VIRAL MOMENT: Michael Waltz Confronts Air Force Officials With Staggeringly Expensive Components
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 เม.ย. 2024
- At today's House Armed Services Committee hearing, Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) questioned Air Force officials about the exorbitant costs spent by the military.
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If you ever wondered how a politician can enter office with a $120K salary and leave 8 years later worth $9M, here you go.
Pelosi could tell you .
@@Slimedog1963 i think you mean socialism, because this is the 'worker's paying themselves.
It isn't capitalism, it's a government contract.
Capitalism is when people are able to shop in a free market for the best prices or best quality item of their choosing.
It's failing because it's NOT capitalism.
Look at the Bidens, compare that to Trump.
i dont think anyone has ever wondered this
look up who warren buffets dad was.... yeah a politician
he gained his wealth through the same means
his first trade was for weapons manufacturing in NEBRASKA
When I was in the Army we had a joke. A general holds up a pencil, saying,"To you it's a 25 cent pencil, but, to the military it's a $25 hand held, portable, graphite fed, transcribing device".😂
Don't lose it
I still prefer the "super expensive pen, developed by NASA that can write in space, zero-gravity!" while the russians use a pencil.
And the generals brother or nephew or other relative owns the pencil company.
@@sirsancti5504the reason not to use a pencil in space is if any of the graphite shavings get loose it is electrically conductive and could cause a problem.
@@sirsancti5504 The pen was made by Fisher and sold at a reasonable cost (even got a discount for bulk purchase, $2.39 each) to both NASA (Apollo 7 onwards) and the Soviets
The entire government needs to be audited by citizens and make the findings public.
It’s been going on for years. Nobody will do anything about it.
Make that $90,000 bag of bushings make sense to someone trying to live on the bottom tier of a Social Security type monthly check. But don't limit making sense to others who have less either.......
@@RUHDD4HVNIf u know anything about jet engines and machining you'll know those things will fall from the sky real quick if u source your parts price first from where ever and skip the costly qc. Like u see with Boeing.
But if u lived the life of the bottom income bracket you'll know out there it may seem like it doesn't even matter whose army you're gonna be drafted to.
@@dmrfnk He had mentioned at least using the Federal Airlines standard for obtaining the parts as it would be much more cost effective and safe too. But I can see what's going on here with a $90,000 bag of military grade bushings. It's called a gratuitous ripoff of the American people. How much would one bushing be at that price per bag? It's possibly $1,000 each more or less.
I would have posed it as, "and make the findings subject to mortal review."
We have been hearing this in Congress since the Ford Administration: $40K toilet seat, $20K screwdrivers and etc.
when does the bullshit stop.
It was a 700.00 screwdriver. It was XXX long of XXX hardness and totally non magnetic and there were 2 per YYY squadron. The reason they cost what they did is because they are not commercial parts. You cant get one anywhere except a YYY sqd and at the time there were less than 100 in the world. You would pay 700+ for a starter on a Cadillac Catera because they were one off parts made in Germany. Price is high because there were not many made.
wait til you know about politicians purchases when in power... the Fox family from the exMexican President it's still mocked until today for their massive purchase of bathroom towels for 1 thousand dollars EACH towel. there was nothing special about them.
That was a $640 Toilet seat. Why did you increase it so much?
Reminder that this has been going on for decades under all administrations and both parties.
Adding to that, many of these items are hyperinflated because they include the cost of the political process of appropriations. If a part *could* be acquired more cheaply, but the factory that currently supplies that part is in the state of a senator on the armed services committee, that part will not be acquired more cheaply.
Every part that goes into aircraft manufacturing is tagged from the ore the parts are made of to final assembly. if there is a part that is malfunctioning it would be impossible for investigators to see which planes are affected without this system in place. Safety is expensive and politicians don't care about your safety when it comes to creating outrage when there isn't any.
@@IAMMADEOFMEATexcept the door bolts
Yep! They kick get backs for the overpriced parts
Its not the people, its the system. And that system is capitalism.
You don't need a 'knowledgeable buyer' to recognise that a bag of bushings for $90k is a ridiculous price. You just need people who aren't corrupt as fuck.
Depends how perfect they need to be, for what, and made of what.
These are for jet engines so may need to be made in a special way...
I can make a computer chip sound like a fucking pile of sand if I strip away the context of WHY it is special.
That isn't to say the bushing are not over priced... it is to say that I also don't trust the cock sucker holding the 90k bag of bushings as a fucking prop...
@@ArkAngelHFB FAA-compliance is ALL that's needed, as stated here. $90,000 is, 100%, robbery. Obviously. There is NO justification.
@@ArkAngelHFB It's a bushing not a piece of high technology. It's basically a simpler metal tube used when ball bearings are overkill. Not that I think politicians are trustworthy but the fact that the guy being questioned who would know just accepted that figure without even blinking tells me that even if that particular bag isn't a $90k bunch of metal tubes that sort of ridiculous pricing is 'normal'.
@@The_Other_Dan Look all I'm saying is...
This reeks of the same kind of contextless bullshit half truth that said NASA spent money developing a pen that could right in space...
While the Russia just used a pencil...
And say it like Russia was smart, and NASA was wasteful.
And if you don't get why spending money to not take notes with something that creates electrically conductive dust every use... while flying inside of a battery in space doing mach fucking 32.
Well I've got a bag of bushing for $25 I pulled some F-150s in a junkyard.
Go put em in your jet engines.
@@ArkAngelHFBthat bag doesnt even cost 1$ in production
I lost my job cause i couldn't take the robbery after a few years. I knew 100% the government had direct purchase agreements with direct manufacturers of products. The very products my company "built" for the government. My boss who i met 2 times over 5 years worked somewhere on the planet. I became friends with the project manager over those 5 years and kept asking why the government was paying 500k for each piece of equipment when they could direct buy from the manufacturer for 50k. Those where the figures and it pissed me off. Eventually the project manager came in my office and said "we did it. We cancelled the hardware portion of the contract and are going direct purchase." 2 month later i was fired. Cost the company 15 million per year over a 10 year contract. They were pissed but i felt great. Like i actually saved the taxpayer a few bucks.
Good on you mate.
Your deed has not gone without being noticed.
One of the most badass things that you can do in the 21st century - I commend and respect you. I wish more were like you, myself included. Something needs to change.
