re: $29,000,000,000,000 missing from Pentagon/DOD...

quote:

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Fact - government waste is out of control
fact - we have a deficit in excess of $20 trillion
fact - taxation didnt exist until the early 1900s.

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1. Back in the 1980's I audited a naval architect firm. They designed frigates. They absolutely pinched pennies even though they were paid on a cost plus basis. A cousin of mine was a lieutenant commander in the navy. Retired from the Navy in the mid 1990's and went to work for a Pentagon contractor and then in the Pentagon itself as a civilian employee. He's been dedicated to efficiency his entire career. Those are the sum of my first hand knowledge, but both make me feel better about waste.

2. The US National Debt is $20+trillion, not the deficit. The deficit had been shrinking in recent years from something like $1.2 trillion in 2010 to under $700 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept 30, 2017.

3. The federal government, since its founding, has imposed taxes. (See Whiskey rebellion) In the early years the government lived off of tariffs, miscellaneous fees and sales of land. An income tax was first imposed and collected during the Civil War. After the war, the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. The 16th amendment in 1913 made the income tax constitutional.

Read some history