Thursday, March 29, 2018
Spend a Trillion dollars on one weapon
And then ask, what is left to defend. A very pertinent question when that weapon system has yet to show it can perform any of the many promised tasks whose inclusion has bloated the cost from the ridiculous level to the WTF! level.
As Lockheed Martin celebrates a major milestone for the F-35 program Wednesday, some of the plane’s biggest critics concede its political opposition in Washington has all but fizzled.What is left is a serong desire to continue diverting needed tax dollars to the greatest waste of public monies ever devised by the hand of man. But the folks in charge learned from past failures and built in a fail-safe measure with this boondoggle
Congress’s latest budget funds 90 of the planes — 20 more than requested by President Donald Trump, who once railed against their “tremendous cost.”
Government watchdog groups criticize the program for missing deadlines, exceeding cost estimates and failing to live up to promises. But with little appetite left to slow the current program in Washington, they’re now focused on stopping future versions of the plane, rather than convincing Congress to reconsider its investment.
“I have no real illusion we’re going to affect any drastic changes to the F-35,” said Dan Grazier, a military fellow at the Project On Government Oversight and one of the program’s leading critics in Washington. “It’s next to impossible to generate enough political opposition to the program.”
Steve Ellis, vice president of another watchdog group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, likened the plane’s inclusion in Congress’ budget to “the [appropriations] version of Oprah.”
“You get a plane, you get a plane, you get a plane!” Ellis said.
“Components [of the F-35] are built in 46 states, and about 350 Congressional districts,” said Grazier. “That’s an awful lot of organic Congressional support for the program on Capitol Hill.”Can't beat bringing home the pork.
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