U.S. Army fudged its accounts by trillions of dollars, auditor finds

Re:U.S. Army fudged its accounts by trillions of dollars, au... by pm90 on Friday August 19, 2016 @03:30PM (#12322820)

> He didn't advocate digging holes and filling them back up as a normal thing - he advocated it only in rare cases of economic troubles.

He didn't advocate that even in case of economic troubles. I absolutely agree with the parent. US military spending is one of the major engines that powers the American economy and the American Research University system. Quite contrary to digging ditches and filling them back up, military funding trickles down to fund advanced mathematics, fundamental science and so on: even if indirectly.

While its true that economic growth can be achieved without Keynesian economics, it is hard to sustain economic growth and prosperity at levels that the US has managed to do. While its not all because of the Military, they have had a large (although little acknowledged) hand.

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Re:U.S. Army fudged its accounts by trillions of dollars, au... by josho on Friday August 19, 2016 @06:26PM (#12323954)

> US military spending is one of the major engines that powers the American economy

I always get lost on this argument. Americans largely see socialism as evil (obvious consequence of the cold war). Yet, the argument put forward above is essentially arguing for a special form of socialism that applies only to military contractors.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:U.S. Army fudged its accounts by trillions of dollars, au... by ArkyBeagle on Friday August 19, 2016 @11:14PM (#12324982)

Yep. "To provide for the Common Defense" is in our Conftituion. It may be worth reading a bio of Eisenhower to see just how big a shift the pre-WWII drawdown was to the post-WWII equilibrium ( after a span).

America was founded against the idea of a standing army for almost all its history.

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Re:U.S. Army fudged its accounts by trillions of dollars, au... by pm90 on Saturday August 20, 2016 @01:09PM (#12327406)

It makes sense when you see it from a political viewpoint. Its easier to justify spending money to keep evil at bay, to remain the superpower, for our soldiers etc. Its much harder to convince people that we should be spending more on society, for the poor etc. The rather disappointing results of the "War on Poverty" left many disillusioned with Federal government programs for societal benefits.

[ Parent | on HN ]