Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!mx02.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Anne & Lynn Wheeler Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: I Feel Old Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2016 08:44:23 -0800 Organization: Wheeler&Wheeler Lines: 57 Message-ID: <87vb6y21eg.fsf@garlic.com> References: <9dcde262-7129-4a8f-b034-105b67d61cf5@googlegroups.com> <5e6c5439-02aa-48ff-88b4-ee4022aad672@googlegroups.com> <1175249634.474034975.970106.peter_flass-yahoo.com@news.eternal-september.org> <3f13b1c9-8b58-4ad8-aaa8-6ae60e4055b7@googlegroups.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Info: mx02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="9a6c8ce24fcd2caeb84dd64e0fa6007c"; logging-data="9487"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+HyzQXJHEk5sKdT3SjPRjZs/g14qi7fh8=" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.5 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:nERFlPzev58jl0Q0ABlluT5DQOs= sha1:FI/Cx5KIUm35MEugInPFgY2+LIw= Xref: csiph.com alt.folklore.computers:156514 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: > This is nothing new. The US military was hamstrung by enormous > purchasing regulations prior to WW II and was unable to build up. > (Download the official Signal Corps history, volume 1 has a whole > chapter on the incredible B/S they had to go through.) > > Indeed, government procurement was a problem in the 1930s when FDR > was trying to fight the Depression. FDR had to key assistants, > Hopkins and Ickes. Hopkins wanted to spend money fast and furious > to alleviate suffering and give people food, shelter, and something > to do, and not worry about waste or fraud. Ickes, in contrast, > was very fussy and would not spend a dime until everything was > thoroughly discussed and checked out. There is periodic stuff about DOD budget in general. in the 90s, congress passed legislation that all federal agencies had to pass regular financial audit ... so far DOD has been unable to. There was big press that Marines had passed one ... but it turned out it was a little premature ... found several things that they failed. There have been some claims that DOD might pass an financial audit in 2017 (two decades after the law passed) ... but recent references are casting doubt that is going to be possible. one of the conspiracy stories is about a report concerning trillion dollars that had gone missing in DOD ... but in 9/11 ... the plane took out the accounting section and all that information went missing. 2002, congress let the financial responsibility act expire (spending couldn't exceed revenue) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAYGO posts http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/submisc.html#fiscal.responsibility.act by the middle of last decade, the savaging of any fiscal responsible budget by congress, the US comptroller general was including in speeches that nobody in congress was capable of middle school arithmetic (for what they were doing to the budget, massive license to steal). posts http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/submisc.html#comptroller.general the first major bill after letting fiscal responsibility act expire was Medicare Part-D ... comptroller general would claim that it comes to be a long term $40T item (and gift to the drug industry). CBS 60mins did expose on what went on in congress ... and the 18 republican members of congress & staff that shepherded it through. At last minute, just before final vote, they insert a one liner that prevents competitive bidding and prevent distribution of CBO report detailing effects of the change. After bill passes, all 18 have resigned and on drug industry payroll. CBS shows drugs under part-D are three times as expensive as the identical drugs from VA (that allows competitive bidding). posts http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/submisc.html#medicare.part-d 2010 there was CBO report that in the interval since letting act expire, tax revenue was reduced by $6T and spending increased by $6T (for $12T budget gap compared to fiscal responsible budget). -- virtualization experience starting Jan1968, online at home since Mar1970