As the Pentagon Fails Another Audit, Congress Wants to Spend Even More on "Defense"

 In November, the Pentagon announced it had failed yet another audit

• Despite years of effort, the Defense Department still doesn't know how it spends or maintains its trillions of dollars' worth of taxpayer-funded assets and income
• Congress has mostly been debating how much to increase defense spending
• The White House had sought $802 billion, but the final tally is likely to be over $840 billion

Trillions Spent on Failure

• The US eventually lost both wars, after spending more than $2 trillion
• Another side effect of the wars has been to multiply costs for Veterans Affairs
• In the 2023 fiscal year, total defense costs, including veteran expenses, are estimated to soar over $1.2 trillion

But What about Inflation?

• Although private-sector real wages have now declined for nineteen months in a row, it is now argued that the taxpayers ought to be taxed even more to finance military spending.
• In 2020 dollars, defense spending is estimated to reach $1.03 trillion, an 8 percent increase over 2022, but "only" slightly up from previous peaks in 2010 and 2020, when spending also hovered around $1 trillion.

https://mises.org/wire/pentagon-fails-another-audit-congress-wants-spend-even-more-defense