I worked at Worthington Pump co. One 4LR10, a bronze fire pump designed in the 30s cost $2300 for any cargo ship. Sold to the US Navy, they charged over $10,000. Only the paint color had changed.

Price gouging has been going on for years. Government pays $12,000 for a toilet seat, $7,000 for a hammer!!

@lamontpearce170

Жыл бұрын

And nothing ever changes..

Thanks 60 minutes. These days we REALLY need investigative reporting. 🙏

Who's on their board's Who are the contractors!!. Ex politicians? This needs to be in the news.

I work in the hydraulic industry and was in the Army National Guard. AAI was charging $109 for a flair nut that cost $0.87.

I was scammed out of $5000 and Bank of America didn’t do anything else but blame me. Funny thing is that the bank allowed me to get scammed by clearing a fraudulent check until it was later identified as a fraud.

The leadership of these contractors should all go to jail and these companies should be nationalized.

@josephmarzullo

Жыл бұрын

That would stifle innovation. We need to reform the system and eradicate corruption. But nationalize it? That would destroy their stock value as well

@davel696969

Жыл бұрын

They've been doing this for 30 to 40 years. Name the political hacks in Washington DC who would take this seriously. These political hacks in Congress are supposed to have oversight authority but only use it for political theater during elections. The Uni party in Washington DC are often taking part in this corporate gouging & 9 times out of 10 go to work for these companies once middle-class American FOOLs SUCKERs and sheeple in their district wake up & oust that corrupt bum. Only to elect another bum that the corporation buys off or gets the said pain-in-the-arse politician out of that seat. This will only stop when we the middle-class American sheeple ban together & refuse on mass the tax dollars these corporate scam artists steal from each & every day of the year.

@Black_CoreyNFin

11 ай бұрын

This is the only sane take. Too bad the US government is too dysfunctional to get anything done. The thief's and gangsters are going to rob and racket until the US treasury is run dry.

@DissYraiN

11 ай бұрын

@@josephmarzullo nationalizing a company doesn't eliminate companies, it just makes them publicly owned. and it certainly doesn't eliminate innovation. if anything it encourages it because the workers share in more profit and more reward. and yes, eliminate the stock market. it's just another way for rich people to manipulate the market.

@DissYraiN

11 ай бұрын

@@josephmarzullo you listened to that part where 51 companies consolidated into only a few? that's capitalism, buddy. it stifled innovation. and they used their power to manipulate the government into downsizing the oversight comities. watch from the 7:30 mark

Thank you 60 Minutes for doing this! Being a government watchdog is one of your most important jobs as journalists. Please do a follow-up, don't let them off the hook

One of every two Federal tax dollars is spent on the military industrial complex. Spending 30 percent less would have huge positive impacts for the economy and the value of the dollar.

The DoD has been overpaying for YEARS. When I was on active duty, my team identified significant prices differences between the SAME exact item and was told that our particular item was SPECIAL because of the system that it was in. Remember, the toilet seats. Remember, the hammers.

They should be sounding alarms! IF this is and or has been occurring as reported, this is tantamount to economic warfare waged against the American government by the industrial arms contractors complex. These contractors should not be able extort the American government. This is a large part of why its so difficult to have budget discussions. We should look at all the legal tools we have to fix this quick, especially the tools the executive branch has. My guess is they are already all over this.

@ttacking_you

Жыл бұрын

Both parties are in the pocket of the corporate defense nexus (that was MY attempt at avoiding sounding like a Gen X radical) that's why there's no dissention on the Ukraine issue. Jeffrey Sachs just did an interview with Democracy Now about that . Noam Chomsky has been saying for years we really have 1 party , only it's not apparent until you look at the geopolitics

@millenialsmom2214

Жыл бұрын

Agree 100%, although the GQP just held the budget ceiling hostage for 22% cuts across the board, EXCEPT military spending. 🙄 We spend more than the next 10 countries combined! This isn't just a military problem. Once again, we find ourselves dominated by monopolies! I blame some of the inflation we're experiencing and the HUGE wealth gap on corporate monopolies. It's CRAZY to think in a capitalist economy that capitalists are going to do anything other than put profits over country & people. This will persist until we start enforcing ANTI TRUST laws and get the MONEY OUT OF POLITICS.

