$500 Hammers? U.S. Military Can Find Ways to Trim the Fat
Baker Spring /
Nobody likes wasteful government spending, whether it’s $500 hammers at the Pentagon or federal employees using Uncle Sam’s credit cards to buy personal cameras, laptop computers and iPods.
So the military should set a goal: Find ways to trim the fat in its budget, then reinvest the savings in combat missions. One area in which the United States military can operate more efficiently, possibly providing large-scale dollar savings, is in logistics.
For example, if the maintenance costs incurred for the support of existing weapons can be reduced, the savings can be channeled into the acquisition of new weapons that will be less expensive to maintain. While this step would require larger overall defense budgets for the core defense program, it can help to initiate a reverse dynamic that will permit the death spiral to become a recovery spiral.