4 ms·

Given how bloated and wasteful our government is today, and how much the dept of defense blew on the F-35, I would be staggered if anything useful happens behin

Given how bloated and wasteful our government is today, and how much the dept of defense blew on the F-35, I would be staggered if anything useful happens behind closed doors, besides corruption. I think we were able to accomplish a lot more in the past.

Mistletoe 3y ago
Powerpoint was created in 1987 and it was all downhill from there according to the military. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/04/why-the-military-declared-war-on-powerpoint/345802/ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/04/why-the...
- marcus_holmes 3y ago
  Thanks for the link, that's fascinating, and resonates so much. Do you know what they used instead?
- katbyte 3y ago
  Indeed https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ-7U95LYTo https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ-7U95LYTo
- Psyladine 3y ago
  Not just for military: https://mcdreeamiemusings.com/blog/2019/4/13/gsux1h6bnt8lqjd7w2t2mtvfg81uhx https://mcdreeamiemusings.com/blog/2019/4/13/gsux1h6bnt8lqjd... Turns out trying to contain a complex system within a simple system of abstractions is a trendline towards disaster for any enterprise.
bragr 3y ago
>Given how bloated and wasteful our government is today, and how much the dept of defense blew on the F-35 You are listening to the fighter plane mafia too much. F-35 is a capable platform with a reasonable but large price tag for those capabilities. If you want to have a discussion of those capabilities, and whether those are needed, that's fine, but "big price tag == corruption" isn't a self supporting argument.
- __MatrixMan__ 3y ago
  The majority of the engineers where I live work for, or have worked for, defense contractors. I've shut down a defense contractor recruiter once a week or more for the last several months. It's insanity. I've been a fly on the wall for so many conversations about the stuff they're accustomed to spending money on... Fighter plane mafia aside, I have no trouble believing that that money is going nowhere useful.
- game_the0ry 3y ago
  > "big price tag == corruption" The DoD has failed 5 audits in a row. Take that however you want.
  - nradov 3y ago
    The DoD has had screwed up accounting systems for decades because Congress never appropriated funding to fix them. When the audits started a few years ago there was no expectation that they would pass. The goal is to identify the problems so that they can gradually be fixed without disrupting ongoing operations.
    - game_the0ry 3y ago
      See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_for_Sale:_The_War_Profiteers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_for_Sale:_The_War_Profite... Stop coping.
    - Loughla 3y ago
      Is your argument that DoD fails audits because they don't have enough money?
- oatmeal1 3y ago
  F-35 is an awful, awful, awful deal. It's an iteration on the F-22 that is expected to cost 1.7 trillion dollars in total. An absolutely unimaginable sum of money. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-105943 https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-105943

Mistletoe 3y ago

Powerpoint was created in 1987 and it was all downhill from there according to the military. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/04/why-the-military-declared-war-on-powerpoint/345802/ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/04/why-the...

marcus_holmes 3y ago
Thanks for the link, that's fascinating, and resonates so much. Do you know what they used instead?
katbyte 3y ago
Indeed https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ-7U95LYTo https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ-7U95LYTo
Psyladine 3y ago
Not just for military: https://mcdreeamiemusings.com/blog/2019/4/13/gsux1h6bnt8lqjd7w2t2mtvfg81uhx https://mcdreeamiemusings.com/blog/2019/4/13/gsux1h6bnt8lqjd... Turns out trying to contain a complex system within a simple system of abstractions is a trendline towards disaster for any enterprise.

bragr 3y ago

>Given how bloated and wasteful our government is today, and how much the dept of defense blew on the F-35 You are listening to the fighter plane mafia too much. F-35 is a capable platform with a reasonable but large price tag for those capabilities. If you want to have a discussion of those capabilities, and whether those are needed, that's fine, but "big price tag == corruption" isn't a self supporting argument.

__MatrixMan__ 3y ago
The majority of the engineers where I live work for, or have worked for, defense contractors. I've shut down a defense contractor recruiter once a week or more for the last several months. It's insanity. I've been a fly on the wall for so many conversations about the stuff they're accustomed to spending money on... Fighter plane mafia aside, I have no trouble believing that that money is going nowhere useful.
game_the0ry 3y ago
> "big price tag == corruption" The DoD has failed 5 audits in a row. Take that however you want.
- nradov 3y ago
  The DoD has had screwed up accounting systems for decades because Congress never appropriated funding to fix them. When the audits started a few years ago there was no expectation that they would pass. The goal is to identify the problems so that they can gradually be fixed without disrupting ongoing operations.
  - game_the0ry 3y ago
    See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_for_Sale:_The_War_Profiteers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_for_Sale:_The_War_Profite... Stop coping.
  - Loughla 3y ago
    Is your argument that DoD fails audits because they don't have enough money?
oatmeal1 3y ago
F-35 is an awful, awful, awful deal. It's an iteration on the F-22 that is expected to cost 1.7 trillion dollars in total. An absolutely unimaginable sum of money. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-105943 https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-105943