Really, I'd like to think that.
As a side note, I wonder how all those Congresscritters who were aghast, aghast, at the horrifyingly socialist concept federal money being spent in TARP to "stimulate the economy" reconcile that with "Well, we gotta keep throwing billions at the F-35 because the contractor(s) employ a bunch of folks in my district." I'd also like to think that that just don't recognize the inconsistency.
Reshared post from +George Wiman
Especially read this if you saw the 60 Minutes fluff-piece on the F-35. This jet is just the latest series of movements in a long dance, where the government insists on paying for the latest military boondoggle, and liberals like me say; "With that money we could have [educated kids, fed hungry, fixed infrastructure, whatever]!" But in scale it's around 10x the size of the Strategic Defense Initiative. And like the SDI, it doesn't even effing work.
In the movie Robocop, the evil corporate exec admonishes one of his juniors about the potential defense contracts; "Who cares if it worked or not?!"
When Lockheed Gives You Lemons
On paper, the F-35 is an impressive plane. The fifth-generation, multirole, single-seat, single-engine Joint Strike Fighter is built primarily by Lockheed Martin, along with some help from a few other defense manufacturers. It’s the first …