$295Bn in overruns!

This is delightful:

GAO Blasts Weapons Budget
Cost Overruns Hit $295 Billion
By Dana Hedgpeth
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Government auditors issued a scathing review yesterday of dozens of the Pentagon's biggest weapons systems, saying ships, aircraft and satellites are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.

The Government Accountability Office found that 95 major systems have exceeded their original budgets by a total of $295 billion, bringing their total cost to $1.6 trillion, and are delivered almost two years late on average. In addition, none of the systems that GAO looked at had met all of the standards for best management practices during their development stages.

That's $295,000,000,000!

I've stated previously that we - the taxpayers - probably wouldn't mind paying taxes if we thought we were getting value for $$$.

Reports like this fuel our resentment. Reports like this confirm our vague suspicions that our hard-earned $$$ are being thrown away. For what?

Personally, I object to year-after-year $600Bn dollar Defense budgets when it's clear the Pentagon - alone among Govt agencies - is getting a free pass. I do NOT believe we need tons of expensive high-tech weapons systems. Who are we fighting?

I note that the nominally strongest military in the world is being defeated by third-world insurgents, on two front: Iraq & Afghanistan.

If we were getting value for $$$, this would NOT be the case!

Stop the madness!