3 ms·

Alternatively, it could be viewed as one of the most successful US military projects ever. It has funneled X* amount of tax money to the military-industrial com

Alternatively, it could be viewed as one of the most successful US military projects ever. It has funneled X* amount of tax money to the military-industrial complex. Siphoning that money seems to have been the US militaries primary function for several decades. *Some giant number

everyone 8y ago
Actually, building a ridiculous plane is a much better way of achieving this than bombing innocent people.
- s3m4j 8y ago
  Why do you reduce the choices between "building useless piece of hardware" and "bombing innocent people" ? There are lots of choices here. Just a sample : less tax or invest more in health and education.
  - MBCook 8y ago
    But that wouldn’t help the military or military contractors.
  - everyone 8y ago
    The military industrial complex in the US is a self-perpetuating system that just so happens to have the influence and lobbying power to get the funding. It would have been great if some harmless or even beneficial industry had developed in this way, but that is not the case unfortunately. The US also has a burgeoning prison-industrial complex which also, unfortunately, results in bad consequences for innocent people. You can see these self-perpetuating systems all over the place in modern civilization. The mechanism by which they grow is the same one which causes management in large corporations to grow exponentially. The bureaucracy will grow to fill the resources available. In the case of these self-perpetuating systems, they can grow in lobbying power and influence and increase their available resources, which allows them to expand and gain even more lobbying power and influence, and so on. The core business could be military, or making fake vomit, it doesnt matter. ps. 'self-perpetuating system' is just a term I use to talk about these things. Maybe theres a widely accepted term I dont know. Also all this is just a product of my own reading and ruminations.
    - s3m4j 8y ago
      I also searched for something like "self-perpetuating system/bureaucracy" but didn't find an accepted term.
    - mercer 8y ago
      I suppose 'cancerous' might apply?
- asah 8y ago
  yes! the economic value of peace is over $10 trillion per year - we can afford a lot of economic sloppiness along the way.
- PoarNeemn 8y ago
  You mean (latent) terrorists.
throwawy3589 8y ago
>There are people who don't realize the F-35 program is used as a front to funnel money to skunkworks projects The fact you even know the F-35 exists should tell you it's a meme plane we're bullying our allies into buying to fund our own R&D. Devilish
jdietrich 8y ago
According to Lockheed Martin, the F-35 is responsible for 194,000 jobs across 46 states. From the outset, the project was designed to be too big to fail. It's the boondoggle to end all boondoggles. https://www.f35.com/about/economic-impact https://www.f35.com/about/economic-impact

everyone 8y ago

Actually, building a ridiculous plane is a much better way of achieving this than bombing innocent people.

s3m4j 8y ago
Why do you reduce the choices between "building useless piece of hardware" and "bombing innocent people" ? There are lots of choices here. Just a sample : less tax or invest more in health and education.
- MBCook 8y ago
  But that wouldn’t help the military or military contractors.
- everyone 8y ago
  The military industrial complex in the US is a self-perpetuating system that just so happens to have the influence and lobbying power to get the funding. It would have been great if some harmless or even beneficial industry had developed in this way, but that is not the case unfortunately. The US also has a burgeoning prison-industrial complex which also, unfortunately, results in bad consequences for innocent people. You can see these self-perpetuating systems all over the place in modern civilization. The mechanism by which they grow is the same one which causes management in large corporations to grow exponentially. The bureaucracy will grow to fill the resources available. In the case of these self-perpetuating systems, they can grow in lobbying power and influence and increase their available resources, which allows them to expand and gain even more lobbying power and influence, and so on. The core business could be military, or making fake vomit, it doesnt matter. ps. 'self-perpetuating system' is just a term I use to talk about these things. Maybe theres a widely accepted term I dont know. Also all this is just a product of my own reading and ruminations.
  - s3m4j 8y ago
    I also searched for something like "self-perpetuating system/bureaucracy" but didn't find an accepted term.
  - mercer 8y ago
    I suppose 'cancerous' might apply?
asah 8y ago
yes! the economic value of peace is over $10 trillion per year - we can afford a lot of economic sloppiness along the way.
PoarNeemn 8y ago
You mean (latent) terrorists.

throwawy3589 8y ago

>There are people who don't realize the F-35 program is used as a front to funnel money to skunkworks projects The fact you even know the F-35 exists should tell you it's a meme plane we're bullying our allies into buying to fund our own R&D. Devilish

jdietrich 8y ago

According to Lockheed Martin, the F-35 is responsible for 194,000 jobs across 46 states. From the outset, the project was designed to be too big to fail. It's the boondoggle to end all boondoggles. https://www.f35.com/about/economic-impact https://www.f35.com/about/economic-impact