It’s good that you caught the scheme, but you didn’t save the tax payers any money. If the government, including the military, want something they will get it no matter the cost. We still will pay the same taxes. Well, i don’t pay taxes anymore, but people that do will…
You need to file a whistleblower type of suite
Needs to be investigated, and see who is receiving all the kick backs.
Politicians obviously... that's why it's called developed countries, they developed the corruption.
It all leads back to politicians.
Despite the fact that they can be replaced with a computer program, we STILL allow absurd levels of corruption.
More that they want inflated pricing so they can have inflated budgets. Just "in case" the Military Industrial Complex will ever have to take reductions they will doing do on bloated budgets. This also goes for any government - state, county city...
I run a fresh produce processing company. We supply large food service corporations that are awarded bids for government contracts. When we have been invited to bid, we have always lost. When I hired an adviser to help me with the bidding process, he told me we were too low: " They never go with the lowest bid; they only go with bids that are higher than what they are already paying."
We opted to not participate in government bids, we don't want be part of the problem.
I met a woman who bragged to me she sells used monitors "most of which are broken, outdated, don't work" to the military. One of the problems is civilians cannot get jobs within the military so everything goes unchecked.
I have half a bag of zip ties in my shed, I am willing to sell them to the military for the low low price of $20k
And they would take them! 😂😂😂
2 bolts with a bit of rust 50$ each
They'll buy it for "20k" if you let them keep 10
I hope you are not suggesting that the reason things are so expensive has anything to do with fraud, bribery and corruption 😯
@@GhostFuture2000never politicians are always honest lol
$10,000 hammers, $40,000 toilet seats, $80,000 bushings... The real question here is why are we paying taxes to help them do this to us?
It's not even real money. It's fiat currency. It always goes to zero. Every time throughout history.
We are forced to by threat of violence
because they will ruin your life if you don't.
@@pearljamericyeah this country was built of revolt and yet here they are true patriots paying over 40% tax with no raises while prices spike on everything
Secret projects and illegal operations have to be funded somehow.
I faced this as a Vehicle Fleet Manager. People were trying make me spend ridiculous amounts of money on parts I could and were getting much cheaper but they were telling us I had to purchase from a certain “vendor”.
They have all these hearings and nothing is ever done..... what a disgrace
Hospitals do the exact same thing to Americans everyday.
$25 pill of Tylenol
We got a bill for $100 per pill when had our 2nd child
The $750 Green Gello..
I got a good one for ya. I was in an automobile accident last year. Non life threatening injuries. The staff was adamant with me about an air transfer to another hospital. I told them that I didn't have insurance and couldn't even afford the ER visit, much less an air ambulance and I just wanted to go home. They fear mongered me into compliance. Fast forward six months and I receive a bill for $77,084 for a 20 minute flight. I could have been transported via regular ambulance, but the hospital owns it's fleet of helicopters, so they push them on everybody for every situation.
Facts. Ambulances too
If anyone did this on their taxes you’d be in prison. Give them the same punishment
the same prison Hillary was suppose to be in?
There's an idea.
Trump has ben doing this on his taxes he’s not in jail
@@davehuber6949pretty sure trump is one of the only politicians to have less money after being in office.
@@davehuber6949 lol are you referring to the civil fraud case out of ny? No one pays taxes based off the market value of their property, her case is a sham. Evading taxes is a criminal offense, which hunter might actually be guilty of
I was exposed to the government acquisition process when I was in the government. I use to submit tons of RFQ’s for bids and I remember being so confused when we received bids, we would award the bids that were exponentially more expensive than the average. For example I would submit an RFQ for computer equipment; received tons of bids ranging from 30k to 200k. The 30k was exact same thing as the 200k bid with the exception of the 30k bid was from a large supplier and the 200k bid was from a “female owned, veteran owned, LGBT, Native American, minority owned” business and the government will prefer those over some corporation that doesn’t match that criteria. To be clear, this is an extreme example, but it happens and the worst part is the 200k bid would just sub contract out to the 30k bidder and pocket the 170k. It’s why I always said if I were to ever start a company and bid on DOD contracts, find yourself someone who checks all the boxes as a partner.
It’s really not these people’s faults. It’s just the way the calculus is in the government procurement process. It’s completely wasteful.
So you’re the reason for these Outrageous CDDs?
I was working for the DOJ in Australia and every week we poured litres and litres of milk down the drain, threw loaves upon loaves of bread among other things out all in the name of maintaining our budget.
When I reported it I was fired : edit, I know some people have been charged for speaking up. WHY is it a criminal offence to be honest and call out the criminals ? When did this become law and WHY, how do we remove dishonest people from governments all over the globe when they have armies and police at their disposal, what the fuck happened to the world ?????
Just like grocery stores
How does throwing away all of that help you maintain a budget? Isn’t all the stuff already paid for?
@@chuyg92 if we ordered less the following week and so on then the bean counters would look at the year overall and discover we were using less and so they would cut the budget, I hope this explains it to you.
Have a great day
@@Acme12345but why maintain a budget if you don't need that budget and literally throwing it all away the same way energy is lost from inefficient heating units? I don't understand what's the point of them doing that
So....basically, money laundering with tax payer's money.
No, he specifically stated that in this case the USAF was paying commercial rates. He's complaining why the government isn't cheaper - which goes directly against everything his party believes and has been doing for the last 50 years. Seriously, Reagan specifically deregulated the aerospace industry and the Republican party has been on a crusade to deregulate and privatize everything they can (privatize as in force the government to hand contracts for huge amounts of money over to the private sector rather than letting them control manufacturing themselves; by definition).
Also jet engine parts (and plane parts in general) are ludicrously expensive. You could save a bunch by cutting out profit margins, but the cost of those bearings will always be far more than the average person will ever understand.
TLDR; this guy is a cocksucker trying to score political points without doing anything to fix the problem he created. He's probably already followed this up with "why the military should give more money to private companies in my district so they can give me more lobbying money" in a follow on social media post.
@@SealFredy590k for bag of bushing isn’t commercial rates.
say it with me...$34,000,000,000,000 in debt....
there is no money...spent many years ago...only IOU's allowed. 34 trillion of them.
