Over five-decade, Martin Luther King, Jr., said of the United States in his crucial “Beyond Vietnam” speech that: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” The Pentagon and the military industrial complex have been plagued by a massive amount of waste, fraud, and financial mismanagement for decades. It has failed the last five audits. One major reason the Pentagon keeps failing audits is because it cannot keep track of its property. The corrosive power of the military-industrial complex should force the Congress to cut the budget.

The Pentagon, with $841.4 billion Military Budget has failed its sixth annual audit of $3.8 trillion in military assets around the globe. There is no accountability or audit nor any due diligence in giving contracts to defense contractors. . The Pentagon does not need more money, it needs more spending discipline. Pentagon spending has totaled over $14 trillion since the start of the war in Afghanistan, with one-half of the total going to military contractors like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman.

CEOs of the defense contractors make tens of millions of dollars in profits, compensation, and have a audacity tell their shareholders that war and global conflict are good for the bottom-line. According to CNBC, the CEOs of the top ten contractors received compensation ranging from $18 million to $23 million each. The top five James Taiclet of Lockheed Martin made $18.1 million; Kathy Warden of Northrop Grumman’s $20.67 million; David Calhoun of Boeing, $21.1 million; Gregory Hayes of Raytheon, $21.8 million and Phebe Novakovic of General Dynamics, $23.5 million. I just retired last year after 40 years of work and paying all the taxes, I didn’t even make a million dollars. The weapon of the military-industrial-complex is “dollarism.” The MIC have mastered the science of dollarism:

The Defense Department spokesperson said: about 1,600 auditors worked on the 2023 audit, which cost $187 million. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) ripped the Department of Defense’s finances for failing its sixth consecutive audit and inability to account for 61% of its $3.5 trillion in assets including thousands of buildings worldwide. The exchange between the House Oversight Committee member and the Inspector General of DOD resulted in heated exchange saying, “I’m sure it’s all gone to Zelensky and Netanyahu!” I would add most money unaccounted may have gone to MBS, corrupt rulers, and the dictators of the Arab world.

Congress showers the Pentagon with billions as millions of Americans pinch pennies. Inflation is at its highest, utility prices are up by over thirty percent, gas prices are at an all-time high, rent prices have set records. And the forecast is for the GDP growth to fall to its lowest to 1.4% in 2024, while U.S. national debt is going to hit a record $34 trillion, that equates to about $100,000 per person in the U.S. The debt grew faster than expected because of  the proxy wars, big tax breaks under Trump, ballooning the Pentagon budget, and wars in Ukraine and Palestine. Biden has been giving blank checks to Ukraine and Israel as if we have unlimited resources. There is growing concern among economists, investors, and rating agencies that the trajectory we are on is unsustainable. Congress should withhold all aid to Ukraine and Israel until there is accountability and transparency. The Pentagon budget should be drastically reduced until it passes an audit, it is time to stop handing in the blank checks.

What is Congress going to do?

Why give billions of dollars to Ukraine, Israel, and the Pentagon when American families live paycheck to paycheck, try to keep roof over their head, keep warm and put food on the table. The money given to the Pentagon, Ukraine, and Israel could be well spent on health care, affordable housing, education, and assistance programs for homeless or utility assistance desperately needed for seniors. What a shame when millions are homeless, millions without medical insurance, millions evicted, millions of students can pay their student loans, and millions live in poverty. Defense contractor’s lobbyists invest heavily in efforts to get more tax-dollars. They are like octopus with long arms to spread their influence.

The members of the appropriation committee have received over $3.25 million in campaign contributions from defense contractors according to campaign finance data compiled by Open Secrets. The campaign contributions to members of Congress by defense contractors is out of control. The defense contractors bankroll their election campaign. There are over a thousand lobbyists, and more than two-thirds of these lobbyists are former government employees including our former Congressman Charlie Dent and Senator Pat Toomey. It is a revolving door. The defense contractors give tens of millions of dollars to the nation’s top think tanks every year. CEO’s and scholars at these lobbyists with the defense industry often author articles or appear in the media promoting and justifying ever higher levels of defense spending with fraudulent research that America is on the verge of attack by China, Russia, Korea, and Iran. We need more weapons.

The waste and the failure of weapon systems is an epidemic at the Pentagon such Littoral combat ships were supposed to launch the Navy into the future. Instead, they broke down across the globe to be scrapped. In short, this is the military industrial complex, and it is working overtime to raise the Pentagon budget at taxpayers’ expense.