“Since the beginning, we’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars to reduce the price of the airplane more than 70%,” Jeff Babione, Lockheed’s executive vice president and general manager said. With a straight face.
What. The. Fuck?
Look, while I’m against P-E Trump having voluntary Twitter-Tourette-syndrome, even a broken (analog) clock is correct twice a day. More than my anger over the development of the V-22 Osprey, I get serious rage issues about the F-35. The IDEA of it is very smart – one base aircraft platform, with variations for each branch of the military – it should cut costs by standardizing spare parts and maintenance training. On the other hand, the damn thing needs to fly, AND, the damn thing shouldn’t cost so much that the “savings” promised won’t cover the R&D cost run-up during inception.
On the other hand, perhaps PE Trump shouldn’t pop up and pop off with bullshit numbers about real problems. Going back a few days to his taking a 149 million dollar cost of R&D on upgrading the Air Force One 747 and inflating that to a 4 Billion dollar hunk of bullshit is dangerous, especially considering the complete and total gullibility of his fan base. They are dumb – whether through genetics, voluntary adoption of ignorance, or inbreeding – and they will believe ANYTHING they’re told by the fear pushing chuckleheads who make a profit by exploiting rampant right-wing, pissy pants fear.
It’s hard to fix a problem when histrionics, hyperbole, and bullshit are added to what is already a HUGE clusterfuck.
It’s just as hard to put out a wildfire by trying to smother it with trillions of dollars in cash.