Exactly! $80 billion to Ukraine for guns
If those bushings are aluminum it's a $50 bag. If they are titanium its a $200 bag. So we taxpayers were only overcharged $89,800.
They will always use cheapest and weakest product
What about the cost of the bag? I'm sure that's factored in
Bushings are "wearable" items. Titanium is not a soft metal, and it "work hardens" as it heats up. Bushings are made to wear out, before the main part it is protecting. Brass, copper, bronze, babbitt, some forms of carbon are all suitable bushing/bearing material. Aluminum is not a suitable bushing material for even a lawn mover as it is too soft and will gall easily.
Soooo….
Do those other metals equate to $90K..??
Not sure metal type was the exact point…
Money laundering!!!!!
Putting the bigger problem aside, kudos to these 2 men, actually having discussion and not deflecting or directing blame.
Just recently been promoted to a manager and on an organizational level, I can see the complications, politics and etc that exists within a company.
I can only imagine it would be way more complex within an army for a country. It is not as simple as let's buy from a different supplier, but yet not impossible, someone just need to be accountable to it and work out a solution.
Corporations should be banned. They make it where no one can be held accountable for anything in a company.
A friend was asked by the Royal Air Force to supply wet & dry sandpaper for maintenance tasks. He bought standard wet and dry in bulk from a high street retailer, stamped the back of each sheet with ‘military grade’, and sold it to the RAF for ten times the amount he paid (at that time £20 per sheet for stuff that cost him £2). No one blinked an eyelid at the price, because no one involved in the procurement process (a) knows anything about sandpaper (or anything else), and (b) is paying for it themselves. It’s ’other people’s money’ disease in extremis.
This is NOT an error. This is INTENTIONAL, DELIBERATE, FRAUDULENT, WRONG!
Exactly, lobbyism.
Partially yes. But not fully.
Military contracts often have terms that would be considered VERY exotic in the normal world.
Like you are not allowed to sell the whole tech to anyone else. (Yes, military. You can have that. But it has a price and it is HIGH!)
Like you have to keep the production line up and operational for quick response if necessary. To ensure production readiness, you have to check at least 10 pieces per day. But I'm only going to order 10 each months. So you have to destroy 300 pieces for just 10 product pieces. Guess who pays for the 300 test pieces?
You have to keep staff available for 2 shift operation.
Stupid stuff like that.
@@jackmclane1826 lotta insight i didnt even consider, thanks for your input Jack!
@@jackmclane1826that and then there's the paperwork that goes along with those parts that sometimes weighs more than the actual part. That paperwork is stuff like where the raw metal was last melted, specialty certifications of inspection, material coating certificates and on and on. It's why they cost a lot. I think Elon Musk refers to all that stuff as the "Idiot Index".
@@Halozocker104this is not lobbying lol. This is corruption/price gouging
This is why Eisenhower warned us, in his farewell address, to be wary of the military-industrial complex.
Eisenhower was the last awesome president. I would say JFK was but who knows. He died too early to actually truly find out.
And the first president to ever exist (who was also a Freemason I might add)
And one reason Kennedy was offed.
@@Badfish1978 too early? JFK rejected the Federal reserve Bank as well as the industrial military complex.
@@Badfish1978the fact that he was better de-ad than alive to the powers that be is testimony to that. No one buys the Oswald story
This barely scrapes the surface.
Inflating numbers for deployment, sending vehicles that have not been operable in years over in order to say they had to send so many vehicles, sending people over on deployment only to immediately bring them back because they are being out processed for either retirement or dishonorable discharge in some cases, the amount of waste ordering that happens is astronomical. The military does not like to reuse things.
18% federal income tax, 15% payroll tax, 7% sales tax, 5% or more state income tax....and more. Over half of your check is taken.
In Germany we also pay half of our income to taxes, but at least we have "free" Healthcare
@@ploed yeah, the idea that taxation is theft comes from the fact that US citizens pay almost as much in taxes as any other developed country but they don’t get much in return. If the government put the military budget towards subsidizing healthcare, small businesses, better infrastructure and more low-income housing it would be a much better place to live.
More like 23%. Don't overestimate like they did.
This is not over half your check lol. Understand how progressive tax systems work before spreading misinformation
The math in this comment is staggeringly bad
This brings back the $300 toilet seat and $5,000 hammer
Much worse though.....
We must be similar in age. The toilet and hammer was my first thought.
Exactly what i thought . Its the nixon era effect all over again . In one word , corruption .
They never really stopped doing this. Just every once in a while, something so ridiculous comes up in some hearing, and it gets coverage. But this happens 24x7x365.
@@Hunter-zp5hd Big gubmint.....
always love how empty these chambers are during these meetings. we pay them to do a job and their attendance is optional.
And if you miss a day you lose your healthcare. That's the trickle down working as intended.
Nobody else wants to be called out randomly because they happen to be there
@@theflybaby6736 Anyone who says "trickle down" unironically doesn't know what TF they are talking about
@@yellowusbrickus4821Oh they do. That line worked on the people for decades, it worked as intended
@@cassanateli it’s seems like you understood what I was saying comrade.
Glad they are addressing this, this happens all throughout the country with publicly funded projects.
I’ve been hearing this conversation for 40 years and I’m sure my grandkids will hear it long after I’m gone. The federal government is corrupt to the core
Every person that approved these contracts should be in jail and forced to pay back the money they stole.
It’s everywhere in government. I’ve seen the price tags on local public projects here and it’s insane. $1M to upgrade an outdoor workout area, $10M to add a small extension to a stone house in the park. They claim they go with a bidding auction but everyone is inflating prices in the first place!
Contractors that overcharge because the government trust them may be accountable as well.
AOC got us a 16 million dollar refund.....let's hope he can swing getting us our money back too.....that's what a country in trillions of debt needs regardless of parties. Rand Paul's been digging in people's 🫏 too and I love to see it every time
So the whole pentagon?
I believe this would be included in the budgets voted on by Congress.
Dawg I'm retired airforce and if you think this is bad you ain't seen nothing yet.
It ain’t just the AF……. USN is just as guilty.
Its laughable in the USMC… i remember seeing the price in nalcomis (navy/marine corp digital ticketing system for aviation) for a standard smal box of screws… was hundreds of dollars through dod and i could buy the same box from home depot for like $15
Its a scam 100%
Bachman turner overdrive
@@BamBamUSMC True. You know how we got that POS? The Air Force didn't want it. And let's face it, the suck was down right frugal compared to the rest. That's why there was no sht paper come Sept. Sending money back every year...