@nealrutgerskid

Жыл бұрын

Wow.. you are so naive.

@drago6568

Жыл бұрын

you really think anything will change? money controls America. unless a powerful force decides to support our cause to make our country a true democracy. there will always be slaves taking our burdens for us.

@UKindness4

Жыл бұрын

Another Republican Clinton Act like the repeal of our banking laws for Wall Street while these corporate sold out Democrats tell you they care about the little guy. Both parties today did this while always picking in the struggling.

On September 10, 2001, then U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld disclosed that his department was unable to account for roughly $2.3 trillion worth of transactions.

@KrisPcracker

Жыл бұрын

Just like Killery Killinton's emails whoopsies

@SIGNALFREQ

Жыл бұрын

Taxpayers💰🗑️

@mr.gamewatch8888

11 ай бұрын

@@SIGNALFREQ 💰➡️ 👖

Why aren't those people criminally prosecuted for theft, which it obviously is?

@MerchantIvoryfilms

Жыл бұрын

Protected by the Republican Party that's why.

@sullivanse

Жыл бұрын

Because the US has the best government money can buy

@kier3202

Жыл бұрын

Because the lawmakers are the biggest shareholders.

@isaiahgoodley6188

Жыл бұрын

​@@kier3202 exactly

@bestbotreview

Жыл бұрын

Because the pentagon budget department section will mysteriously have another incident

Our defense department has been gouged to death for years. Fix this garbage and use the money to help our people with healthcare, college, and childcare

@xyzzyi5315

Жыл бұрын

Don't forget about all the over watch we'll need for those programs also. No need to let those programs get gouged either.

@Caras443

Жыл бұрын

Some of this money is spent by their lobbyists on campaign donations in Washington, and cushy jobs after they leave office. They have no incentive to end this gravy train. This is all on us to fix.

@hunterliggett

Жыл бұрын

"FIx this garbage" .... yeah .... right. Such wise words. In 1860 Christopher Spencer introduced his "repeating rifle." The War Department would not buy it for many of the reasons articulated here. It was new technology. No one was sure how to use it, support it, train it or pay for it (no less than 300% of the cost of the standard 1861/1863 Springfield). In early March, Wilder (COL John T.) arranged a proposal for New Haven Arms Company (which later became famous as Winchester Repeating Arms) to supply his brigade with the sixteen-shot Henry if the soldiers paid for the weapons out of pocket (later changed to Spencers after a meeting with Christopher Spencer). He had received backing from banks in Indiana on loans to be signed by each soldier and cosigned by Wilder. A better way?

@Mac-sb5lj

Жыл бұрын

Bravo Sir. Well said! 👏

@musoangelo

Жыл бұрын

In the recent debt ceiling debate, of the 1.47 trillion budget, 890 million of that was for defense and the country was told that any cuts there were off the table. This as the right was threating to plunge our country in chaos over spending.

War is good for business. Military industrial complex can charge anything to the government and no question asked. We the people ultimately pay the bills. Our congressman talks about cutting social security or healthcare, but never about cutting military expenses, and invest in peace.

When generals retire and go work for these companies this is what happens

Everybody knows that an American government contract means ten times the money!

This has been going on forever!

They call it "defense" contractors. More like war machine mafia.

@suntzu1409

10 ай бұрын

How long till these become cartels

No one is surprised about the price gouging by the military contractors. More protection and education for seniors against scams.

Feel free to thank one of our Senators for this!

Meanwhile the IRS is hiring 20,000 new employees to catch middleclass taxpayers from shorting them $50

@nigellei8591

Жыл бұрын

They can't touch the rich people. the tax preparers for those rich people are too smart for their own good.

@WJWeber

Жыл бұрын

No they aren’t. They are primarily for targeting the rich and offering better support. But I want everyone cheating to be caught

@rikopersian6407

Жыл бұрын

IRS: Because we don’t make money if we hire people to catch the criminals. 😢😀😀

@SuperTruthful

Жыл бұрын

they are hiring to replace employees who are retiring get your facts straight

@675daytonarider

Жыл бұрын

Write your congressman.

"As we peer into society's future, we - you and I, and our government - must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow." President Dwight D Eisenhower's farewell speech.

