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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Though by all accounts the F-35 is finally overcoming it's issues and the costs are falling as it enters full production.
And even bloated projects like that create a lot of jobs and economic activity.
Point is that military spending isn't some evil money sink. If you want to cut it you need another source of economic activity, be it space or social programs.
edited 22nd Jul '16 4:43:18 AM by Rationalinsanity
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Your post and mine are not congruous. Did I not just offer the same?
The best money sink example is probably the tanks that the Pentagon said it didn't want, that was pretty much a literal "pay one person to dig a hole and another to fill it" situation.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranAbout that article on male escorts at the RNC a few pages back, I wonder how much such things say about sexual orientation at all. Yes, it is somewhat ironic for such services to go up during a RNC, but it doesn't necessarily say there are a number of closet homosexuals there.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynmanin the end, these two persons' energy (and salary) has been wasted while it could have been used to something more productive (or more entertaining for them, if there is literally more people than jobs).
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."That doesn't apply here; it's not throwing good money after bad, it's having the patience to wait for your investment to mature. People were flipping out about the F-35's capabilities while it was still in the testing phase. Now it's closer to being certified for operation (but not actually there yet) and, surprise, it's capabilities are much improved after several rounds of testing. That's the system working as intended.
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.To be fair, the F-35B (the STOVL version) is the one that people have the fewest complaints about to begin with, because it's set to replace the Harrier, which isn't nearly as beloved as the F-teen series that the F-35A (standard version) and F-35C (carrier version) are set to take over for. The Harrier is also a less capable aircraft in general than the teen series, so the transition to the F-35B is the biggest upgrade by a significant margin.
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.Some idle musings since quite a few of my friends are gunning for Johnson over Trump now; I find myself wondering what law enforcement would look like under Johnson's rope? Found out today that along with the massive cuts to every imaginable state office and calling for massive layoffs of state/government personnel he's also advocating the complete privatization of law enforcement and the prison system.
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Probably much worse than it does now. There was once a time in the early 20th century where fire departments were privatized. They'd let homes burn down because they weren't paid and get into turf wars with rival departments.
Or start block fires deliberately to extort money from citizens. And rob them while they're in their houses putting out the fire.
Oh really when?In terms of strategic voting, Johnson is at least safer than Hillary if the voters would normally vote Republican.
I know the whole "protest vote" backfired with Brexit but voting Johnson in signifigant numbers would send a clear message to the GOP: You idiots, you blew it up.
edited 22nd Jul '16 7:51:29 AM by Elle

NASA doesn't need the military's budget. A bit of it, sure, but not half. That's kind of silly. However, we could shift the money we spend there around in the economy with significant net gains in terms of fiscal multipliers, even though there would be some disruption and/or dislocation.
For what we've flushed down the toilet on the F-35, we could house every homeless man, woman, and child in America, pay for the college educations of our children, fix all our schools, roads, bridges, etc., and have enough left over to get everyone a free Happy Ending down at Roxanne's Massage Parlor.
edited 22nd Jul '16 4:22:17 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"