Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
The Pentagon has generated almost $6 billion over the past seven years by charging the armed forces excessive prices for fuel and has used the money — called the “bishop’s fund” by some critics — to bolster mismanaged or underfunded military programs, documents show.
Since 2015, the Defense Department has tapped surpluses from its fuel accounts for $80 million to train Syrian rebels, $450 million to shore up a prescription-drug program riddled with fraud and $1.4 billion to cover unanticipated expenses from the war in Afghanistan, according to military accounting records.
The Pentagon has amassed the extra cash by billing the armed forces for fuel at rates often much higher — sometimes $1 per gallon or more — than what commercial airlines paid for jet fuel on the open market.
[...] The Defense Department is the largest single consumer of fuel in the world. Each year, it buys about 100 million barrels, or 4.2 billion gallons, of refined petroleum for its aircraft, warships, tanks and other machines.
[...] In a statement, the Pentagon acknowledged that it accumulated $5.6 billion in “enterprise gains” from fuel purchases between 2010 and 2016, but said the surplus was the result of falling oil prices in an inherently volatile market.
As a veteran myself, this utterly fails to surprise.
Source: The Washington Post
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @06:36AM (10 children)
The usual excuse is mundane overcharging secretly funds black ops budgets for things like alien moonbases and stargates. Trouble is now we know there aren't any stargates or alien moonbases because the president would have tweeted about them. So it's finally time to cut the wastage once and for all.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday May 23 2017, @07:40AM (2 children)
No alien moonbases I can ensure you. When I look out of the window it's mostly black with a grey ground. Quite boring but surely no aliens. But it feels kind of lonely here on the moon, especially in these large hangars with space vehicles. :P
Oh wait, there's a knock on the door.....!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @07:47AM (1 child)
Except if there were a human moonbase it wouldn't be secret just like the space station isn't secret.
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Tuesday May 23 2017, @04:40PM
Disband the US Military. National "defense" the world's greatest overwhelming threat to global security.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @10:27AM (2 children)
https://twitter.com/NicholsUprising/status/842964004062617600 [twitter.com]
Maybe the stargates and moonbases were at the bottom of page 1 of the president's briefing notes, so he never read about them.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 23 2017, @04:59PM (1 child)
They should have known to mention his name every paragraph [vhttp] to keep him interested.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:01PM
Typo in the link (vhttp) : http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-trip-idUSKCN18D0C7 [reuters.com]
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Tuesday May 23 2017, @10:31AM
What? ...and risk loosing his kickback from overcharging the aliens for human brain extract?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday May 23 2017, @01:37PM
You are suggesting the president would betray his own kind? Unthinkable.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday May 23 2017, @01:41PM (1 child)
Either get rid of corruption, as you say, or create more opportunity for more ordinary people to participate in it.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Tuesday May 23 2017, @04:42PM
Get rid of the military. It's continued existence dooms the world to CO2 dependent destruction.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @06:38AM (2 children)
My employer also delivers "enterprise gains" when I swipe the printer paper. S'all good bro, just enterprise gains.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @06:42AM (1 child)
My boss is so stingy with paper! It's like...we're trying to get a job done here, man! So MAYBE I made a few thousand copies for personal use. They're COMPANY property! And I work for a COMPANY. And were they copies of my testicles? Yes, BUT I always wipe down afterward! That's a RULE for me. And maybe I DID send those pictures to his teenage daughter. She has the Internet! She was gonna see my balls eventually.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday May 23 2017, @01:39PM
If you boss were really stingy, he wouldn't let you make copies of PDF files. After all, electronic paper is still paper and costs money.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday May 23 2017, @07:31AM (1 child)
Let's just say that DoD isn't the only one doing this. Another scheme is to jack up rented property prices such that when the government pays for a service they can claim they increased the budget but won't mention that the money goes back through this loophole.
4.2 billion (US liquid) gallons correspond to a cube with sides of 251 x 251 x 251 meters all filled with petroleum. That's a lot..
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Tuesday May 23 2017, @10:35AM
Not compared to the 6 football fields full of free glasses that they accumulated during the 1980s...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @08:59AM
...IPO anticipated as one of the best public offerings in years.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday May 23 2017, @11:54AM (1 child)
What is the proper term for this kind of thing? "Corruption" is too broad. "Kickbacks" are when the government official overpays for a good or service and the provider turns around and hands a portion of the overage to the official. I don't know the term for this situation, though it is common. The NYC Dept. of Education was allocated $4 billion by the state legislature 12 years ago to build schools and alleviate overcrowding in city schools, but it doesn't build schools and doesn't use the money.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @01:17PM
"black budget" ?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday May 23 2017, @03:08PM (1 child)
Chump change [reuters.com]!
If there ever was a swamp that needs draining...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Tuesday May 23 2017, @03:40PM
an even earlier story, from 2002:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-war-on-waste/ [cbsnews.com]