Monday, February 21, 2011

Example of Waste during WWI

One very versatile patriot sold Uncle Sam twelve dozen 48-inch wrenches.  Oh, they were very nice wrenches.  The only trouble was that there was only one nut ever made that was large enough for these wrenches.  That is the one that holds the turbines at Niagara Falls!
Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler (1935, War is a Racket)

This quote was taken from a larger section describing the large amount of money that was transferred from the people, to the government, to the war profiteering corporations.  This particular example is one of the smaller, but more "silly" ones.

4 comments:

  1. It does seem a bit silly doesn't it...makes you wonder at all the other 'silly' ones we've got going all these years later...

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  2. The private contractors in the Iraq war were known for destroying trucks that were still in good condition but needed minor work (even just a new tire in some cases!) because they could buy a new one from their buddies at a high price. Rather than just fixing it. No money in fixing vehicles when you have essentially a blank check.

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  3. Very true and very sad! What a waste of perfectly good money that could go somewhere or someone else...all these people we know getting foreclosed on because they can't get the help that's suppose to be out there!

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  4. Aye. Wednesday's quote addresses the topic again.

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