Avi Marine here. The numbers are crazy 😂 @@BamBamUSMC
Thats maybe $100 in parts. Follow the money and see whos making out like bandits.
GE mate.
As a former maintainer in the USAF I can confirm that the DOD overspends by such insane amounts. That price is correct. I can’t say how many times I’ve seen a bag of screws, regular Philips head screws, be priced out at thousands of dollars. On top of that we also get screws by the hundreds that are individually packaged…the amount of money that the USAF spends on hardware alone is mind blowing.
I was Air Force for 23 years. The " lose it if you don't spend it" budget model is a huge part of the problem on budgets. This was pushed all of the way down to the lowest person. I was " instructed" to purchase parts and supplies from a specific few local suppliers in Iraq while I was deployed there. I would make my orders with the "local suppliers" and a few weeks later I would see the products I ordered offloaded from a KBR or other US contractor supply airplane, delivered to the "local suppliers" and then the local would deliver them to me. They didn't even try to hide the scam. This was just the tip of the iceberg.
Absolutely
Government needs to get rid of thus use it or lose it model
The five step process of non-executive level government spending.
1) New budget just came in, catch up on our backlog of supplies.
2) Fuck we have something urgent, *unlimited dollars!*
3) Alright guys we spent way too much on that, total freeze on all spending I don't want anyone buying toilet paper without supervisor approval.
4) Quarters up and we still have money in the budget, buy whatever you can justify or we won't get that money again next year.
5) Who ordered all this shit?
Very true.
Same story in the private sector. Use that monthly overtime budget or it won’t be there when you need it. The only excuse that ever made sense to me is that it’s more expensive to micro-manage than to be wasteful. Didn’t the SOVIET UNION prove that?
@@Wowzer123absolute bullshit!
The government pays $90,000 for that $200 bag of bushings, and $89,800 goes back in to the pockets of the politicians that signed the contracts for those parts.
bingoooo
sounds like africa, getting billions for africa project but 99% goes back in the pockets of who sent the money and in the gov pockets in africa and none for the project
Don't forget the 10% executive cut
That bag is like $10 tops no joke
And I'm pretty sure $200 would be the retail price; the real cost of those parts must be perhaps $30 including labor.
I worked for a government contractor and we did inventory. We found pallets of bolts, pipes, plastic moldings and random box of stuff with a shipping label and price tag of over a couple million dollars, no lie.
Literally how money laundering works
Former Air Force Aircraft Mechanic here. Sometimes, when we got bored we would look up the cost of parts on Fed Log (our parts ordering system.) The amount we pay for normal parts is jaw-dropping. 90k? Chump change. I once found a screw in the Air Force inventory that cost 1200 bucks, PER SCREW.
Fed log - Walmart
I was in the Army and saw the same kind of thing. What really pisses me off though is that eventually most people become used to or "numb" to the insane prices of things and then say "oh its only 100k" for something thats not even worth a grand. Then when discussing with them the price of a missile (or whatever) and someone argues its way overpriced, they push back saying oh thats not much money cause we spend x,y,z on bolts or whatever. Drove me insane.
One particular nut we used on the KC--135R engine cowling cost $435 each, they couldn't be reused, and there was 60 of them per engine, and just due to flightline maintenance they would need to be replaced every 4 weeks to 6 weeks for active duty aircraft.
The tool room inventory bin had the cost of every item stamped on the card and a lot of it was ungodly prices.
@@Nopadope But you can't pick up the exact same thing at Home Depot.
Takes getting screwed to a whole new level😂😅
Just went through my dad's old shop, found about $2.2 million worth of nuts, bolts, and washers. Who can I contact from the pentagon to sell these to? I'll even cut them a deal, $1.9 million.
I've got 14million worth in my shed. I'll go ya halves if you can sell them for 10 million
Do you have e traceability for every screw, for every hand it touched from the moment the base metal came out of the ground?
If you do does it apply to all regulations required for aerospace?
I see you do t understand what you think you know
@@Rabid_Turtleand same goes with you if you compliment over tax spending. I’m getting sick and tired of people touching my money
I hate whiny babies who cry about paying taxes. You utilize more in infrastructure than you will ever contribute with your taxes. This world brings a bunch of spoiled brats who think they shouldn’t pay tax but get to use all the stuff that taxes have funded.
@@MMattes oh my bad, just didn’t realize I was sitting on a gold mine in my garage. Unless…
Dear General, "my friend can make your bushings" .... " They are costly, but that new house you now own by the beach looks nice.....???...doesnt it."
I had asthma when I was a child and grew out of it about 9. Took JROTC, played football, did martial arts and was a powerlifter all through highschool. I crushed the presidential fitness challenge, got an 89 on my asvab and was so stoked to fulfill my dream of joining the military as a pilot- only to be turned down by every branch because of the aforementioned childhood asthma.
Corruption should be a crime and should be punished with years and years of jail time.
Im pretty sure treason is capital punishment
Surprise! Corruption is a crime, and it has years and years of jail time. Of course there are so many types of corruption that you can't put an exact number on it. Some corruption is a slap on the fingers, another type is 15 years in prison. The issue with corruption in most countries is that the people that need to bring a case, are often the buddies of the person that is accused, or it is very difficult to prove that something is corruption, and not just someone being an absolute idiot in his job. You can be not suitable in any way shape or form for your role, but that is not corruption. A lot of people should be in jail, but yeah.. Prove it..
We don't have enough prisons for that.
technically it is they just don't enforce laws on the elite as much.
@@tking6330we do if we make em cause government seems to have money to build prisons for minorities
As a struggling citizen that bag of bushing would change my entire life l..
Become a defense contractor and start selling bushings?
I currently live off of 9000 a year. That bag would last me a damn decade.
@@2MeterLP when ur whole life only worth several bags of bushings
Buy a cnc machine and create bushings.
@Bumbobdoodle they aren't cncd. They're stamped
Yeah. 20 years ago, I asked questions. I was told not to ask questions.
Always been a huge problem with the Government paying too much for all kinds of items whether military or not military parts.
$500 for a flashlight that can be purchased for $ 40.00.
