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In time of full scale war (or potentially whenever they want) the gov't can do whatever they want including changing the deal. This of course doesn't obviate yo

In time of full scale war (or potentially whenever they want) the gov't can do whatever they want including changing the deal. This of course doesn't obviate your claims, because in case of all out war all the broken equipment contractors have been milking might cause huge problems. Also, it might be nuclear already, so who knows if anyone will be there to fix it, or even pull the trigger. Regardless, this looks to me like a function of the huge $$$ that is referred to as the "Military Industrial Congressional Complex[0]", in which the mostly protected cost center of "defense" and of course those thousands of global US mil installations essentially milk these degenerate spasms of cash all over each others faces in the name of patriotism, service, the public, and whatever else. Also refer to "War is a Racket" (1935)[1] by medals of honor recipient Major General Smedley Butler [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_co... [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket and https://feralhouse.com/war-is-a-racket/ https://feralhouse.com/war-is-a-racket/

CGamesPlay 5y ago
> In time of full scale war (or potentially whenever they want) the gov't can do whatever they want including changing the deal. This of course doesn't obviate your claims, because in case of all out war all the broken equipment contractors have been milking might cause huge problems. I mean, assuming the soldiers have the tools and training to do it. If they don't, changing the terms of the deal doesn't matter much, since the soldiers won't be able to repair when they need to.
- cartoonworld 5y ago
  Yeah, the military contractors silo off the repair data and probably special tools, but I mean if it were really an emergency the Defense Production Act can compel the contractors to turn it over today. They can throw them in jail, too. Not saying this is likely, but it is possible. I'm not educated enough to rate the probability. Here's an example of this power being used to compel telecoms to spill some beans: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-11-30/obama-invokes-cold-war-security-powers-to-unmask-chinese-telecom-spyware https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-11-30/obama-inv...
samizdis 5y ago
> Also refer to "War is a Racket" (1935)[1] by medals of honor recipient Major General Smedley Butler That is a terrific piece, and one that's had a lot of HN attention: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=War+is+a+Racket https://hn.algolia.com/?q=War+is+a+Racket Most active discussion, from five years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22012255 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22012255
- spiritplumber 5y ago
  Smedley Butler is also one of the few people in history who was tapped to help with a fascist coup and refused the seduction of power. A modern day Cincinnatus.
nefitty 5y ago
> milk these degenerate spasms of cash all over each others faces You really could have omitted that thought.
nickysielicki 5y ago
> In time of full scale war (or potentially whenever they want) the gov't can do whatever they want including changing the deal. Nothing quite says 'military preparedness' like, "In the event of an actual real conflict, we can always just scramble to change everything."
- mcguire 5y ago
  It's the American Way of War. See also the US Civil War, US participation in WWI (the US went into that one with essentially horse-mounted dragoons intended for the Indian Wars), and, of course, WWII.
  - kazen44 5y ago
    isn't this how most countries changed to a total war system? looking at world war 2, most countries radically changed their economies and nationalised a ton of industry to be able to conduct warfare.
    - jessaustin 5y ago
      Yes, they saw USA create a military from scratch in five years and curb-stomp two giant multi-continental martial empires who had been building their armies for decades. The lesson they somehow drew from that was "it's bad to build a military from scratch!"

CGamesPlay 5y ago

> In time of full scale war (or potentially whenever they want) the gov't can do whatever they want including changing the deal. This of course doesn't obviate your claims, because in case of all out war all the broken equipment contractors have been milking might cause huge problems. I mean, assuming the soldiers have the tools and training to do it. If they don't, changing the terms of the deal doesn't matter much, since the soldiers won't be able to repair when they need to.

cartoonworld 5y ago
Yeah, the military contractors silo off the repair data and probably special tools, but I mean if it were really an emergency the Defense Production Act can compel the contractors to turn it over today. They can throw them in jail, too. Not saying this is likely, but it is possible. I'm not educated enough to rate the probability. Here's an example of this power being used to compel telecoms to spill some beans: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-11-30/obama-invokes-cold-war-security-powers-to-unmask-chinese-telecom-spyware https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-11-30/obama-inv...

samizdis 5y ago

> Also refer to "War is a Racket" (1935)[1] by medals of honor recipient Major General Smedley Butler That is a terrific piece, and one that's had a lot of HN attention: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=War+is+a+Racket https://hn.algolia.com/?q=War+is+a+Racket Most active discussion, from five years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22012255 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22012255

spiritplumber 5y ago
Smedley Butler is also one of the few people in history who was tapped to help with a fascist coup and refused the seduction of power. A modern day Cincinnatus.

nefitty 5y ago

> milk these degenerate spasms of cash all over each others faces You really could have omitted that thought.

nickysielicki 5y ago

> In time of full scale war (or potentially whenever they want) the gov't can do whatever they want including changing the deal. Nothing quite says 'military preparedness' like, "In the event of an actual real conflict, we can always just scramble to change everything."

mcguire 5y ago
It's the American Way of War. See also the US Civil War, US participation in WWI (the US went into that one with essentially horse-mounted dragoons intended for the Indian Wars), and, of course, WWII.
- kazen44 5y ago
  isn't this how most countries changed to a total war system? looking at world war 2, most countries radically changed their economies and nationalised a ton of industry to be able to conduct warfare.
  - jessaustin 5y ago
    Yes, they saw USA create a military from scratch in five years and curb-stomp two giant multi-continental martial empires who had been building their armies for decades. The lesson they somehow drew from that was "it's bad to build a military from scratch!"