Wingnut Welfare
The socipathic Republicans/Conservatives hate welfare unless it’s for large corporations that are part of the military industrial complex. In order to avoid cuts in the “defense” budget they want to cut food stamps.
WASHINGTON — The latest Republican plan to reconcile the budget and preserve defense spending extracts even deeper cuts from programs to help the poor and Americans still reeling from the recession.
Although spending levels for the budget were set in the Budget Control Act passed last summer in the deal to raise the nation’s debt limit, Republicans are pushing ahead with another plan that cuts more while trying to prevent the beginning of $600 billion in cuts over 10 years to the growth of the defense budget.
So what are they trying to save? The billion dollar flying lemon better known as the F35. They had to cheat to keep the F35 and Lockheed Martin alive.
It seemed like a promising step for America’s next stealth fighter: The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter passed a key Pentagon test of its combat capability. But it turns out that the family of jets cleared the mid-February exam only because its proctor agreed to inflate its grade. In essence, the military helped the F-35 cheat on its midterms.
The collusion between the Pentagon testing body, known as the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), and the F-35 program — first reported by Inside Defense — confirmed that the U.S.’ most expensive warplane met previously established performance criteria. Specifically, the review was meant to show that the jet can fly as far and take off as quickly as combat commanders say they need it to.
But the review council, which includes the vice chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, eased the standard flying profile of the Air Force’s F-35A model — thereby giving it a range boost of 30 miles. And it tacked an additional 50 feet onto the required takeoff distance for the Marines’ F-35B version, which Defense Secretary Leon Panetta just took off budgetary probation.
This lemon has 13 known flaws. This will increase the amount of wingnut welfare required and delay delivery. But the project continues and Lockheed Martin remains alive. It’s a Budgetary Disaster but easy money for a major defense contractor.
While the Republicans continually talk about government waste the F35 is waste they won’t talk about.
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I honestly don’t think republican leaders care if third world conditions increase in the USA. If they did care their record on the various issues effecting the poor and middle classes would reflect it. Yes, “sociopath” is a harsh word, but I’m afraid it’s the right one.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lets-just-say-it-the-republicans-are-the-problem/2012/04/27/gIQAxCVUlT_story.html
Btw, I think we’re going to see a growing problem with “elder poverty” (again) in the years to come – and I mean people who have worked all their lives. I’m sure the republican leadership won’t have any trouble looking the other way when it happens.
zephyr puts a lot of true-ism in two short paragraphs.
How cuts to military spending aren’t on the table is beyond me. Its the one thing we can cut back on drastically and still easily maintain our #1 position in the world at.
Funny how the more obvious and rational solutions are the ones which are often hardest to implement eh? Military spending cuts are a threat to the military industrial complex. Don’t think they don’t know how to protect their interests.