A mens robe that cost $35.00 the Government pay"s $ 125.00.
A toilet seat cost $ 30.00 yet the Government will pay $ 200.00.
I have a friend who bought a war era jeep. It had a burned out headlight so he went to the military to buy a replacement, it was hundreds and hundreds of dollars to buy. He refused to purchase it and said he would get one from the manufacturer, he was told to go ahead. So he went to GM for the part and was quoted the same price for the headlight! He asked why they would sell a cheap little headlight so outrageously over priced, their answer? Because the govt will spend that much for it.
Part of that cost is the OEM having to stock that part. How many decades of storage did it cost to keep that part available. That's why OEM can be so expensive.
1000 dollar hammers and 50 dollar rolls of 120 grit paper called tp and there is your answer
$500 toilet seat. No, these parts don't change over time.
The government is paying to keep a GM assembly line open that will make those headlights to rigidly defined standards. Not necessarily tight tolerances, but whatever weird legacy requirements they've defined. When a consumer buys OEM, that headlight didn't actually come out of a GM factory. It was cranked out by some third tier vendor who outsourced to China decades ago. The only connection to GM is the logo they laser etch on the side.
Absolutely the system's broken but there are no easy fixes.
@@maweitao …this story took place mid 80’s. Imagine what it costs now!
The government doesn’t care how much it cost. They don’t pay for it. We do. And they force us to.
"They"
the government is us bro vote better
@@g2avityhitz I voted for trump. See how that went. Voting does nothing. They install who they want. This country is going to need a reboot sooner or later.
Hey they pay taxes to bro😂
US Government agencies have limited budgets. Programs operating under those agencies have limited budgets. Those agencies and programs definitely care how much things cost. Because they have to operate under a limited budget.
When the agency is DoD, that is when congress starts practically writing blank checks. Hearings like this show that some people in congress do care. Vote for those people - the ones standing up for you in the way government is run trying to make sure it is run responsibly.
And the second you criticize the miitary for this bs, you're immediately labeled a "traitor", "anti american", etc etc. it's insane
ladies and gentleman he is what is termed widespread corruption when it happens in africa
WAKE UP PEOPLE WAKE UP
"I will gladly pay for those bushings......" - George W. Bushings
Thanks for the giggle 😂
Ah yes…George W Bushings,inventor of the bushing and also the letter “W”.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
I work in aerospace, and my company builds “things” for the military. I’ve seen my company charge $34,000 for something that only cost us a few hundred.
Yeah it's understandable that workers have to be paid to make the parts and test them but markups like that are criminal and the reason why is because all of these companies have no competition they can just charge whatever they want its a monopoly and the few other companies that exist conspire to keep prices high this problem is making its way into every industry and its eating America alive the car industry is just as bad
I work with on a fed contract. There’s a small part that’s less than 50 cents to buy but we sell it for 85 bucks. Oh a pack of pens “made by the blind” that’ll be 90 bucks
My comment was d3l3ted because our utube overlords don't want me to say that companies c0nzpire to keep prices h1gh and that real competition is needed
be a whistle blower
Pretty sure the problem we're talking here is risk and assurance. If a bolt you buy from home depo happens to be defective and breaks your gate falls off, big deal. bolt breaks on an aircraft the whole thing could go down. This would be paying for a degree of ongoing test and assurance that the company can make a claim the product is safe for this purpose, while having some risk budget to cover their insurance in the event it isn't...
Bro this is called corruption.
It is alarming at how pathetic the American government is
This is nothing new, even before W’s re-invasion of Afghanistan & Iraq 20 years ago. I fixed F-15s in the USAF and the prices on some of the most basic parts would cost hundreds to thousands a piece! And just like the bushings in this video, $300+ for a trunnion or $1600 for a piece of stamped aluminum that does nothing but hold a light bulb in place, no moving parts, no power sources, nothing like that. This is the real reason why the military budget is so high: weapons developers and manufacturers charge the most they can get away with and the individuals who approve this stuff likely get compensated well, and none of them care either because it just gets “billed to the American taxpayers”. This is fraud, waste, and abuse institutionalized and it seems like it always has been.
this is exactly how they are going to expend part of the 61b AID for Ukraine and Israel.
Because all the politicians get their kick backs. You know that Boo Boo Biden is getting his 10% of everything!
Say it like it is my veteran. Its soo sad, Eisenhower warned of this
It has always been this way - those with the weapons shake down those without. If you don't buy it, your enemy surely will.
if in computer parts are expensive. RAM you can buy online as a consumer for $100 bucks would probably cost around $500 or more (not sure because I don’t work as data center tech, just guessing). It’s the same exact product too. It’s just that US military is forced to buy from a verified supplier which means they can charge whatever they want for it. To “save” money, some hardware is so old that it was designed to run Windows Server 2008 and now we got Windows 2k16 and 2k19 on them and it’s ridiculously slow. Updating the severs with a security update can take two to three hours. If they got hardware from at least 2019, the updates would take 10 to 15 minutes. I guess I should feel lucky because the longer the server maintenance takes, the better it is for my employment in IT for Navy.
Notice how when he actually answered they moved on rather than getting anything done? There is zero interest in cutting costs.
The faces of those taking notes told a story too.
To be fair, he has limited time to talk and a million problems need solving. But no, it will probably never be fixed.
I agree! Why bring up the topic and grill the guy, then when he tries to answer him, tell him there’s no time lol
Your right this just for grandstanding and to insure the gets paid his cut.
Nothing ever comes of these committee hearings. It’s all acting tough then doing nothing.
Anyone commenting here about how this is a rip off needs to be quiet unless they understand what the acronym ALARP stands for. If you don’t know what that stands for, and you ever find yourself in a position where the systems you are accountable for pose a risk to the lives of your personnel, get ready for some serious jail time.
There is NO incentive for the military/government to save money. NONE!
20K to the manufacturer, 70K to pay off the groups who approve these contracts/sales.. sounds like a win/win to everyone.. except the tax payer.
Its more like the company gets all the money, and the politicians buy stock in that company because they know it will do well because of the contract. If they gave direct money it would be fraud and super easily noticed by the irs, as that is actually illegal. But for whatever reason, buying stocks isnt.
