EPTNavy "ghost ships" cost 300 million dollars - Page 4
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Laerties
United States361 Posts
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jmack
Canada285 Posts
But in seriousness, seeing this, this money not going to social services or into schools and education ( or something to help the unbelievable amount of people suffering; here at home ) is outright disgusting, and the lack of outrage at reports like this ( daily occurences lately ) is the only thing more pathetic. | ||
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reneg
United States859 Posts
On July 23 2011 15:27 jmack wrote: Could have built SC2 stadiums, at least that'd be something a few of THE PEOPLE actually wanted. But in seriousness, seeing this, this money not going to social services or into schools and education ( or something to help the unbelievable amount of people suffering; here at home ) is outright disgusting, and the lack of outrage at reports like this ( daily occurences lately ) is the only thing more pathetic. To be fair, it was thought that the money spent on the ships would actually go into something. Sure, it didn't pan out, but let's think of the whole situation (Be warned, the dollar amounts are made up, i have no idea how much it would have cost to complete the ships): Government spends 300 mil on these ships, but then decides at this current point in time, to scrap them. The taxpayers will receive no benefit, they went on zero missions, basically they paid a bunch of workers to half work on a project, and then told them all to go home. Other possibility: Government spends 600 mil completing the ships. They then realize that the ships are largely worthless, as they don't meet requirements / demand / for whatever reason, they can't really use the ships. The ships are stripped and sold for scrap. 3rd possibility: Government spends 600 mil completing the ships, and although using the ships would be a losing endeavor, the government sends them out on a few dozen missions, netting losses of approx 1 million a piece. To be honest, i'm shocked and thrilled that they figured out that this would be a waste of money, and pulled the plug on it so early. I feel like getting a government to stop something, even though it might be financially inefficient, is an extremely difficult thing to do. | ||
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FallDownMarigold
United States3710 Posts
I think a good way to decrease defense expenditure would be to go with Obama's plan of weaning off the global military presence. Technology should absolutely be pursued to the fullest extent, but having troops stationed everywhere is what's really expensive. 1 single man deployed for 1 single year costs over a million dollars. Think about THAT number. Then do math. Suddenly this little ship project doesn't seem so impacting. | ||
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Deja Thoris
South Africa646 Posts
On July 23 2011 04:20 dogabutila wrote: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/medicare-fraud-costs-taxpayers-60-billion-year/story?id=10126555 The government says 60B. Some experts say it could be double that. No. They passed a healthcare bill requiring everybody to be on health insurance (among other things) it doesn't restructure medicare or medicaid at all. If you pay attention to the debt-ceiling negotiations this is one of the sticking points. Libs say they are open to restructuring medicare / medicaid but won't let any fixes go through. FYI, I'm a libertarian, and I'm not even registered to vote. Partisan? Yea right. Silly? Not when it's true. Unfounded? Just because you don't believe allegations to be true doesn't make them false. Despite a source being quoted, i cant believe those figures. Thats $250 defrauded for every man, woman and child in the USA. If it is true I'm moving to the States to start up a business! | ||
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dogabutila
United States1438 Posts
On July 23 2011 15:47 Deja Thoris wrote: Despite a source being quoted, i cant believe those figures. Thats $250 defrauded for every man, woman and child in the USA. If it is true I'm moving to the States to start up a business! Believe it bro, not only does the government admit that much, but a few investigative news reports examine the issue and estimate around that ballpark. They say that this is becoming the next big thing. Like this is what the people who used to B&E do now. This is what drug dealers do now. Rarely do people get caught (they only find it was fraud after the fact most of the time), and you can get more. Far more reward for far less risk. | ||
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MrTortoise
1388 Posts
you guys are so greedy. Economy is give and take. How much did the Us spend on bombs? how much damage did they do to other economies? when you add up both sides i dont think 300 million really matters to tell the truth. If you want to get irate about something ... there are much better things imo. | ||
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Dagobert
Netherlands1858 Posts
On July 22 2011 10:37 jinorazi wrote: i can only hope one day wish all those military funding could be used for better medical, educational, scientific infrastructure. (for all nations) Only if Tyler Durden is real and one day takes down all the contemporary banks and insurance companies. With an addition of the companies in the arms industry. | ||
