There’s an absolutely obscene amount of waste, I had a friend who used to work at a defensive contractor and they grossly overcharge on every item on every contract. Even replacement bolts and screws were marked up hundreds of times. In many cases the exact itemized bill isn’t given to the government as the contractor prefers to keep it confidential (I can’t imagine why). All of that excess probably ends up in the executive level pockets on one side or the other.
They might spend more than the next several countries combined in defense spending, but I would be honestly surprised if they got more value out of that spending than any of them.
I remember Bernie Sanders (!) pointing this out during the 2016 election. The specific example he used was the military paying almost a thousand bucks for a part you can get at most hardware stores for $1.50. People seemed kind of upset, but nobody bothered to contradict him.
There’s an absolutely obscene amount of waste, I had a friend who used to work at a defensive contractor and they grossly overcharge on every item on every contract. Even replacement bolts and screws were marked up hundreds of times. In many cases the exact itemized bill isn’t given to the government as the contractor prefers to keep it confidential (I can’t imagine why). All of that excess probably ends up in the executive level pockets on one side or the other.
They might spend more than the next several countries combined in defense spending, but I would be honestly surprised if they got more value out of that spending than any of them.
I remember Bernie Sanders (!) pointing this out during the 2016 election. The specific example he used was the military paying almost a thousand bucks for a part you can get at most hardware stores for $1.50. People seemed kind of upset, but nobody bothered to contradict him.