Use It Or Lose It Gourmet Style

The phrase “Use It Or Lose It” has been used to describe many things. It is often used in corporate or government settings when discussing budgetary spending limits. For instance, if a specific department has a budget of $1 million and only uses $600,000, chances are their budget will be reduced the following year.

Does this necessarily make sense? No, it doesn’t because what a department needs to spend within a year to reach its goals fluctuates. That said, most departments will always try to spend at least what they are budgeted so they don’t even take a chance of having their budget reduced.

This method is obviously flawed. If a department is aware that it will not spend as much as it has been budgeted, it will suddenly increase its spending over the last month or the last few months. You don’t have to be a genius to understand that some, if not most, of this money is being spent frivolously and not out of a real need. The only goal is simply to spend it or, as the saying goes, “Use It Or Lose It.”

An interesting case in point arose in the military spending from September of last year. It’s interesting not only because of the amount of money spent but also because of what it was spent on.

Under the Biden administration, more money was spent in September than in any other month since 2008. The largest purchases went towards expected items, with $3 billion spent on ammunition and $7.9 billion spent on aircraft, according to an Open The Books report that came out Tuesday.

Overall, the DOD spent $79.1 billion in September, with $33.1 billion of that being spent within the last five days of the fiscal year.

The exorbitant amounts spent and the timing of these expenditures should definitely raise concerns. According to the report, $6.1 million was spent on lobster tails, which is over $3 million more than what was spent in the same month in 2023. Other luxury food purchases included $16.6 million on ribeye steak and $6.4 million on salmon, which reflects similar spending on these meats last September. Additionally, the department ordered ice cream 79 times at a total cost of $113,230 and spent $117,787 on fresh doughnuts. The DOD also managed to spend $1.2 million on musical instruments.

Technology purchases made up a significant portion of the spending, with $5.1 million spent on Apple products, including 130 iPhone 16 Pro Max devices, which are considered luxury versions of the standard iPhone 16 model. Additionally, they spent an astonishing $211 million solely on furniture, with $36,000 allocated specifically for footrests.

Christopher Neefus, spokesperson for Open The Books, told the Daily Caller News Foundation:

“If you think back to the Bush administration, we were in two hot wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, under Secretary Lloyd Austin, the Pentagon has managed to exceed that monthly spending figure in real dollars. They perennially fail audits, but some of what they did itemize is tough to swallow unless you like lobster.”

Neefus was referencing the Pentagon’s failure to pass seven straight audits, including 2024. However, the National Defense Authorization Act requires the DOD to pass an audit by 2028.

This report shows how lackadaisical the budget policing currently is. The DOD’s spending was obviously padded to ensure another outrageous budget for next year. Spending $79.1 Billion in one month, of which $33.1 billion was spent in the last five days, is something DOGE can hopefully scrutinize and eliminate.

Not only is the amount of money spent shocking, but the lack of accountability is also scandalous. If the DOD is allowed to continue failing audits until 2028, it will be ten years before they are held responsible.

This is not your taxpayer money being spent wisely; this is your taxpayer money being hidden away to ensure they can hide even more in the future. Far too many politicians are getting far too rich without any logical explanations, and everyday Americans know it.

As citizens, we have been demoralized and disempowered for too long. It’s time to reclaim our power and demand answers from our so-called “Public Servants.”