[net.space] spending spree

gutfreund.umass-cs@Rand-Relay@sri-unix.UUCP (10/03/83)

From:  Steven Gutfreund <gutfreund.umass-cs@Rand-Relay>

Yes, it is very odd to find the military complaining about the cost of
the space station. On Sept 30, the military had the largest one day
spending spree in its history (NYT). They had $4.2 Billion dollars on
hand at the end of the Federal Fiscal Year. If they did not spend it
by the the next day, they would have to give it back to the Treasury.
Of course, no government agency likes to do that. So they spent all
$4.2 billion of it in one day. Naturally, they did not look to closely
at what they were buying, Most of the contract descriptions were under
2 lines of text for expenditures in the multiple millions.

				- Steven Gutfreund