks are overvalued, which may result in a major bear market - characterized by falling prices and widespread pessimism, Nobel laureate in economics Robert Shiller told the FT. Studies have shown that the level of uncertainty among investors has peaked since the end of the dot-com boom in 2000, said Shiller. [...]
Save
“Money can’t buy all airwaves”: RT host launches campaign against US media empire
RT’s Anissa Naouai has launched a crowdfunding campaign urging viewers to send a symbolic message to the US State Department and Washington’s media empire, donating money to fight autism. The GoFundMe project was launched by the host of RT’s 'In the Now' program, Anissa Naouai, after the US Secretary of State asked for more money from the government for propaganda and “democracy promoti [...]
Save
US Senate passes emergency funding for Israel’s Iron Dome
The Senate overwhelmingly approved an emergency measure early Friday that could give $225 million in additional revenue to Israel for the country's Iron Dome missile defense system. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) received unanimous consent from his colleagues Friday morning when he asked them to consider approving the measure, The Hill reported. An attempt one day earlier by the S [...]
Save
F-35 fleet grounded for the eighth time over unknown engine issue
As the cost of Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet continues to grow, so do the headaches: the United States military announced on Thursday that its entire fleet of aircraft has been grounded until engine inspections are completed. The decision comes as the Pentagon struggles to find the source of yet another problem with the $398.6 billion program. [...]
Save