Yes agreed.
The F35 has performed in some respects. Read a deal where 1 kicked ass on like 4-5 F18s at once.
But suggesting F18 quoted as same capabilities by add on parts? Idiot.
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Are you in military? Are you an expert? Because I’m sure Trump is being advised by military experts.
the very fact he is cutting a program with tremendous cost overruns is a great way to set an example as to how government deals should not be grossly wasteful. Setting a tone from the top. Notice how all these companies are suddenly bringing jobs back to America based on the president’s tone? Same effect
Social media is how young people (mostly democrat supporters) communcate. Great way to reach younger people and convert them to GOP
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To be more specific, it’s the real estate developer mindset - I’ve argued before that it makes one singularly unqualified for being President.
Why? Well, because all the problems are tangible and the costs, regardless how high, are finite.
To a real estate developer, everything has a simple solution if you apply enough willpower. Real estate developers like Trump usually appear at the site and start barking out orders like “Change the color of the patio” or “I can’t the see the beachfront from the luxury condos on the second floor, move that building, I don’t care how much it costs. Do it NOW” (actual quotes).
Even this ludicrous demands are somehow met. The property blocking the view is bought out and demolished, the patio color changed etc. Sure, it costs a lot, but it is done and the real estate developer pats himself on the back for making the “right call”. More importantly, we never find out if it was the “right call”. If the project fails, someone else is to blame.
The catch is that this management behavior fuels some very dangerous behavior patterns - disdain for subject experts (“my guys told me that it can’t be done, I told them to fuck off and tear down that fucking building” - once again, an actual quote I’ve heard) and belief in your personal infallibility - you don’t need education or a wealth of experience to voice your opinion about the color of the patio and claim you know best.
In my opinion, a real estate developer as President is a complete and utter disaster. Once a real estate developer, always a real estate developer. If you’re doing something for most of your waking hours for almost fifty years, you simply cannot switch it off once you assume office and concentrate on agonizing decisions in the grey area with potential long term effects.
That’s why it’s not important for Trump what foreign governments have to say (in this case a dictatorship financing ISIS), but where are they saying it.
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Most wars are real estate deals at their fundamental level.
What are you talking about? That a real estate developer’s experience somehow translates to what exactly?
I can tell you one thing, Trump’s presidency is going to be very Central Asian. Paying inordinate sums to the daughter for gaining access to the father, business, political and family ties closely intertwined in a de facto family court… Let’s just say I don’t believe in American exceptionalism any more.
My former employer was there, just replace “Ivanka” with “Gulnara”.
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I don’t disagree he is getting their now more narrowly focused attention and their asses need kicking. But the entire military is vested in F-35, not just the AF. We are talking $1TT on this weapon.
He is blustering, but cancelling project? No way.
Russia and China also putting same Gen fighters. Air superiority is simply too important.
You’re sure that the President-elect who skips the daily security briefing and openly questions the CIA on his Twitter account is carefully weighing the pros and cons of military advisers? You know, the guy who still doesn’t seem to know what our nuclear capabilities are? Yes, I’m sure he is being “advised” by military experts, but whether he is actually listening…
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The words of a President have tremendous value. They can move markets or provoke wars.
Twitter is a vehicle for people to shoot off at the mouth before thinking, and Trump is especially bad at this. It’s a recipe for disaster.
And young people are not going to be converted by Trump via Twitter (which may not even exist in a few years) - that’s just dumb.
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I’d MUCH rather the future leader of the Free World use Yik Yak and SnapChat…and while he is at it, run spots on “The CW” and “Nickelodeon”…
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OH! And maybe he can go on “The Kids Choice Awards” and get covered in Green Slime?
That would be SO KEWL…!
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Actually, I see it as a departure from typical military and gov. thinking. The idea is that you can’t pull out once money is spent, and the more you spend, the more compelling a reason to continue down the tax dollar sink hole that the new technology or equipment is. This has been the norm for decades and has cost trillions of dollars.
All civilian military contractors know this. Lockheed Martin absolutely knows this, and it looks to me that they threw out an idea so enticing but utterly impossible that it has secured their position in military aerospace for the next century.
Aside from being a one plane fits all, it is supposed to provide a solution to the necessity of having such a wide inventory of parts available, which is currently the case, and extraordinarily costly. They can’t even keep interchangeable parts through their current iterations, let alone launch an entire generation of new tech that solves the intended problem.
They would like us to believe that the cost ratio of R&D will diminish when distributed over the production of the entire generation of planes, but even this disregards the fact that on-board tech is going to change over the life of these planes, and the designs will change to accommodate both them and the planes use specific applications.
To listen to anybody that signed on to this type of debacle is to accept that there is light at the end of the tunnel, we just have to keep boring, and we don’t know where the other side of the mountain is.
In short, it a vicious cycle of spending more base on what was already spent.
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Carl Icahn is now on Board to advise on Business Regulation.
I have no idea where it will all lead…but Trump is sure-as-Hell bringing on some financial heavyweights…
You clearly didn’t watch the interview. He said there’s no need to listen to daily CIA briefings if nothing has changed. That it is a waste of time to go over the same facts over and over.
That’s what smart people do - make good use of their time.
This is one of the things that blew me away.
The World the public KNOWS changes on a daily basis, much less the covert World we don’t.
But since the President Elect knows more than anybody…maybe he is right.
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Feel however you want about social media but it’s become the main avenue for communication in the world. Trump would have had absolutely no chance this election without social media and alternative media (which functions through social media).
People under the age of 35 barely have TV cable subscriptions anymore and the average age of the CNN viewer is ~60. Buying TV ads spots are becoming increasingly worth less especially in a time where we can record our favourite TV programs and watch it on our schedule. You can consider it absurd, but things will continue to move in this direction.
Should add: Twitter and FB provide a great avenue to communicate with the American people unsullied by reporters. Much harder for the mainstream Media to Spin his words
It also signals a return to competition for government contracts. Didn’t Lockheed Martin donates large sums of money to the Clinton Foundation?
(another, among many, sighs…)
raj:
Forget all the Anti-PC rhetoric floating around out there…
This ain’t about people being forced to use bullshit pronouns to describe people…
What the Leader of the Free World says MUST be seen through the lens of reality,facts, and consequences as best as they can be determined.
Trump is not some 3rd Rate dictator spouting off to the Sheeple he’s allowed to stay alive.
He must not only get input from his advisors (whom he appoints, by the way)…but he must listen to that advice.
As TB said; what the President says can move markets and get people killed.
I just hope Trump learns this by the time he is sworn in.
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Like promising to get an investigation into Clinton’s e-mails and such once he becomes Pres.?
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There has never been much competition for those types of contracts for the simple fact that to qualify for one, you must be outfitted to be able to complete them. There are only a handful of companies that are actually capable of qualifying.
Do a google earth over the shipyards that build for the navy and tell me if you imagine one of those popping up out of a mom and pop operation any time soon.
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