Pentagon can't account for 8.5trillion in the last decade and a half....

[Major Nikon]

29. If you can't account for it, then it fits perfectly under the meme, which includes incompetence

I have no sympathy for the argument that posits that it wasn't really wasted but we just can't tell you where it went. If they can't tell us where it went, then it might as well have been wasted because there's no way to prove otherwise and it absolutely subverts our entire budgetary process which relies on knowing where it went. If they can't tell us where it went, then those responsible should be fired at the very least or go to jail. When that starts happening I can guarantee things will change. You can't compare this with how anyone else accounts for their own personal bank account. If I account poorly for my money, that falls back on me. If the government accounts poorly for the money they are given, that still falls back on me. The military actually kept better track of their money when they were doing on ledger books. In the computer age there's even less of an excuse because productivity increases and it takes less manpower to do it.