Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also authorized the $100,000 purchase of a Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home, according to a watchdog report
That isn’t how budgeting works under basically any system.
You are allocated N dollars per year. If you don’t use it then you have demonstrated you didn’t need N dollars and your budget for the next year is “reconsidered”.
As for sharing between orgs? That gets into the idea of Power Of The Purse. Because in a utopia? Yeah. We didn’t need as many missiles this year so let’s pay for a few new MRIs. But under the world we live in? Extreme pressure to take away medical funding and give it to the military because 9-11.
And… one can argue that most of that even serves The Military. Less so the piano. But rewarding the military with food before you ask them to go pillage a country in a new war (and try to not record themselves doing the rapes) is a tale as old as time itself. Just like how buying everyone in a division a new computer is the reward for coming in under budget.
No. Like almost everything, the issue is that we, as a country, only want to fund the military and never anything that actually benefits the people.
I know how budgeting works. I’m basically saying now that some light has been shed by watchdogs on how frivolous the defense budget used their excess for nothing related to defense [arguably] that the discretionary funds can be allocated to other areas which can absolutely be done in a sane government. But nah, they might need that excess later on to kill more brown people so let’s just blow it all on lobster tails and ribeyes right now, sure!
So what you are saying is that spending the surplus is like spending 1 dollar from your lemonade stand so your parents give you $10 next year instead of $9?
Pretty much. You don’t say “Oh, lemons were cheap this year so here is your money back”. Because they might cost more next year.
Optimally you invest that money back into the business. Buy office supplies and equipment that will cross fiscal years. And… morale does matter when you are convincing people to die and commit crimes for you.
But, again, big pianos for political appointees don’t really fall into that category.
That isn’t how budgeting works under basically any system.
You are allocated N dollars per year. If you don’t use it then you have demonstrated you didn’t need N dollars and your budget for the next year is “reconsidered”.
As for sharing between orgs? That gets into the idea of Power Of The Purse. Because in a utopia? Yeah. We didn’t need as many missiles this year so let’s pay for a few new MRIs. But under the world we live in? Extreme pressure to take away medical funding and give it to the military because 9-11.
And… one can argue that most of that even serves The Military. Less so the piano. But rewarding the military with food before you ask them to go pillage a country in a new war (and try to not record themselves doing the rapes) is a tale as old as time itself. Just like how buying everyone in a division a new computer is the reward for coming in under budget.
No. Like almost everything, the issue is that we, as a country, only want to fund the military and never anything that actually benefits the people.
I know how budgeting works. I’m basically saying now that some light has been shed by watchdogs on how frivolous the defense budget used their excess for nothing related to defense [arguably] that the discretionary funds can be allocated to other areas which can absolutely be done in a sane government. But nah, they might need that excess later on to kill more brown people so let’s just blow it all on lobster tails and ribeyes right now, sure!
So what you are saying is that spending the surplus is like spending 1 dollar from your lemonade stand so your parents give you $10 next year instead of $9?
Pretty much. You don’t say “Oh, lemons were cheap this year so here is your money back”. Because they might cost more next year.
Optimally you invest that money back into the business. Buy office supplies and equipment that will cross fiscal years. And… morale does matter when you are convincing people to die and commit crimes for you.
But, again, big pianos for political appointees don’t really fall into that category.