Tuesday, April 16th, 2019
Stephan: I have been following the F-35 aircraft since it was nothing more than bluesky money, as it is called in the Pentagon, and it has always seemed to me an aircraft for a form of war that will probably never occur again, an enormous boondoggle, and basically a scheme to give a few corporations an obscene amount of taxpayers' dollars.
Across the subsequent years from its beginnings, I have seen nothing that contradicts any of these original impressions. Here is the latest on this project. As I read it all I could think about was how many childcare centers could have been upgraded; how many schools could have been funded; how many eldercare facilities could have been better staffed with the money squandered on the F-35.
An F-35 Lightning II sits on stage during the United Kingdom F-35 delivery ceremony on July 19, 2012, at Lockheed Martin Corporation in Fort Worth, Texas.
Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty
U.S. taxpayers are no strangers to getting saddled with monstrously expensive weapons programs at the expense of basic needs like food, shelter and education. The Pentagon paid $44 billion for 21 very fragile B-2 stealth bombers, few of which still fly in combat roles. The F-22 fighter, coming in at more than $350 million per plane, was built to combat Cold War adversaries who ceased to exist six years before the first jet rolled off the production line. The sticker price for Ronald Reagan’s harebrained “Star Wars” missile defense program stands at around $60 billion.
Alas, there always seems to be more room at the Pentagon trough. Enter the F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft.
“Japan Air Self Defense Force Stands Up First F-35A Lightning II Fighter Squadron,” announced the April 1 headline in The Diplomat, a publication focusing on Asia-Pacific news. “This is a […]
Yes in addition think of all the “radical socialist agenda” that could have been funded. Free/low cost college, medicare for all, infrastructure including water systems, public transit, high-speed rail, green new deal, paying off student debt and so on. The trillions of dollars poured down the black hole of the pentagon is beyond evil and continues to be destructive to our spiritual, moral and economic welfare. The wealth that is shoveled down the hole is generally done without much resistance from any quarter.
You’re right Will, but who can have the nerve to stand up against the military-industrial-banking-complex? They’ve even got the lawyers and judges who are more on their side than the people’s side. Only a revolution will change anything, but who is the winner going to be?