"Smaller government means less federal contracts. A LOT less"
And here's another thought .....
What about all the very lucrative contracts that originate from the Pentagon to the likes of McDonnell Douglas, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop, United Technologies, Rockwell, etc, etc.
It seems the Defense Budget is of the order of $610 Billion per year based on one of the latest declared numbers in 2013.
Now when the Defense Chiefs go to Congress with their hands out for the next INCREASED injection of cash for their Defense Budget, they better have good reasons for asking for more dollars, such as ... "There's an increase of hostilities in one or more parts of the world that require America to be better prepared for its own security and that of its alliance partners. So we need an extra 15% this year, or whatever "
Ever since 1946-1950, there's always been some major conflict going on .... Israeli conflicts, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, the Suez 'Crisis', 'Star Wars', Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Al Qaeda, etc..... All requiring beefing up the American military by private contractors.
Now the thing is, if the members of Congress "look out of the window" and there are virtually no hostilities anywhere, they could ask the Chiefs, "Now why would you need more cash when it seems pretty peaceful out there. Surely with our numerous aircraft carriers, and nuclear submarine fleet, and missiles in silos, we have adequate defenses for our needs, seeing as there's no problem of any consequence out there ??!!"
One can just imagine what the above Defense contractors would do if that was the end result .... no multi-million dollar orders for the latest fighters, naval fleet items, nuclear subs, long range bombers, etc, etc...
It's one thing to do maintenance and selected upgrades, but it's quite another to supply a whole new generation of something that will probably be out of date in several years time.
There would be extreme apoplexy in their ranks.
Just think of all the re-tooling that they would have to do to convert to more straightforward industrial products ??
Anyway, ... just a thought .... |