Modern politics
More like $100 to the manufacturer…
@@Mr_Eyeholes only if they are chinese company
@@Mr_Eyeholes $100 my arse. I can tell you have NEVER had to pay for one single approved aviation part where a single bolt can cost over $700. Yes there is massive waste but aviation parts(FAA Approved) are crazy expensive as each individual part is x-rayed and examined. You don't run down to the local NAPA and buy this stuff
Do you remember the 1980s when John Stossel used to expose this sort of thing on a regular basis and got kicked off of TV for it? $400 screwdrivers and $600 toilet seats?
Pepperidge Farms remembers.
But Pepperidge Farms ain’t just gonna keep it to Pepperidge Farm’s self. Maybe you buy yourself some of these distinctive Milano cookies, maybe this whole thing goes away.
John stossel still exposes stuff like this to this day on his TH-cam channel. But people wanna watch the mainstream media and be brainwashed instead of deal with the truth
As I recall, there was a zillion dollar hammer too.
Yes, I remember, bless his heart.
@@neil12011😂😂
Much of this is reflective of how the contract is written, the government wants the manufacturer to conduct destruction testing on items not manufactured by them. The hammers, toilet seats, etc still require destructive testing driving the cost up to ridiculous prices. I know being in the manufacturing industry for 42+ years.
As a machinist who manufactures aerospace parts regularly, I often laugh it the price these idiots pay.
I'm so glad so many Congressmen showed up for this subcommittee meeting.
Taxpayers don't have a gov't.
So? they been doing this since before I was born I've been screaming about it all my life and yet here we are! Screwdrivers we're 65.00 40 yrs ago!?
So what are we going to do?
@@tazzerdeathstalker let's start with "no taxation without representation" and follow a historical precedent.
Haven't had a "government" since ... well ever! This has always been about those we elect and not us.
Those people don't work for anyone and they are routinely absent from hearings because they don't care. The idea of representation and the responsibility it carries was lost a long time ago. The only hearings they attend are partisan in nature, where they can hop on camera and provide a sound bite to the complicit media.
Yes Free people have no boss but Politicans do, they are called Tax Payers. $90,OOO, So who gets the obscene profit.
Imagine if they did this to the health care system.. asking why does insulin cost $500 when it costs $5 to make???
Monopoly
Greed
What do you mean IF? This is happening in healthcare RIGHT NOW. The only difference is scale because the consumers/patients don't have the leverage congressmen do. When I order my dad's CPAP supplies through insurance supplier, insurance pays something like 60-70% of the invoice, but he's still out $200 a month from what insurance doesn't cover. Guess what? At an online CPAP retailer he can get the SAME EXACT PRODUCTS (same friggin part numbers) in the same quantity for the exact same out-of-pocket spend. The healthcare and insurance companies use their lobbying power and monopolistic size to negotiate a GIANT payout for themselves masquerading as "taking care of you." Carlin was right all alon: it's a big damn club, and we ain't in it!
Fun fact: it is ILLEGAL for a pharmacist to tell you how much a covered medicine costs out-of-pocket if they already know you have insurance. Want to take a guess how that law came to be?
Probably costs 5cents to make... let's be realistic
Lmao this has to be a joke. Fyi it is happening and has been
As someone who was diagnosed with ADHD at 16 and taking meds at 17 until about 22 I wanted to serve in the air force as a pilot like my grandfather but was barred from doing so. It’s a real shame that people like me who want to serve simply cannot; even if there is no medication involved anymore. Anyways my journey didn’t stop there I lawyered up and got accepted into flight school and now I will fly commercially instead. Fix your fucking regulations.
Very valid points by the Congressman.
Anyone so greedy they're gouging on an already priviliged position should be banned from the supplier list for life - and sent to prison for a holiday to think about it.
Ah but "cost-plus" contracts:
"You gave us 20 million to do this but we ran out before it's done. Can we have more money?"
"Of course, here's another 20"
"Guys we're broke, and we didn't finish it..."
"Have some more money!"
It's an oem part. They have the right to charge whatever they want. This is America, don't forget it. It's the united states governments job to search out the best deals. You should be pointing the finger at the people who do the buying
@@user-lv7ph7hs7l My dad was military and he said this was how the Air Force built their bases and why they were nicest bases. They'd build everything not essential first, then run out of money before they got to the runway. :p
Problem is, they are civilian contractors. Look at the comments, these halfwits think it's dA GuBeRmInT! These are literally civilian contractors that are scamming the US government and tax payers. They make up more than 50% of our military budget. The Government isn't as remotely as corrupt business owners in this country.
@@E1VM Yes but its also the companies that are giving out bribes to get the contracts...
A friend was in the Air force, and after she left she went to work for Boeing. She was stunned that parts she was using in the military were half if not even more cheaper in the civilian district. This is what happens when corporations are allowed to go unregulated do to lobbying and can milk the tax payers pocket books.
Don't blame the companies. They exist to make money. A bear's gonna poop in the woods. Blame the government for allowing it.
The only reason those military parts were cheaper is because they have long standing contracts and made those parts frequently. When you get into NADCAP certified companies you cant manufacture parts cheap like that nor can you use parts from commercial or regular military contracted projects. The tolerances, alloys etc are all different.
@@rightwingsafetysquad9872 The problem lies within the system itself. On paper, political power is sovereign and separated from the private sector. However, in reality, both are intertwined in a sort of morbid codependency / feedback loop. Companies and their owners support election campaigns, financially back parties, and employ lobbyists. That focuses political will towards a company-centric view and leads to policies/regulations that favour aforementioned companies and wealthy individuals again. Then the cycle repeats. Not to mention personal enrichment and collusive behavior between government officials and business.
@@TheThomson94 True. But I think this might just be the least terrible system. Almost all anti-lobbying attempts have run against free speech concerns in the past, even when politicians earnestly try to improve things. The military could in-house manufacturing, but then that risks stagnation and DMV level slowness.
I don't know a lot about how other militaries do better, but from what I can tell it's 2 things. China just takes control of companies that aren't operating in good faith. And everywhere else just has better people. In Europe and Japan it seems like there's a greater sense that everyone is just playing a different role on the same team. But in America everyone in the private sector is motivated to maximize their profit and everyone in the government, military, and academia is motivated to maximize their prestige.