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sCfO20
176 Posts
how much damage did they do to other economies? Yeah, we damn Americans literally break into your houses and steal your money. As for the United State's economy, I don't think it's anyone's business but the AMERICAN TAXPAYERS. We got greater minds than yours and mine working on the economy. If we have a little faith in them, and stop making stupid little threads like this, maybe we'll at least save a little out of our wallets by not having to buy Tylenol? | ||
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DCWasabi
United States368 Posts
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ieatkids5
United States4628 Posts
On July 22 2011 10:05 supermanrick wrote: written by By Laura Rozen | The Envoy – Wed, Jul 20, 2011 http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/two-never-used-navy-ghost-ships-sent-scrap-164452572.htm In the era of massive belt-tightening budget cuts, the story of two never-completed, unused Navy ships now being sent to the scrap heap after costing U.S. taxpayers $300 million is a case study in Pentagon waste. Requisitioned by the U.S. Navy in 1985, the two oil-hauling ships, the Benjamin Isherwood and the Henry Eckford, "have never gone on a mission, were never even completed, yet they cost taxpayers at least $300 million," the Virginia-Pilot's Scott Harper reports. Now the "ghost ships" are headed from their dock on the James River in Virginia to a Texas scrap yard to be dismantled, Harrop writes. And there's one more catch--the United States awarded a $10 million contract to dismantle four ships, including the Eckford and the Isherwood, to a UK firm, so no money from the reclamation will return to the United States. The two vessels were part of a $567 million request for three oilers put out by the Navy, Harrop writes. But the builder, Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Co. in Philadelphia, defaulted on the contract in 1989. A Florida firm contracted to finish the ships cancelled the contract over price disputes in 1993. The ships are now being scrapped, rather than refurbished, because they do not meet modern specs. "[I]t will close one of the saddest chapters in American shipbuilding and for that matter, federal fiduciary folly," writes global maritime commentator Joseph Keefe, Harrop notes. Harrop has the full story of the ship's long, unfinished fate over at the Virginia pilot That's just flat out wrong. | ||
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HellRoxYa
Sweden1614 Posts
Nah, it's just capitalism.  | ||
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Kaitlin
United States2958 Posts
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furymonkey
New Zealand1587 Posts
Pentagon Struggles to Keep Ships Sailing, Planes Flying As Budget Cuts Loom http://www.defencetalk.com/pentagon-struggles-to-keep-ships-sailing-planes-flying-as-budget-cuts-loom-35757/ Across all the services, long-standing readiness problems are worsening; breakdowns are happening more frequently. Several years ago, an Air Force F-15C literally broke in half during flight. Since then, two F-18s have caught fire aboard ships. Today, every single cruiser hull has cracks; A-10C Warthogs have fuselage cracks, and the UH-1N Twin Huey helicopter fleet is regularly grounded. Over half the Navy's deployed aircraft are not ready for combat | ||
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tyCe
Australia2542 Posts
On July 22 2011 10:08 Voltaire wrote: In my opinion the US could easily cut its defense budget by 60% by pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan and vastly reducing the huge amount of unnecessary troops we have in Germany, Japan, and South Korea, among other places. This would cause no increase in threat whatsoever to the American people. Apart from political motivations. US presence in Japan and SK can be thought of as an underlying presence in Asia around China. Troops there can be quickly mobilised for attack/defence against Chinese (or I suppose NK, although I don't think the US actually finds NK important in itself) and China knows this. So, I guess it's just a small Sword of Damocles in case China does something "anti-American" enough. I would like America to pull out of every other country in the world and mind their own business too though. It must be attractive to fight all wars off home soil though. Sorry for my forceful views. | ||
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MidKnight
Lithuania884 Posts
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grush57
Korea (South)2582 Posts
Yea, paying people for work is horrible. | ||
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kHaza
Great Britain55 Posts
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Madoga
Netherlands471 Posts
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Terranist
United States2496 Posts
On July 26 2011 06:59 kHaza wrote: These are ships that were commisioned before the end of the Cold War and which turned out not to be needed. that's all that needs to be said. SSC was a (much) bigger waste of resources during the cold war, but it was necessary to prove american superiority in science. | ||
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