@williamaperrow636

11 ай бұрын

Thank you all.

Informative episode. Really hope something can be done about the price gouging and the scams.

My parents were called by a supposed “attorney” telling them that I had rear-ended a car driven by a pregnant woman. The money was apparently needed for my bail. They got tunnel vision, and my father ran to the bank. Fortunately our banker called me and I was indeed home with my car in the garage unscratched. Thank god for her.

All themes were interesting and useful. Artworks by Jeff Koons are beautiful. The latest project on the moon is fabulous. Thanks to you.

Have congress waive the patent rights for these gougers and manufacture it with someone else.

@Adriodyn

11 ай бұрын

Yeaa, would work if they weren't in on the grift. Lol.

We need a consumer protection act that prevents companies from blocking repairs, with holding information for repair, or making changes to a product for people who have already purchased it.

@DissYraiN

11 ай бұрын

Colorado just passed a right to repair act. signed by a very gay and left govenor.

I'm disabled. I had a cousin offer to help when my parents died. My brother and I signed on the cousin as POA to take care of the estate, because we both lived out of state, and the cousin lived close to my parents home/estate. She spent over $250,000 took over the home, and bought a new car. There is NO recourse. Sick system.

@popeyedog1087

Жыл бұрын

Tell your story to more people! We are getting ripped off!

@laraoneal7284

Жыл бұрын

What is POA?

@luminescent__

Жыл бұрын

​@@laraoneal7284 it means "Power of Attorney", & gives legal authority of decision making on behalf of someone who needs assistance or a trustworthy competent representative (like a mentally or phys. Handicapped, Disabled, Very Elderly or medically incapacitated individual) who is unable to adequately handle/manage things legally/financially themselves so need a reliable person to help with or do it for/ on behalf of them.

@laraoneal7284

Жыл бұрын

@@luminescent__ Ty .

I remember military contract price gouging reports from when I was a kid in the 1970s. The military budget, the PENTAGON, must be regularly audited! It’s insane the people who get rich from our tax dollars, including members of Congress who magically know which military-supplier stocks to invest in.

Been watching my whole life... nice work...

Now we see how John Bennet Ramsey was able to get a $118, 000 Christmas bonus, own two planes and a 30ft yacht. This is so disgraceful. Shame on them. ☹️

You can be that the pentagon itself has probably no interest to reduce this price gouging, as they might very likely receive kickbacks and payments from the defense contractors to keep this practice in place and not fight it. But then again there are absolutely no budget controls for any defense spending, they pretty much get as many trillions as they want. kzread.info/dash/bejne/iKuO0dJwg7SrYtI.html Bernie Sanders talking about how the $778 Billion Defense Budget just sails through congress unchallenged.

Where does the military brass go to when retirement kicks in? The golf course? Nope, they go work for the defense contractors as "consultants" with huge salaries. Slick.

Seems to me, the defense department would have been better off to build its own infrastructure for producing what it needs. They've let the private sector manipulate them into a corner and got played by capitalism. We could have built out a self-sustaining system where we mixed a military and civilian employee base and kept the costs right.

SCAM STORY REPORT: Wow, I can’t believe how unsavvy these people are. All could have saved themselves this headache if they only followed one rule….NEVER respond directly to phone numbers, e-mail addresses, links or phone call information that YOU have not initiated. Look up the contact information on your-own if you need to inquire about an issue. In the case of the “Grandma call,” she shouldn’t have gone behind the back of the parents, and she could have at least verified the situation with a few simple phone calls. Assume every money/account situation is a scam until safely proven otherwise.

@idorus

Жыл бұрын

they are old and already lost a bunch of money they don't need you on your high horse shitting on them

@Orcawhale1

11 ай бұрын

"Everything is SCAM". "Yeah, fine, Kevin can you chip in for the meal". "It's a SCAM" See, Kevin this is why we never invite you to anything.

What else is new. This has been going on for years in all the Departments of our government!

And where are all arms contractors profits going anyway? 🤔 Something stinks here.

Defense price gouging is the opposite of new information 😂

keep it up MURICA. Making the rich richer

@FBISHOJI

Жыл бұрын

The country is ran by baffoons I swear

I occasionally get emails about my bank account being frozen, virus on my computer, or whatever it is, and I forward them to the appropriate fraud dept.