Lol it is all the red tape that Jack's the price up. I love everyone sees the problem but some just want to make it worse
Who bought theses? And from whom? Jail, no prison time is in order.
I guarantee that those bushings cost about $0.03 each. Whoever is charging $90,000 for that bag should be in prison.
“You don’t actually think they spend $20,000 on a hammer, $30,000 on a toilet seat, do you?”
Lol I remember that line but yes the government is actually that piss poor at getting good prices. Sometimes I'm sure it's lying to cover up stuff which is still a problem because there are classified budget items that don't get reported as it is.
I remember this! From Independence Day quote to the president!!
They do "spend" it. Tax payers just don't get any value back.
Are those Trump evaluations?? Every wealthy person in a position of power is corrupt
Independence day quote
How our tax money is spent is Outrageous! Sooooo much corruption! 😑
Wait till you look up the military paying 900k for coffee cups for officers one year just one
It's not tax money. It's printed credit created by the Fed.
@@m4inline... it's tax money as well
We've become a third world country. Previous administrations hid their corruption. Now it's out in the open. They don't have any shame.
🙌 BS right 😡 and Lets not forget the BILLIONS we're giveing to OTHER countries too 🤦🤦🤦 ... WE dont even get a bag of bushings outta it 😣🙃
Unreal!!!
One of the reasons I left the military after 10 years was because I witnessed the exhorberant amount of money spent on the most mundane things; the best way to support our troops is to cut the defense budget and put the pressure on the military-industrial complex. Getting price gouged by Boeing, Lockheed, and General Dynamics doesn't add up to military readiness, but the exact opposite.
As long as our corrupt politicians make bank off of the corrupt MIC, this never ends.
Keep complaining...its working wonders so far...🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@Slimedog1963 and do you have a solution? I bet not, so what else do we have to do about it?
People like you are ridiculous.
@@murkadelic422The MIC is great, but you understand it could be so much better? Without being price gouged the government can save millions and put that towards R&D or better parts or better equipment. Corruption = bad let’s get that in our heads
yea imagine these politicians are actually baffled like this is some new discovery to them, pretty sure they're just putting on an act
ow but it goes far deeper then politicians and even the chair force.
If I didn't buy food, gas, or pay rent for 2 years, I could almost afford to buy that bag of bushings.
Breaking news: here are some things everyone knew were going on.
If I was in charge of all that, I could decrease so much waste!
I joined the AF in '07, saw sht like this my whole career and what do they tell you if you raise questions? "Shut up and color". Verbatim. And we know it's been an issue decades before my time - Yea, this issue isn't going away anytime soon.
He acts as though Congress has nothing to do with the problem when those bastards all have stock in the companies that have these contracts. He should arrest himself
uhh yea that’s not the case here mr fox news
I have stock in the most of these companies, because it's just no brainer, R and D paid for by the US and then sell it back to US with fat profit
What are those companies
@@stemba16 yeah R&D for aluminum or titanium bushing that costs $90k
You don't arrest people for owning stocks in companies. A winning stock is a winning stock.
Now I’m beginning to understand
Why we owe $35 TRILLIONS 🤮
But think how much it contribute to GDP 😲😅
We don't owe anything to anybody there's no higher power than the government. How can our government be 35 tril in debt when there the ones printing money??? It's a joke the whole system is....
@@user-jh5dq9vc1v
Ummm, I’ll pass, my cousin received a
Free trip to Nam in 68, lost use of
His legs, was a cowboy, he too got a “free van”
Theft, lies, and grift are things I prefer to avoid.
We owe $35 trillion because of Medicare/medicaid/social security. Full stop
@@panzermk8 You owe trillions because of your incredibly expensive military. Also, medicine shouldn't be privatized. If you stop the privitization of basic human rights, costs go way way down.
What is not understood, that the company that made the bushings, has to be certified, the bushings have to be certified, but still charge too much, here in Australia, we can't just buy a bottle of 222 loctite from the local store, it needs to go through the system, if for aircraft use it needs to come tagged from the manufacturer of the aircraft.
The fact that the government pays outrageous prices for simple products is ridiculous!!
I was an electricians mate in the Navy and I once had to order a $20k circuit breaker. You could get the same exact breaker for less than $100 anywhere else. Always blew my mind why the military spends dumb ass amounts of money on literally anything.
First off, I'm not defending the amount of money the Military wastes on a lot of shit but it's true, they do.
But, what platform and what was the breaker being used for? I was an Aviation Electrician for the Navy in '03-'08, I've never seen a circuit breaker anywhere near that price for two different birds.
After the Navy I went to work for Lockheed and several other electronics manufacturers of Class 3 and NASA products, and there can be a lot more to a piece of product than "Yes it's a breaker for 100 amps ± 10%". Being used on an aircraft (usually only Class 3 electronics are purchased for them but there are exceptions), the breakers might have additional rating requirements we're not aware of like a vibration rating, temperature rating, a higher ±% rating, how many times can they be reset, etc. It's possible they're putting a breaker into the cockpit area of say a Mercury when it doesn't require additional temperature rating and wasting money on additional rating that they didn't need. It's also possible that they're using less than what they need, hence why the aircrafts almost always seem like they're falling apart when they come back from flights.
I remember buying a keyboard for $15k while in the navy
It’s how they keep their budget so high.
Because they're lining their own pockets while justifying their absurd budget
does the 20k circuit breaker come with that surge protector warranty in the event of damage to the things connected? if not, then idk. is it any more reliable? wouldnt want a ship to loose power while going under a bridge or anything like that...
As an ex aircraft maintainer, this issue has been raised from the ground up for years. The answer is the officers in charge of arranging the contracts have standing job offers for when they retire to sit on the board of these aerospace companies and financially incentivized to overpay. It’s a fucking embarrassment to have been a part of this racket.
It may have been embarrassing for you but you stayed and made money from the very system you now scorn, so for that I say to you , stay quiet or give back all the money you made
@@freespeech4023 since they said theyre a maintainer and not a maintenence technician, that tells me they had a job contract they couldnt just back out of.
Youre allowed to be a part of a problem, and recognize your part in it and feel ashamed later on, and then speak out against it.
Thats called personal growth and recognizing your faults.
@@freespeech4023 Lmao. This is like getting mad at the white house chef for the government doing bad things.
