"Leaky" Pentagon budget: distributing money for Viagra and sex reassignment consultations

The failure of all six audits, the most recent of which was conducted in November, at both the state and federal agency levels shows the Pentagon’s massive waste of money, according to a Mises Institute article.

The contract system on which the procurement system operates is supposed to encourage and rationalize cost overruns and increase competition, but it has proven to be largely ineffective.

The Pentagon finances its own hospitals, schools and health care, and is constantly criticized for huge increases in spending that contradict ordinary citizens’ expectations for defense.

For example, in 2015, the Pentagon spent $41.6 million on… Viagra, and another $43 million on similar drugs for erectile dysfunction. It is important to note that only 10% of prescriptions were issued to military personnel – the majority were to military retirees. More recent audits show an increase medical expenses associated with gender reassignment and psychological consultations.

Solutions proposed by government watchdogs focus on improving data systems, better integrating accounting tools and using artificial intelligence to gain greater insight into managing Pentagon resources and spending.

None of these “solutions” solve the real problems of accountability, an overgrown bureaucracy, institutionalized political bribery to obtain very expensive contracts that giantly develop the military-industrial complex, and the murky and haphazard set of military missions of the Pentagon.

These “solutions” also fail to address the underlying and rapidly growing discrepancy between the trillions of dollars being “invested” and the actual defense return Americans expect. The Pentagon as it exists today will never be able to complete or pass an audit. In fact, in its latest audit, it was unable to say exactly where $1.9 trillion in previous years’ funds had been spent.

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