On Thu, 5 Nov 2015 11:44:28 -0500, Keyser Söze wrote:

On 11/5/15 11:26 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:


Here's something I was thinking about that cracks me up.

The USA spends more on national defense than Russia, China
and the next two largest (militarily) countries combined, yet in
many ways Russia and maybe even China are rapidly approaching parity
with the USA in terms of military strength.

If Russia and China can do that at a fraction of the cost that the USA
spends, the problem really isn't funding the programs ... the problem is
the inefficiencies that exist in our government programs.
The government collects the funds from the taxpayers and then blows it
spending $43 million to build a $250k propane gas station.

So, when it comes to welfare or social programs, the liberal mindset is
to hand over even more money and authority to the same federal
government that can't effectively or efficiently manage the programs
they already have.

We were much better off dealing with social welfare issues at a state
and local level and through citizen initiated programs that target
specific problems. Historically, churches and other organizations like
the Rotary, Elks, Masons, etc., often participated in the organization
and management of these.

Handing the reigns over to the fed and thinking it will "take care" of
the problems is nuts.



The government contracts out for much of what it needs for the military.
It's the contractors - the corporations - that are robbing us blind here.


Are you now suggesting that the government nationalize the defense
contractors?
The contractors are doing exactly what the government contracts them
to do. Unfortunately they build in automatic inefficiency by requiring
that the parts of every system come from as many congressional
district as possible and the system itself is designed by committee so
it tries to be all things to all people. The spec's will change dozens
of times before they finally hit the field. It is just another "make
work" government boondoggle.

There is a book and a movie out there called "Pentagon Wars" about
the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Of course it is Hollywood but the basic
facts are right about why this ended up being a $14 billion boondoggle
that was not really good for any mission (except perhaps the assault
on the Davidians in Waco)
Now they want to appropriate $29 Billion to replace them and we know
that will end up being more than twice that before they are done.