How much did Madoff bilk investors out of? And how many years did he get in prison for it? If the books were cooked on purpose (ie, bilking the American public’s out of their money), how many years will these people get in prison?

The Government Accountability Office said Thursday that it could not complete an audit of the federal government, pointing to serious problems with the Department of Defense.

Along with the Pentagon, the GAO cited the Department of Homeland Security as having problems so significant that it was impossible for investigators to audit it. The DHS got a qualified audit for fiscal year 2012, and is seeking an unqualified audit for 2013.

The report released by the GAO on Friday indicates serious accounting problems at two of the largest government agencies: the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Defense has a net cost of $799.1 billion to the federal budget, while the Department of Homeland Security has a net cost of $48.7 billion.
[…]
The Department of Defense’s inability to get its books in order also comes as Congress is slated to cut $500 billion from its budget over ten years starting March 1.



  1. noname says:

    But of course!

    DoD, Pentagon, HLS is publicly funded more by fear then need and more so now with this protective fear of a unknowable budget. This really should be a large public outrage, a travesty, a crime, an for a democracy and it’s people of truth!

    The spending bills through Congress seems more about tax payer crony capitalism corporate/industry handouts for industry like aeronautical industry…. The public now provides the basic technology – metallurgy, avionics or whatever – with a public subsidy system….

    • Dallas says:

      The Teapublican sheeple are trained to live in fear so that the DOD can ask for and get infinite money.

      However, the big issue facing America to them is Michele Obama’s vacation travel plans.

      • Ken says:

        Sheep always worry about what the other sheep are doing, and continue to vote for the wolves to rule over them.

      • ± says:

        You vote RD and you think you aren’t a sheeple. You (and most others here) invalidate yourselves.
         

      • dusanmal says:

        Again speaking of “Teapublicans” portrait by Left Media not of what they stand for. Factual: “Teapublicans” are on record to audit every branch of government and shut down some, like HS departments while seriously cutting funding to all others. Both Rand Paul and Paul Ryan had budges officially proposed with 250Bil in cuts to DOD and dismantling of HS…
        LeftOccupiers are the ones who do not want to stop any spending or even expose spending. Believing in Almighty Keynes.

        • Dallas says:

          I believe spending cuts to the military is but one major example that proves your theory wrong.

          Since you told a lie, everything you say is naturally suspect.

      • smackdown says:

        idiot, BOTH parties are working toward the SAME fascist GLOBAL didtatorship. and it’s not because they care about your wellbeing. ITS ABOUT MONEY AND POWER. They are mostly ALL corrupt fool.

  2. noname says:

    But of course!

    This travesty should really drive a large public outrage with people of truth for this crime against democracy!

    The spending bills through Congress seem more about tax payer crony capitalism funding corporate/industry handouts for industry, the likes of aeronautical industry…. The public now provides the basic technology – metallurgy, avionics or whatever – with a public subsidy system…

  3. deowll says:

    These people don’t even know what they did with the money. Well maybe they know they wasted much much of it but nothing beyond that.

  4. msbpodcast says:

    DHS budget, government waste, are they equal?

    I can’t think of a better argument for elimination of that line item from the federal budget.

  5. Publius says:

    War is a racket.

    — Gen. Smedley D. Butler, USMC

  6. MikeN says:

    That 500 billion cut is total over the ten years, so the budget will not be 500 billion less ten years from now, it will be higher.

  7. Weird Oh! says:

    Has ANYTHING in Washington EVER gone as planned?!

    Asking anyone in Washington to do an audit is a bit like asking a prison full of inmates to count all the money in all the banks. Hey! Wait a minute… That might not be such a bad idea.

  8. bobbo, the pragmatic existential evangelical anti-theist says:

    Seems to me more than word play to conclude that if an entity cannot be audited THEN THEY FAIL THE AUDIT!

    A failed audit should be ground for the Head/Sect/Whomever TO BE REMOVED.

    So, once again we see too big to fail in action defined as: the Brides have all been paid and received.

    The President should be put on Notice to get Audits completed or be impeached for the failure to do so. The Congress Creeps in charge of Dod should be VOTED OUT OF OFFICE.

    Won’t happen….. just saying.

    • msbpodcast says:

      We keep electing them, and the only ones who can get the money to run/stand for election are really corrupt 1%ers.

      What else do we think is going to happen? The cloaca of the corrupt machine of politics is magically going to shit out daisies and sunshine? Puh, leaze…

      Until we change the ground rules we’re just going to be left with a choice of condom flavors that the 1%ers use to fuck us up the ass.

