F-35

@earl-of-trumps said
Welcome to the world of the Vast Military-Industrial Complex. Should we believe Eisenhower now?

It's not a new world for me, but I do enjoy ranting about it. What the heck? These guys (politicians) are going to complain about infrastructure projects and ignore the obscene waste going on at the Pentagon. Their own self-audit identified tens of billions of waste in the system - well beyond weapons-system development - and what did congress do the next year? RAISE THE BUDGET! The auditors billed the US Treasury for $417 million! Everybody ok with that or are we going to keep complaining about the high cost of infrastructure projects that might actually have some benefit?

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Given it never happened, or is there a case for apology for crimes contemplated but not committed?

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Has anyone ever done the math in terms of the least minimum spend that America could have made on defense and still have maintained its hegemonic position?

EDIT: I hate to quote Rumsfeld, but its all about unknown unknowns you know.

@kmax87 said
Has anyone ever done the math in terms of the least minimum spend that America could have made on defense and still have maintained its hegemonic position?

EDIT: I hate to quote Rumsfeld, but its all about unknown unknowns you know.

If someone did do that, it'd be irrelevant. Defense is a corporate welfare jobs program. Like when you learn how to make a wooden box in shop class.

Scientists talk about the unknown unknowns all the time, that doesn't justify spending trillions willy nilly. Conquest and regime change may be different though.

@wildgrass said
If someone did do that, it'd be irrelevant. Defense is a corporate welfare jobs program. Like when you learn how to make a wooden box in shop class.

Scientists talk about the unknown unknowns all the time, that doesn't justify spending trillions willy nilly. Conquest and regime change may be different though.

The US demands supremacy in all its defence systems. And they are not doing it on a budget. So while it may be true that billions are being wasted in the procurement process, the open ended nature of being the best tends to produce waste. That everyone else keeps up (barely just) is more a function of the wasteful process producing a tangible product. Its always easier for the guy emulating and adapting to produce something similar, because they know what they are working towards. Being a hegomon is hard work.

@kmax87 said
The US demands supremacy in all its defence systems. And they are not doing it on a budget. So while it may be true that billions are being wasted in the procurement process, the open ended nature of being the best tends to produce waste. That everyone else keeps up (barely just) is more a function of the wasteful process producing a tangible product. Its always easier for the ...[text shortened]... ce something similar, because they know what they are working towards. Being a hegomon is hard work.

Could we pivot to hegemony of sustainable energy? Hegemony of space flight? Going to Mars only cost 0.1% of the entire F-35 budget. We could probably have a fleet of space stations for $1.9 trillion.

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Remorse...? I think "outrage" is a better term.

Taking out an elected head of state of an sovereign nation.
watching 700,000 people die in the ensuing sectarian violence, as a result.
Destroying the infrastructure of a nation.

And the US Big Gov lied their ass off the whole way doing it.

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Vietnam, Korea, - these were fake wars, too.
You keep insisting that I am being played by propaganda. I suspect that insult is
a result of me disagreeing with you

what else is new.

@wildgrass said
I resent the politicians who pretend to be fiscally responsible with tax dollars. They're on the Senate floor now arguing that we shouldn't have libraries anymore if they can't be self-sufficient, but the same person supports a program to develop and build fancy jets that don't do anything but cost thousands of times more than the library line item.

I do too, but they are just corrupt puppets doing the bidding of the money changers. Know who is pulling the strings from behind the scenes. Oh, that's right....the share holders of the privately owned FRS is a secret.

A good first step is to make the shareholders of the FRS public. They are behind all of that crap.

@metal-brain said
I do too, but they are just corrupt puppets doing the bidding of the money changers. Know who is pulling the strings from behind the scenes. Oh, that's right....the share holders of the privately owned FRS is a secret.

A good first step is to make the shareholders of the FRS public. They are behind all of that crap.

Damn, when I saw you’d posted on this thread, I was hoping you were going to write about secret alien technology, the highly secret F-227g being developed at Area 51 and sonic bubble-technology.

You always end up disappointing me.