This guy chief negotiator for decades and just NOW speaks up?

they have been gouging for ever, my dad told us in the 50's that the military was stealing money by over charging

I love to listen to you 60 minutes

Until gouging is penalized with felony charges for the company officers we can forget about it.

They're just following in every other US manufacturer's footsteps. "You have to pay us to fix it." 😡 Farm equipment companies are really bad about this. There's a new Colorado Democrat Congresswoman who's husband owns a machine shop and she ran and won in a red district on a bill to stop companies from not allowing people to fix equipment THEY OWN.

@KrisPcracker

Жыл бұрын

That pay2play regime she belongs to scam Americans in the open and will continue to do so so long as they are able to purchase justices who refuse to look into them. Biden committed a quidproquo that we still have footage of in what the USA then referred to Ukraine as the #2 most corrupt countries in the world. Just to prove they were untouchable they then impeached Trump off of hear say that was an obvious lie then and proven to be now. Everything they accuse their opposition of is what they are its their way of rubbing it in

seems like i read a story like this 30 years ago.

Way to go Pentagon!

I can't shake the feeling that this "artist"isn't an artist at all, but a Gov't employee who's taking every day items and laundering money for them.

Targeting EVERYONE.....

The defense budget went up! They should learn to be frugal rather than asking for more money. This country is supposed to be a competitive capitalist financial system but it seems to always boil down to only a greedy few owning everything! There needs to be drastic change in the U.S.

Go back to 1993, the people that encouraged merging and cut watchdogs, if theyre on revolving door either coming from contractor before or are the ones gouging now. Then you know who to charge w treason, sedition, or conspiracy or whatever crime they committed.

The government has allowed all of these mergers, and not just in defense, in food manufacturing, communications, you name it and the middle class is getting buried because of it 😡 BREAK THEM UP DAMN IT

When my husband was in the Philippines a transistor went out. One of the young Marines there went to Naha and paid .15 cents an fixed the equipment. The commander said “ Oh no we can’t do that. We have to wait for the government to send one. “. It would cost $100. And at that time in 1964.

Always always always confirm

Look at the Military, Industrial, Congressional Complex if you know why the debt ceiling is a problem!!! Yet they pick on the poorest over trivial amounts! Ask Susan Eisenhower!

Sounds like the semiconductor industry.

As a politician…you award the military contract to civilian company owner so&so…then, a yr / 18 months later, that so&so makes a sizable donation to your campaign … Is how I always thought it worked.

Need to see who is getting kickbacks!!

40% is not absurdly high. It’s reasonable. The problem is costs are too high, not profits are too high!

Price Gouging is happening on all food products and no one is talking about that.

Same with medical

‘Ballon Dog’ needs to replace Wall St.’s ’Charging Bull’ for one day. 💵🐩🗽

And working and poor Americans wonder why we're not allowed to have anything nice?

It is scary for real if these companies do not really care about the country. They do not care if the country goes bankrupt in the long run.

If the government can take private properties under eminent domain, what’s stopping congress passing a bill to take over private contractors in the nation’s best interest? The military contractors are not pro America, they wouldn’t be where they are without tax payers. Time to remind them who they’re doing business with.

That's just ROTTEN! I can just imagine how nervous and confused that Woman would of been getting a call thinking her Grandson is in trouble. I mean old people get very nervous easily. And especially putting them through vulnerable situations like that. The scammers obviously could care less about their health. And MOST scammers are from other countries, and Family is VERY important in their cultures. And respecting Parents and DEFINITELY elders is a must! So how would they feel if someone was doing that to their Parents, Grandparents?! They seriously need a taste of their own medicine!! it's just absolutely DESPICABLE putting old people through that! Shame on them!

This reminds me of the cell phone and gaming systems.....the manufacture develops better and better products to charge more and more money! Greedy world!

@Sashazur

Жыл бұрын

The difference is that people can choose to spend less on their phones or games and not risk the safety of their country.

"let business do their thing" = allowing child labor, poisoning villages' water systems, wage theft, price gouging etc.

@boslyporshy6553

11 ай бұрын

Its all fun and games til you end up in the business' path.

Nick Howley deserves Life in Prison.

