Our Military, Accountability and Our Right to Know
•
by Teucer
ACCOUNTABILITY :
the quality or state of being accountable; especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions public officials lacking accountability>
I have heard this word used a lot when people discuss our military and I feel that while people may discuss it in back rooms and private IRCs, it has not been seen a whole lot in our media except for the occasional article (http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/an-expose-on-the-military-1675994/1/20). Today, I intend to expand upon this issue in hopes of allowing the American people to understand better the situation at hand.
Who is the military accountable to and why are they accountable to them?
First and foremost, they are accountable to the eUnited States taxpayers. That means they are accountable to every player who works, buys products off the markets, and/or runs a company. For the record, the military people working in communes to receive supplies barely pay into the system (for example, Airborne soldiers). The average commune worker makes about $1 before taxes meaning they only pay 23 cents in taxes. Because of the fact that they receive government funded supplies they don’t have to buy as much off the market as well. On the other hand, the regular citizen gets hit hard on taxes. The skill 1 worker I hired yesterday paid $2.76 in taxes and then had to go buy food off the market to bump up his wellness. He paid as much in taxes as 12 military soldiers working in communes did. To those in the military saying “we’re taxpayers too”; you should consider what the regular citizen has to deal with on a daily basis.
Second, the military is accountable to Congress. Congress votes on the budget and helps determine how much money is allocated to the military, which is currently around 70% of total funds. Because Congress disburses that money, they have the right to audit or ask for material related to how funds are used by our military. They do this because they were elected by the people to do so, not because they are butthater trolls who are out to get the military.
What are the current problems that have made a lack of accountability an issue?
First, the military reports no figures on how they spend the money they are given. The allocated amount from the budget is handed to jankems who hands it out as he and the JCS see fit, but he never reports back why or how much he gave to each of the branches. Each branch of the military should be reporting how many people they have, how much food is given to their soldiers per day on average, how much that costs in dollars, and any extra expenditures they may have. The lack of transparency is disturbing to me as a taxpayer because the military is a public organization and the people have a right to know where their money is going.
Second, the military never gets audited by outsiders to make sure each branch is running correctly. Any good government has auditors that periodically run through each governmental organization to make sure things are in order. In the case of the military, we need auditors to come through and make sure that money is being used as efficiently as possible and to make sure that the money is going where it belongs. A lack of auditing has led to deficiencies inside the military that have been wasting money and will continue to waste money until corrected. Without anyone to check into what they are doing, each branch Commanding Officer is basically allowed to do what he/she sees fit with only jankems to make suggestions or changes. This doesn’t mean that everything should be brought to a halt, but only means that records should be kept and given to government officials to make sure everything adds up and checks out.
The things I have outlined here are only the overlying issues and I have spared the gritty details that are inside each particular point. I write this in hopes that my readers take away a better understanding of what is currently going on in battles between the military and Congress and can form their own opinions. I have spent almost my entire life in eRep as a eUS military man and the things I am seeing currently concern me very much. I love our military as much as the soldiers who continue to serve in it with dedication and pride, but I refuse to pull the wool over my eyes and pretend like things are perfect while things continue to rattle apart.
I love to hear opinions and comments, especially if they are contrary to my own or from young players who want to learn this game!
A silent nation is a dead nation. Speak up and be heard!
Facebook
Twitter
Discord
Comments
We have other things to worry about right now than this. If we dont stop INCI from taking over, this accountability "problem" will cease to exist.
I pay $4.91 in taxes! That's enough to buy 2 weapons in 3 days of working, or an extra 12 health per day to help defend my nation, and that's when prices are high (.80)!
I agree with everything in this article, and it should be done. It isn't enough to talk about it.
1.) Ignore that the military gets audited by the Comptroller General every month or two
2.) Ignore that Congress has never made a formal request for any numbers
3.) ???
4.) Unnecessary, distracting, and ignorant shitstorm continues?
voted for caps.
and where is turkish??
i am just joking hehe
voted and subbed. Good work Teucer!
@jankems
1) Ignoring that at no point in Congressional history have these audits been accessible by the general public, even when enough time has passed that they're no longer security risks
2) Ignoring the full extent of the publics knowledge of military funding is as followe😛
"http://eusaforums.com/forum/index.php/topic,90.msg797.html#msg797
Quote
III. Military
Line U1. eUS Military (66.8😵 $83,771.20
Donate here: http://economy.erepublik.com/en/accounts/3840453
Danke"
3) Ignoring that even when the comptroller general does sporadically hold an audit, almost every organization under the major branches of the military is black-lined due to Security issues.
4) Ignoring the fact that the current Comptroller General is the sitting Vice President, as well as a renowned leader of the military, ensuring no impartiality in such an audit.
So really, all the public knows about the military is that they consume 83,000$ of tax payer money every week, but we're entitled to absolutely no intimations about where this money is actually going.
Note: All information posted in this comment is freely available in the public sections of the CBO and Congressional Proceedings.
The above comment represents major ownage.
1. join the military
2. get paid (in food) for being active
3. ???
4. PROFIT!
Voted hard!
