Department of Defense Had $35 Trillion in Accounting Discrepancies in Fiscal Year 2019.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-22/pentagon-racks-up-35-trillion-in-accounting-changes-in-one-year

In fiscal year 2019, authorized DOD spending was $686 billion. In January 2020 Bloomberg reported that the DOD had $35 trillion in accounting errors and unverified/unsupported transactions. Typically, such unverified transactions are just a small fraction of authorized spending. How can it be that “accounting errors” tally to 51 times authorized spending? Accounting errors greater than US GDP…really? Former Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Catherine Austin Fitts has been tracking these problems since the late 1990s, and I have been helping over the last several years. You can learn more about these shenanigans via the links below (Thanks to Rob Kirby for bringing this article to my attention):

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kotlikoff/2019/01/09/holding-u-s-treasuries-beware-uncle-sam-cant-account-for-21-trillion/

Published by markskidmore

Mark Skidmore is Professor of Economics at Michigan State University where he holds the Morris Chair in State and Local Government Finance and Policy. His research focuses on topics in public finance, regional economics, and the economics of natural disasters. Mark created the Lighthouse Economics website and blog to share economic research and information relevant for navigating tumultuous times.

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