Let's Not Overspend.

       Have you decided who to vote for next November? Do you think we should spend more money on our military? If that's what you think, maybe you should consider the story about a gas station our military built in Afghanistan. It was in a rural province in that country. It was decided that a fuel station was needed. Gasoline wasn't readily available so they decided to use natural gas.
       Well, America has always tried to help the populace in the countries in which we fought. Unfortunately this story illustrates that we've not always been as helpful as we could be. The first thing they realized was that there were no cars in the province that could run on natural gas, so they converted 70 cars at a cost of $5000-$6000 each.
       There was another problem with this fuel station. The estimated cost to build it had been $300,000 to $500,000. Unfortunately the actual cost came to $43 million. Now I've heard of cost overruns, but this is a bit much. Why it doesn't even have a convenience market in it. $43 million, for a gas station, in the desert of Afghanistan, that can only serve 70 vehicles. This is not the kind of investment most conservative businessmen would consider. In fact no accountant or economist would ever recommend such an investment.
       It didn't stop our military. They were able to convert the idea of a half million dollar gas station into a $43 million boondoggle. So now let me ask you: Are these the folks you would want to increase their share of the U.S. budget? Wouldn't it make more sense to put accountants in charge of purchasing and building stuff? And leave the fighting to the folks who don't mind overkill? I think you should vote for sanity.