@jankems: "Ignore that Congress has never made a formal request for any numbers"
Sorry not to show USNG solidarity, but I believe Teucer makes perfect sense as I had these same views when I was in Congress. While in Congress, during Military Budget funding discussions, I had made a request for numbers. I was promptly shot down and told, due to National Security concerns, that was information only made available to the Select Committee on Intelligence. So, let me know how a formal request should be made and I'll ask my Congressman from Wyoming [INCI]Festoz to make one. For those that don't know what the SCI is:
2.3: Select Committee on Intelligence
The Select Committee on Intelligence shall be staffed by The President with the approval of the eCIA. The Committee must include no less than 5 current Congressmen and the CBO Director(s), as well as the Speaker of the House, or Deputy Speaker of the House, or their acceptable representative, if either can not pass security check. The President or The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff must attain 5 approvals from SCI members before spending any reserves except in an emergency, which only requires 3 approvals. Information provided to the Select Committee on Intelligence should be as detailed as possible. Insufficient information may be grounds for disapproval of the funding request.
1. For the record I make 0.80/day, minus taxes. Comes out to 0.62 per day, working for a government company.
2. My work skill is Guru** 11
3. On the open job market, I could easily gross $32/day. I'm essentially donating over $31/day. So while we don't pay a lot of taxes, you have to look at how much we put into the system.
I've voiced concerns about how things are run before, but to say to target the AB because we pay less in taxes is just bad math. Sure if you only compare how much a person provides in taxes the numbers are off, but you can't exclude the fact that the government doesn't have to pay us an additional $31+ in wages.
Jankems - the most recent amendment to the constitution, passed by a majority of Congress, asks the military to provide certain access and information to the representative of Congress. I know you're aware of this and participated in the discussion of this amendment, so I'm not sure why you say Congress has never formally asked. Have you provided the Speaker with the access and information specified in the amendment?
M A V 1 C: But the government does pay us tax money for supplies to go beyond commune production. And, if I understand the commune system correctly, the money we give up in wages goes towards our own supplies + branch supply reserves.
lietk12: Yes, and if they were forced to pay us full wages then either the AB would need way more money from the government, or the country would get less protection than it does now.
M A V 1 C: Are you saying that if you were to leave the AB, work at a Civilian Wage and buy your own food and weapons, you wouldn't fight as hard to protect this Country than if you were in the AB?
M A V 1 C: ...but they don't. The reality is that we have a net effect of going somewhere below breaking even for producing our own supplies. "Not much" is the answer to your question of "how much we put into the system".
Bruce: I would agree with that claim because military communes are run without profits in the middle and also receive government support, so, on average, workers in efficiently-run commune systems get more supplies per day of working (assuming supply reserves will get used).
lietk12: Exactly! (Commune Wage - taxes) + Value of Supplies received > Private Wage - taxes
Not all value is purely economic. Your equation really should look like this:
Cost to the government of the average eUS soldier [COSTSOLDIER] = (Commune wage - taxes) + Value of supplies received
Cost to the government for a private citizen working in a private company [COSTCIT] = - (Taxes generated from their wages and purchases on the open market)
(yes, that's supposed to be negative, as the government gains in tax revenue)
Cost to the government for having guaranteed amounts of damage directed where the POTUS points it = - (PRICELESS)
Do the math. It's not all about economics.
We're not discussing the value of the military--I think we all agree that it's priceless (though I suppose if one wants to go farther than I had intended, it could be argued that tank-level soldiers are worth more). What we're discussing is whether those people who bear a greater burden in taxation than us have a right to have a less opaque account of what kind of organization their money is helping to run than "OPSEC".
Bruce Sommer: Based on your equation, you answered your own question. The answer is that I wouldn't financially be able to.
lietk12: Your last response to me doesn't make any sense to me. "...but they don't?" They don't what? And the question you give an answer to isn't a question I asked.
M A V 1 C: Sorry--I should've been clearer. If they were forced to pay full wages, then either the military would need way more money from the government, or the country would get less protection than it does now. However, they are not forced to pay full wages, so we don't pay taxes. The rest of my argument then follows.
My answer is in response to the grammatical indirect question construction in sentence 2 of the following passage:
"3. On the open job market, I could easily gross $32/day. I'm essentially donating over $31/day. So while we don't pay a lot of taxes, you have to look at how much we put into the system."
Therefore, if one looks at how much we put into the system, one would conclude that we don't put much into the system.
I remember when SCI was left unmentioned, better days...
@Aersidius: It is not like the Official Constitution and Code of the eUS is a secret document and SCI is part of Title 2 (Congressional Structure) of the Code.
lietk12: $31>$2.76
@Bruce Sommer: The constution we have today is a shell of what it used to be thanks to the previous eUS forums going poof in the night and the slash/burn act that followed.
@Teucer: I'm sorry you decided to jump on the military bashing bandwagon. More so that you are trying to re-ignite the shitstorm that was caused and that finally was starting to die down.
The military is held accountable by the comptroller General, a person congress appoints. Currently the role is held by Vice President GoalieBSBC, who resigned from his role as CO of the MI to focus on being a Vice President. The Congress could at any time opt to put someone else in but its trusted Goalie and he's delivered data any time he has been asked. Most of it is kept out of the public hands because it is sensitive data and shouldnt be public knowledge even months after the fact as it could still serve as a +/- sheet for enemy nations to figure our income/military spending. If you have an issue with that run for congress and attempt to change it though I doubt you will find anyone to support such an idea.
We've got bigger problems looming with a potential invasion and the uncertainty of if INCI will continue to dishonor their agreement with the eUS or if they will actually start holding to their word.
M A V 1 C: Yup, we pay taxes on ~$2, and everyone else pays taxes on ~$31. And regardless of how much we pay in taxes, we're not really paying it because most of it goes back to us anyways in the form of government funding.
Relorian: I'm sorry you seem unable to distinguish between reasoned criticism and unjustified bashing.
lietk12: What I was getting at was, the amount AB employees donate in labor is FAR more than they would pay in taxes if they were making a full wage.