      • bobbo, one true Liberal recognizing Obama is too far Right says:

        mpod–quite the crescendo of colorful terminology. I thought cloaca was mostly a reproductive organ rather than a shitter. Had to google to find out its both. This is why I come to DU–to learn how to communicate more clearly to Pedro and his type.

        Well–even without our system of only being able to effectively vote for Ds and Rs, the growing recognition is that its the more basic problem of gerrymandering the districts along party lines that has more basically and partisanly corrupted our politics===AND ITS GOING TO GET WORSE.

        Interesting, the Dumbos got more popular votes than the Pukes, but even with the exact votes broken down by congressional districts, RMoney would have won the election under Electorial College proportionate voting being widely implemented right now.

        Politics.

        Dirty slimy politics.

  9. Sea Lawyer says:

    From what I’ve been told, the single biggest problem with the DoD is how it would depreciate the massive amounts of property and materiel it owns.

    • msbpodcast says:

      How the DOD depreciates the assets it own is by using ’em.

      With enough ordinance you can turn DC into Kabul.

      • Sea Lawyer says:

        You clearly have a clue about accounting and what it takes for an organization the size of DoD to produce proper financial statements

  10. Amerikagulag says:

    The DAY before 911, Rumsfeld announced that 2.3 TRILLION dollars were missing from the Pentagon budget. Yeah….’missing’. It just disappeared. Poof!

    That was 12 years ago folks. Just wake up now?

    The REAL terrorists are in Washington DC and TelAviv.

    • No More Oh's! (Just X's!) says:

      Are you sure about that? Are you sure they aren’t also on WALL STREET?!

    • Expose Truth says:

      Yes, correct! And Dov Zakheim was the Comptroller when all the $2.3 trillion was missing. He is responsible for all that money stolen from the American people. He is also the mastermind behind the 911 murderous attacks, which they are still using to take Americans rights away and murder Arabs and Muslims. See “911 Missing Links” on you tube. His whole department was murdered on 911 at the Pentegon, and all te records and computers destroyed. Yet Dov had the foreknowledge not to be at work that day, that all his dead, murdered staff did not.

  11. Expose Truth says:

    Abolish this evil anti-American piece of crap called Homeland Security immediately before it completely destroys all our freedoms as Americans! It’s useless for any good what-so-ever, but diabolically useful for total tyranny. Then cut the DOD by 95 percent and bring home all our troops. and let the psychopath zionists and neoConArtists slime fight their own wars. Maybe Feinstein can pick up a rifle to murder Palestinians and Iraqis and other Arabs herself instead of of young American men and woman. Why are dual citizens allowed to even vote in America, let alone be supposed US Senators? It’s totally illegal and UnConstitutional!

  12. bobbo, are we Men of Science, or Devo says:

    Humorous and Real at the same time, this is tangentially relevant and a reminder of a worthwhile website otherwise:

    http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-easy-solutions-to-problems-we-all-complain-about/?wa_user1=3&wa_user2=Weird+World&wa_user3=blog&wa_user4=companion

    First one is about how to change Washington. Like most solutions, it won’t work without concerted action to one side of an issue. America is “split” with few issues being clearly the demand of the voting public. Especially now that money votes too.

  13. Marks2much says:

    What’s stunning is how conservative hypocrites and tea party numb skulls constantly rave about big government and excessive spending, then don’t have the intellectual honesty (or balls) to confront the problems pointed out in this article.

    And the spineless Democrats just sit there with their thumbs up their asses, too.

    Oh, but Social Security, Medicare, and programs like Head Start are drowning this county in debt.

    Big Oil and Big Ag still deserve their tax subsidies and the thieving banks deserve their bailouts. Free Market Capitalism, my ass.

    Does anyone remember the day before 9/11 when Donald Rumsfeld held a news conference to announce that the Defense Department couldn’t account for 2.3 TRILLION dollars? And this was before all the Congressional imbeciles voted for the unfunded, repeat – unfunded, invasions and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    No wonder America is a shadow of itself and will soon be a thing of the past. Just be sure to turn out the lights when the last one out shuts the door. Oh, what the hell? It doesn’t matter anyway, anymore.

  14. Marks2much says:

    Pedro must work for the government. His inability to construct clear or rational discourse, let alone make any sense, gives him away.

  15. Marks2much says:

    Pedro must work for the government. His inability to construct clear or rational discourse, let alone make any sense, gives him away. He probably owns guns, too. God help us.

    • bobbo, are we Men of Science, or Devo says:

      You posted twice. Pedro will skim it once and not understand it.

      then he’ll post again completely full of himself without rhyme or reason.

      Yes….. he will.


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