Easy way to uncover a scammer. Ask what brand of toilet paper they prefer… unknown =wipeasswithhand.

2024 Republicans: Build up more military bases/navy/air force! Give them ALL our money!

Whatever happened to government control of monopolies? (The Bell system was required to limit profit to 10% and to hold public hearings before changing prices.)

How can you fall for these stupid, obvious scams? Especially today. People are getting stupid.

Empires collapse from the inside out.. When profits exide patriotism ..

I never respond to such messages. I always get those phishing messages from scammers sometimes even on my cell phone. Latest one less than two weeks ago. They message you that you’ve either won something or have been hacked

Ok I get that they're older people, but think about that entire process. Someone from law enforcement or some lawyer is gonna stay on the phone with you for an entire hour. Walking you thru a process step by step, instruction after instruction, and telling you who not to contact smmfh. However that A.I stuff is scary, but I'd ask a question that only that family member would know, or immediately hang up and contact the individual directly.

Someone puts a price on a product and someone pays for it....the fault is on the one who is paying if price is too high

It’s always been out of control since the 80s

Government is like,what you gonna do about it?

Always … it just goes on and on. Year after year at the Pentagon

Price gouging??? Call it what it is... THEFT

Many of these scams come from India as well. My wife gat a new I -pad a few years back and in jyst a few days a pop up came on screen saying there was a problem and to call a certain number. I called that number and they wanted a large amount of money to repair it. The I -pad would not work. I told them it was brand new and I am calling the manufacturer and the FBI and immediately the I -Pad started working perfectly.

Yet GQP just held the budget ceiling hostage for 22% cuts across the board, EXCEPT military spending. 🙄 We spend more than the next 10 countries combined!! All this money spent BUT NOT on Veteran's benefits! 🤬 This isn't just a military problem. Once again, we find ourselves dominated by monopolies! I blame some of the inflation we're experiencing, and the HUGE wealth gap, on corporate monopolies. It's CRAZY to think in a capitalist economy that capitalists are going to do anything other than put profits over country & people. So Matt Gaetz can spare me the "free market private sector does it better BULL SH!T." This will persist until we start enforcing ANTI TRUST laws and get the MONEY OUT OF POLITICS. P.S. Don't get it twisted, "Corporate Democrats" are just as guilty of proping up the Military Industrial Complex.

Will anything be done with over spending by the Pentagon? Nope. Enjoy you day ladies and gentlemen 😂

Cold comfort, but we have similar scams here in Kenya. Just yesterday one hit me to send money to save the life of a kid who had been hit by a motorcycle. I declined and then found out that the 'doctor's' phone number had been ID'd 15 times that day a couple of hours before me for scamming

Targeting Seniors in USA..... Q1. Why are big corporations in America using TPA's in foreign countries and giving them accessibility to private information? The big USA corporations go as far as giving the TPA's in foreign countries employees American first names and giving speech classes to speak without an accent....is this right?

Politician lining their pockets with taxpayer money

Sounds like the government needs to break up the Oligopoly they created a let compitition come in.

The cost of everything has gone up because of fuel cost rising shipping it from overseas . Not price gouging do you think Americans don’t know

You know that these companies are lobbying HARD to keep the status quo

There’s enough engineers and scientists in DoD to reverse engineer the hardwares if they could. The problem is they can’t because of some patent rights bs.

All defense supplies should be supplied by government instead of private contractors. They’ll only care for profit and you can’t blame them. We are in a capitalist system and excess profit making is not illegal. Money is so important in a capitalist system. I think the solution is to nationalize them companies that supply defense equipment

The whole thing makes me want to vomit, the disregard to the fact that all this wasted money could have gone to good.

Did anyone watch the part of the video where grandma got scammed outta her money?? I kinda feel bad for her but damn how dumb can you be... especially over thousands of dollars 🤦🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

"Our taxes pay them !! We the people want Accountable !! we pay for them to be Accountable

This is nothing new...our politicians let them do it!

Remember back in the 80's and 90's the government was buying toilet seats and hammers for over 200 dollars a piece. This is nothing new

This is not news to me, So the American Tax payers need to wake up and stand up. Come on people!

I knew it, I said it never made sense how much they spend and nothing happened. Even a kid could see it