US scraps $7 billion in military hardware due to excessive shipping costs

[liberty2897]

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/us-scraps-military-equipment-worth-billions-before-leaving-afghanistan-382182


Washington: The US military has destroyed more than 77,000 metric tons of military equipment - including mine-resistant troop transport vehicles - as it prepares to withdraw from Afghanistan in late 2014, the Washington Post reported today.

More than 7-billion-dollar worth of military equipment is no longer needed, or would be too expensive to ship back to the United States, and much of it is being shredded and sold locally as scrap metal, the Post reported, citing US military officials.

Donating the gear to the Afghan government is difficult because of complicated bureaucratic rules, plus US officials do not believe the Afghans could maintain the gear.

[alucard13mm]

lol... So the next war, we will need to purchase another 7 billion dollars worth of gear.

[kcchiefs6465]

lol... So the next war, we will need to purchase another 7 billion dollars worth of gear.
We will purchase the 7 billion dollars worth of gear no matter what.

Corporate welfare and 'jobs.'

[madengr]

Could be worse, shipping it back to donate to your local police force.

[KCIndy]

lol... So the next war, we will need to purchase another 7 billion dollars worth of gear.

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942244/ikes-warning-of-military-expansion-50-years-later

There's a damn good reason Eisenhower said, "Beware the Military Industrial Complex" when he left office. The little guy's gonna pay with his life, but when it comes to war, the big industries make money coming and going. Literally.

[J_White]

wait, if it takes more than $7 B, to get that stuff back, how much did it take to get it there ?

[tangent4ronpaul]

Could be worse, shipping it back to donate to your local police force.

I thought some were coming home.

like 7,000 MRATs..

-t

[enhanced_deficit]

This is mega waste.

But I would rather this than continue to spend $8 Billion per month for 5 more years on bombimg suspected suspects, children, women, civilians as pupms have been doing so far. $400/gallon being paid for gas.

[devil21]

Could be worse, shipping it back to donate to your local police force.

Melt it down and sell the scrap to China to offset our deficit.

[jtstellar]

ship it back and donate to civilians how's that.. we could use some tax credit refund once in a life time for fuck sake


[mod edited for language]

[69360]

This happens after just about every war, not really news.

[kcchiefs6465]

This happens after just about every war, not really news.
The news should be the billions they are going to spend to rebuild the shit.

[HOLLYWOOD]

Baltic Dry Index (Shipping Rates) are running near an all time low over the past 10 years. http://ycharts.com/indices/%5EBDIY/technical_chart#dataObject=type%3Aindex%2C%2Cid%3A ^BDIY&overlays=type%3Asma%2C%2Cparams%3A50%2C%2C%2Ctype% 3Asma%2C%2Cparams%3A200&indicators=type%3Arsi%2C%2Cparams%3A14&zoom=10&startDate=&endDate=&style=candlestick&periods=market_daily
Baltic Dry Index Chart



5y (http://ycharts.com/indices/%5EBDIY#)
10y (http://ycharts.com/indices/%5EBDIY#)
Max (http://ycharts.com/indices/%5EBDIY#)



So, that said, another LIE by government conning the US taxpayers. Another excuse to waste Americans money again. Could of sold them at home, recycled, numerous uses... but no. They could of sold them to Pakistan, India, allies, whatever, tons of buying available in the immediate region, if they didn't want to ship.

I call out pure BS on shipping costs.

Betcha you'll see State Department USAID over the next few years go laundered to puppet nations to buy this exact same gear off of the US Military Industrial Complex.

[kcchiefs6465]

Baltic Dry Index (Shipping Rates) are running near an all time low over the past 10 years. http://ycharts.com/indices/%5EBDIY
Baltic Dry Index Chart

5y (http://ycharts.com/indices/%5EBDIY#)
10y (http://ycharts.com/indices/%5EBDIY#)
Max (http://ycharts.com/indices/%5EBDIY#)



So, that said, another LIE by government conning the US taxpayers. Another excuse to waste Americans money again. Could of sold them at home, recycled, numerous uses... but no. They could of sold them to Pakistan, India, allies, whatever, tons of buying available in the immediate region, if they didn't want to ship.

I call out pure BS on shipping costs.

Betcha you'll see State Department USAID over the next few years go laundered to puppet nations to buy this exact same gear off of the US Military Industrial Complex.
Not only that but many people are employed building these weapons of war. There is always a reason why something is outdated, needs retrofitted, or we need more of something. It's corporate welfare. MIC subsidies. The overall waste of these policies are really hard to fathom. Not only is our only production things that destroy shit the world over we then pay to rebuild said shit we destroyed. Then we destroy the shit we built to destroy shit and build more. Rinse and repeat. I've seen studies that in the long run it would be better to pay them all to just stay home. Or to pave roads. Their unproductivity is such a waste that we would save money by paying them a salary to do absolutely nothing.

Most Americans do not know this. It is why the B-2 stealth bomber is spread out across what, 40 something states? So it gets damn near unanimous approval for funding. "For jobs." The return these companies get for the amount they spend lobbying Congressmen is something like 150,000%, IIRC. No joke it is that high.

One of the main reasons our country is going to hell in a hand basket. Not to mention the constant wars, and conflicts we inflame. There has to be a reason to continue building these weapons systems. There always has to be a threat. It's the elephant in the room that no one talks about.