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Point well made! We DO spend too much for our federal government. However in the litany of expensive government programs enumerated by most pundits, I rarely see any mention to the worst offender of federal waste. As a paratrooper in the 82nd Abn. Division, I saw first hand the waste foisted upon us by the like of Raytheon. It was decided that we needed to have a "modern" tank killing capacity, so the M47 Dragon was produced (at more than $50,000/unit) instead of the old M67 recoilless rifle at a cost of about 1/10 of the dragon. We all hated the dragon as it exposed the crew to fire while tracking the projectile, unlike the M67. The Army neither wanted, nor needed the M47, but congress at Raytheon's urging made us use this expensive piece of crap.
Today we have 11 aircraft carriers. All the navies of the world combined do not have 11 aircraft carries, and most of these navies are our ALLIES! How much could we save by cutting out just 1 aircraft carrier? Each one is reported to cost $9-14 BILLION! The cost of equipping and manning these vessels is even more. Furthermore, the budget we now have still includes other items the Pentagon neither wants, nor needs, yet congress (both parties are guilty) keeps appropriating money for such items as C-17's.
Keep fighting to control waste in our federal government. But please include the largest hog at the trough.
Thanks for the mighty linkage CL! And I'll try to curb my mind um, numb-ed-ness in the future.
I've been peaking into who's who on the board of these defense companies. Check out this link:
http://mapper.nndb.com/maps/264/000010234/
to see the map I did for Raytheon. You may see a connection I don't. I expanded the board members and VIPs of Raytheon then expanded each individual to see what corporations and government positions they held. It's more incestuous than the Darwin family! I've noticed that in a lot of these defense companies they have people on the board who used to be in government policy-making positions. Was Gen. Butler right, War is a Racket?
Top officers in our military take positions with defense contractors after they retire. They often work as lobbyists in Washington. Sometimes they work for companies that made the equipment they may have tested while on active duty. It is not a healthy relationship for the service members or the tax paying public.
republicanmother, nice work on the map. I like the shout out to Gen. S. Butler as well. War is a racket, that pays some very handsomely, but costs our nation dearly!
More so than anyone wishes to admit.
http://www.lookingglassnews.org/viewcommentary.php?storyid=29
"-- Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.
War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses."
Hey in addition to War is a Racket, I found this book by Charles A Lindburgh, Sr. entitled "Why is Your Country at War" skimming it through, it looks to be pretty relevent. http://tiny.cc/e0ci3
Maybe someone with more time and fewer kids can read it through.