"yOu'Re pArT oF ThE sYsTeM" like bro, he just cooks the chicken, calm down.
@@freespeech4023 U.S. military gets people into contracts they have to fulfill. Most of the guys signing those contracts might as well be janitors. What kind of agency does a janitor who is bound by law to serve have to affect change?
@@freespeech4023I guess you missed the part where he said they've been raising the issue. You know, like, trying to help bring attention to and resolve it?
It's simple, they aren't spending their money, they're spending ours.
Look at all of those empty seats. Where are our employees, our servants?
Why is this type of criminal activity not punished? Auditors needed desperately to staunch this financial hemorrhaging.
Your taxes are paying everyone to not do that.
the same congressperson making the point about this also voted to give the military more money lol.
Because it is a means of keeping the status quo as it is (getting special people jobs or board member positions that this funds) and of channeling money into black projects.
Because in the US government we have 5 people trying to fix problems and everyone else is crooked. We have people reporting criminals, to other crooks, who will do nothing about it
No unfortunately
The 🚽$600 toilet seats back in the 1980's was a bargain 💵
for real
Wasn’t just a toilet seat. It was an enclosure similar to an airline head. The whole enclosure. It was for a P-3 an aircraft I spent 4000+ hours in.
The companies charging $90k for those bushings need to be held responsible.
Looks like metal washers, not rubber bushings, none the less $90,000 is highway robbery.
Typical Government BULLSHIT.
Yeppers that's the truth!!!
It's not the government per sei its the Military Industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about!
War Is a Racket
~ Smedley Butler, Major General, USMC, 1935
If I go to the recruiting office and hear about shortages of our weapons because CEOs cut off the top I’d rather go to jail than the trenches. I’ve been worried about this for years seeing the death grip those companies have on our govt and how much they are firing engineers for profits. For christs sake Boeings planes have fallen apart because they wanted to be more profitable if they are willing to out their own customers at risk willingly for money they are willing to kill soldiers because they want to charge more and I’m not gonna be the cuck that gets killed in war while suits are at home living it large off of our blood.
What wars did Smedley fight in?
@@aymonfoxc1442Philippine-American War, Boxer Rebellion, Mexican Revolution, First World War, and the Banana Wars. Received the medal of honor twice.
@@aymonfoxc1442 Several between 1898 and 1931, including WW1. His actions earned him so many awards that he was the most decorated Marine in history when he was still alive. Awards included two Medals of Honor. He was the kind of man to have considered these his lesser accomplishments in life. But you asked.
@@aymonfoxc1442
More than you pal
In my home town, the local government wouldn't stop demolishing and rebuilding the roads because they take cuts from the budget for spending on the raw materials. Traffic keeps piling up in our area and the roads don't even get any better after the reconstruction.
My dad who did civil engineering would drive past the half built roads and mention how poorly made they are. My mom who works at the local government office would hear of the higher-ups arranging themselves "team building trips" to other countries.
Absolutely disgusting how the government spends our money. Hard earned taxpayer money, just blown like it’s wheeled out on printing press.
Total Fn BS.
This is ridiculous. Who even approves these purchases? Like who sees a cost of $90000.00 fir a bag of bushing and says "ok deal". This is outright criminal and every party should be held responsible.
Problem is they fired all the government engineers who checked this kind of thing... to save money.
They got rid of the experts so people wouldn't know they were getting ripped off.
The guy who’s brother owns a Bushings making factory
The people put into positions to orchestrate unnecessary spending of others money to get rich
Because when it comes to aviation and dod everything comes down to what’s written in the doctrine.
Its the same scam as back in the 80's when they were caught listing hammers as costing $500. This how they hide the money for black projects.
There used to be a joke about the $400 lightbulb when I was in the military. Now I know it wasn’t a joke. I am glad that congress members are challenging this problem and being civil about it.
Nothing will happen. It never does.
They're just putting on a show. They're all in on it.
They're paid actors... literally.
There reaping the benefits.
It's beyond the point of being civil.
I wonder what we.. as citizens.. and as a whole.. can do to rid our government of corruption.
Man, ...my Pappy should have stayed in the Air Farce .. he and my family would've had it made !!! 😂 !
😂😂😂 90,000 and we are talking about fixing it rather than pressing charges for robbing our people
Exactly
We won't see anything fixed because the extremely high costs will just switch to different items.
When criminal activity has been going on for decades infecting all the highest departments in government... nobody will be held accountable.
It's the equivalent of the Legion of Doom running our government today... and expecting the Legion of Doom to arrest those in the government stealing money.
Isn't it ridiculous? Where are the arrests? So maddening!!!
that's insane 😂 90k for a bag of bolts 🤣
They're bushes not bolts.
We can't afford it anymore????? Why would we EVER pay that? Because our bureaucrasy is corrupt and has been for a LONG time.
not so much as misunderstood, when you have a buyer which has zero clue as to use of a product, a $500. claw hammer may be reasonable when the paperwork indicates that is what they paid form them last year, or last order. Here's one no one brings up....each state will get a piece of a contract, think a pick up truck, and all its parts. Each part is bought from different states and then shipped to one location for assembly. It's vote security.....I tell a Senator, there is a facility in your state which employees 300 tradesmen and they produce XYZ for our military, we need your VOTE on this defence spending bill. What are they going to do....vote yes...as long as they keep those 300 jobs active. But it is all of us doing this and paying for it via higher taxes.
You have no idea. While $90K is a bit of a stretch, not as much as you think, this is how DOD pays for Black Ops projects. Not only that, FAA Spec parts are crazy expensive. Don't ever buy a plane, you will go broke in no time with the maintenance.
@@MATTNMEMPHIS Black ops, have a budget already. CIA has one, Other branches have budgets, and they are all classified hidden deep in Biden's garage.
..its much worse than that ... at peek Russia was using 40,000 shells a day ..Ukraine 6000 .. worse 800 bases around world .. worse besides no shells .. the 155 artillery wears out and breaks quick ... before Ukraine ran out of 1 55 .. their artillery was out 300 - 500 meter s .. [ worn junk ]
Apparently you can as Mike Johnson and the Republicans just sent ANOTHER...yes...ANOTHER $95,000,000,000 to the "Others"...Good thing Americans are complaining on social media...Problem solved!!!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Why aren't these people being charged?
CALL THEM OUT !!