Would you help us get accurate information about the missing money to
the Diane Rehm Show? I have sent her a note about a serious error on this morning’s show, “The Budget and the Deficit 10am Thursday, Feb 7, 2008.” See below. Here is the contact information.
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The Diane Rehm Show
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The panel on Diane’s show this morning:
Title: Errata
This morning Carolyn Betts was listening to your show in Cincinnati. A caller mentioned the $2 plus trillion missing from the Pentagon.
You corrected him and said he had the number wrong — that it was billions, not trillions.
In fact, your listener was correct. The amounts unaccounted for are in the trillions. The caller was probably recalling that Secretary Rumsfeld did address these amounts at a press conference. However, they related to amounts missing during the Clinton Administration.
In fiscal 1999, the Department of Defense (DOD) reported $2.3 trillion of undocumentable adjustments to balance its books. In fiscal 2000, DOD reported $1.1 trillion of undocumentable adjustments to balance its books. For fiscal 2001, DOD declined to report the amount of undocumentable adjustments used to balance its books. I learned of these amounts while researching large amounts missing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) during the same period.
In FY 1999, HUD refused to publish audited financial statements, reporting $17 billion of undocumentable adjustments in the FY 1998 ending balance and $59 billion of undocumentable adjustments for FY 1999. HUD declined to report their undocumentable adjustments in FY 2000.
In 2007, the federal government declined to publish audited financial statements for the 11th consecutive year.
For more, see:
Where is the Money? Let’s Get it Back!
Very Truly Yours,
Catherine Austin Fitts
Former Assistant Secretary of Housing, Bush I
Former lead financial advisor to FHA, Clinton Administration
Hickory Valley, TN
Carolyn Betts, Esq
Former lead financial advisor to FHA, Clinton Administration
Cincinnati, OH