Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

BlueWaveNeverEnd

(13,917 posts)
Tue Mar 10, 2026, 02:57 AM 8 hrs ago

Pete Hegseth's Pentagon spending splurge, 93 billion, in september alone

https://www.rawstory.com/hegseth-pentagon-money/

According to government watchdog Open The Books, the Department of Defense's spending in September reached levels not seen since at least 2008 — a total of $93 billion. The extravagant purchases have taken on new importance now that the Pentagon may be on the verge of depleting its munitions stockpile as Trump's war on Iran escalates.

The waste was staggering. The Pentagon spent over $225 million on furniture alone — the highest amount since 2014. This included $12,000 on fruit basket stands and more than $60,000 on premium Herman Miller chairs.

Dining also received generous funding. The Pentagon purchased $2 million worth of Alaskan king crab in September — a feat the department has accomplished five times during Trump's tenure.

Musical instruments joined the shopping list. A $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano, a $26,000 violin, and a $21,750 handmade Japanese flute were among $1.8 million spent on instruments.
11 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Pete Hegseth's Pentagon spending splurge, 93 billion, in september alone (Original Post) BlueWaveNeverEnd 8 hrs ago OP
K & R for exposure SunSeeker 7 hrs ago #1
And now the Trump regime has to go begging to Congress for more money for war with Iran applegrove 7 hrs ago #2
I don't understand why we're not in the streets Bread and Circuses 7 hrs ago #3
Fraud, waste, and abuse. Is JD going to investigate this? ChicagoTeamster 6 hrs ago #4
Obscene jfz9580m 6 hrs ago #5
Just wait until this month's bill comes in. C_U_L8R 6 hrs ago #6
This is criminal (what else is new?). llmart 5 hrs ago #7
Yea, I had to google that one too. Ray Bruns 1 hr ago #8
Anything to waste our taxpayer dollars and enrich themselves. llmart 1 hr ago #9
Hegseth is un-Woking the military.... OGBuzz 19 min ago #10
At least we know a "beardo" won't be playing our $26,000 violin, and a fat general won't be playing... Ol Janx Spirit 8 min ago #11

applegrove

(131,746 posts)
2. And now the Trump regime has to go begging to Congress for more money for war with Iran
Tue Mar 10, 2026, 03:22 AM
7 hrs ago

and replacing all those missiles and making drones. Almost like they didn't plan eh?

Bread and Circuses

(1,917 posts)
3. I don't understand why we're not in the streets
Tue Mar 10, 2026, 03:45 AM
7 hrs ago

On strike and telling Congress to impeach the entire cabinet now,

We’re ready.

jfz9580m

(16,891 posts)
5. Obscene
Tue Mar 10, 2026, 04:44 AM
6 hrs ago
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-persistence-of-hunger-in-america/

That too when this is the state of things:

For some 30 years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has released an annual report on the number of Americans living with food insecurity. The Trump administration ended that report, calling it "redundant" and "politicized." But getting rid of the data doesn't erase the problem – or the desire to fix it.

At the Community Food Share near Boulder, Colorado, there is a traffic jam of shopping carts. Thirty-three-year-old Shannon Patrick waited patiently. She knows the routine. She's a reluctant regular here.

With the way her 12-year-old is growing, she says her cart of goods may last a week.

Patrick is a single mother of three, working full time as a behavioral technician, helping kids with autism. But despite her profession and her education, she barely gets by on her $2,000 a month salary. Tack on rent, student loans, and clothes for the kids, and there's very little left for food.

"I thought that if I got my bachelor's degree, if I got my master's degree, that that would open up so many doors," she said. "I wouldn't have to rely on the government. But it just seems like it's not like that."


Life in America is hard in a different way than it is over here in the global south. One reason I am pushing back that style of “development” that I saw encroach here with a criminal lawsuit is, if we have both our organic shittiness and the imported kind, sold as “growth”, that is not viable.

And over there exploitation results in civil lawsuits. This one will be a criminal lawsuit targeting the ceo and managerial class..greed sends you to prison not celluloid must be the message.

Times change..new kinds of people like me start entering the fray formally and let’s see..

https://www.salon.com/2025/05/07/blows-off-its-poorest-shoppers/

But the cynic in me – and I’m typically OK with cynicism toward people and corporations demonstrating no limit to their personal greed or avarice for the common good — sees the word choice as capitalistically Freudian, a dark reminder that both Amazon and Trump know those price increases were only going to be seen by the company’s lowest-income shoppers, most of whom have little other choice in the market.


One reason I am aborting a 14 year nightmare that will destroy the Indian middleclass while forcing on all the sort of worthless trash the tech industry forced for years but in this case in its most ott form, is that the world is so complex now,

This was largely entirely malicious and cultish or unpardonably stupid and lacking in self awareness or honesty among the average people who enthusiastically signed up. A few overworked truly elite people like my onc aside, there is no excuse for these other people as mediocre as I am who are Indian, female etc lacking at least the common sense I have and then bullying their way ahead, while lying their asses off. I have forgiven a handful. The rest can suck it.

But more importantly once more of these greedy, climbing, innately sleazy and undemocratic types pile on and mire badly off people, it will again be this fraudulent bullying dynamic where these asshole criminals having tricked many low income or desperate people into this race to the bottom (and one without one fucking real product, service or science that is not a pseudoscience and extortionately) will try to break me again into formally accepting it.
Fuck that…criminal lawsuit and no turning back.



C_U_L8R

(49,293 posts)
6. Just wait until this month's bill comes in.
Tue Mar 10, 2026, 04:57 AM
6 hrs ago

Trump sure knows how to bankrupt things. It’s like the scene in Goodfellas where they gut the restaurant business and when there’s nothing left to steal, they torch it.

llmart

(17,543 posts)
7. This is criminal (what else is new?).
Tue Mar 10, 2026, 05:40 AM
5 hrs ago

Also, what the everloving fuck is a fruit basket stand?

llmart

(17,543 posts)
9. Anything to waste our taxpayer dollars and enrich themselves.
Tue Mar 10, 2026, 09:50 AM
1 hr ago

Guess us plebs don't know about "fancy" things that the hoi polloi use.

Ol Janx Spirit

(990 posts)
11. At least we know a "beardo" won't be playing our $26,000 violin, and a fat general won't be playing...
Tue Mar 10, 2026, 11:00 AM
8 min ago

...our $100,000 Steinway while they eat all that King Crab....


Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Pete Hegseth's Pentagon s...