The U.S. Pentagon’s top acquisition official, Undersecretary Ashton Carter, has warned that the F-35 cost-per-aircraft will be almost DOUBLE what we’ve previously been told and the budget overruns are continuing to mount. The critics, foreign and domestic, were correct on that score.
Even Republican U.S. Senator John McCain has criticized the program saying “No program should expect to be continued with that kind of track record, especially in our current FISCAL climate. It seems to me we have to start at least considering alternatives.”
Meanwhile, back here in Canada, deep thinkers in Harper’s government are still claiming that the program will still be delivered “on budget”. I’d like a couple of kilos of whatever it is that they’re smoking.
Prior to the last election, Canadian voters, at least the ones who were paying attention, were warned by military analysts, both in the U.S. and Canada, that the F-35 program was going to be a LOT more expensive than the Conservatives were claiming.
In fact, it was the Harper government’s refusal to reveal accurate costing of proposed budget items (like the F-35 fighter acquisition program) to the Parliament of Canada which led to the unprecedented Contempt of Parliament ruling and the non-confidence vote on March 25, 2011 which triggered the recent election.
The entirely predictable result of all this will be a significant increase in the Canadian public debt. The government will then frame our fiscal situation as a “choice” between cutting program spending and raising taxes. It is part of a premeditated strategy that will be cynically employed to manipulate citizens into supporting the Conservative plan of cutting program spending that they are ideologically opposed to (never mind the billions that they will spend on things they like) and to further the mythology that the Conservatives are the party of fiscal responsibility.
They learned it from U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who presided over the largest increase in the U.S. public debt in the country’s history, a record which stood until surpassed by the simultaneous tax cutting and bloated military spending of President George W. Bush. Reagan was known as the “Teflon President” because the responsibility for his many policy failures, including the ballooning U.S. debt, was never attached to him personally. Maybe Harper will be Canada’s first “Teflon Prime Minister”. The triumph of ideology over fiscal responsibility writ large. —I’m Laughing But it Ain’t that Funny
This article appears in May 26 – Jun 1, 2011.
I’m sorry El Jefe, could you repeat that please. I couldn’t hear you over the sound of sweet, sweet high tech jet aircaft engines.
http://markosun.files.wordpress.com/2010/0…
TLDR
I made it through Ideolo…..and then dozed off.
I hear what you’re saying, but 26% of the population made our choice and we have to live with it.
Actually, I should say that 100% of the population made the choice to allow 26% of the population equate a majority vote. Whatever. We’re all a bunch of knuckle-dragging droolers anyway.
In fact, on March 10, 2011, long before an election was triggered, the Conservative government had access to a detailed report by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, which outlined costs for the F-35 program which were pretty much in agreement with what is now being reported as “news” ie. that these aircraft will cost AT LEAST twice what Harper claimed.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/PBO-DPB/documents/F3…
I get excited about various aircraft, too, but this kind of doublespeak will make it hard for his fans to paint Harper as a prudent money manager.
The next federal election is at least 4 (maybe 5) years away and by then this item will likely be “ancient history” to many voters, but it is illustrative of the kind of government we are going to get going forward – one that is just as capable of lying and cheating and pork-barreling as any other previous federal government this country has seen.
Maybe people will have had enough by then and will give the “new guys” a chance.
I was going to call this bitch “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them” but the phrase has already been used.
We have no need for this type of plane whatsoever.
What we do need are some nuke-powered subs.
No joke.
Comandante, as usual you hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, we now have to see what programs are to be held hostage by the inevitable cost overruns you spoke of.
I don’t know much about these jets to be honest or what their specific purpose will be. Flex our muscles in the new melting Arctic frontier with the Russians? (doubtful)or help do Uncle’s Sam’s bidding in some ill-advised mideast excursion (more likely).
We are likely to see more of what Stephen Harper is about now that his government is on solid ground. If you are looking for more green initiative or less social disparity, too bad. If you like more jails and jets, you have your man.
The way this has played out also indicates a clear lack of integrity on the part of Stephen Harper and his cabinet. They knew the real cost but kept it hidden from Parliament (and the voters) until after the election and, in fact, are still trying to “brass it out” in the face of clear evidence that they are strangers to the truth.
But then the lack of integrity isn’t a new feature with Harper’s cabinet. Former International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda established that when she claimed that she had no idea who had altered a legal document and then was forced to admit that, yes, it was an alteration that was made at her request (if not by her personally).
In reaching his ruling that Bev Oda was in contempt of Parliament House Speaker Peter Milliken had this to say: “Any reasonable person confronted with what appears to have transpired would necessarily be extremely concerned, if not shocked.”
The Conservatives over the next four (or five) years will no doubt have their noses in the trough but they do need to be careful. Mulroney can tell them all about what eventually happens to little piggies that eat too much.
The cost overruns are on the Cadillac versions, not the Chevys. We’re getting the Chevys.
All the rest of the Anti-Tory remarks is just sour grapes. Jack is too busy babysitting and the Libs have a faulty GPS and totally lost.
Bro Tim,
I think you could find a way to defend gouging out the eyes of live baby seals with soup spoons in order to play a game of marbles if the Conservative Party of Canada came up with the idea.
No “sour grapes” here, just amused at the spectacle of liars and scoundrels running the country – once again.
Same as it ever was.
Frig…now I’ve switched songs in my head to ‘Once in a lifetime’ =P
Nothing wrong with a seal hunt. I hope you’re amused with the liars and scoundrels running the highest taxed province in Canada – NS. Of course you probably drank the Steale kool-aid.
See the difference between someone on the right and someone of the left is the person on the right will give credit to the left. The left will never do so. The right will also criticize their people, the left never does.
I agree with the OP.
Too many of my colleagues get completely blinded by promises of shiny new toys and lose the capacity for critical thinking. Beyond the immediate political picture and the party currently in power, there is a country built on a number of principles, one of which being government accountability.
Does our military need to replace equipment that has reached (or in some cases gone well beyond) its service life? Certainly. Was this particular deal done the proper way? Hell no. Awarding a contract for such a large capital investment without calling for tenders is irresponsible and completely bypasses the procedures put in place to ensure a certain level of transparency in public spending.
The fact that this is about military equipment bought by a Conservative government has nothing to do with it. My reaction would be the same if any other party in power would have pulled a stunt of a similar magnitude ($$$) for infrastructure or a service level agreement with a private company.
The fact that such a large percentage of the population doesn’t give a shit truly concerns me.
Bro Tim,
I won’t defend everything the NDP has done in Nova Scotia, but the reality is this province was mismanaged into huge debt (which still hamstrings current government program spending) by decades of alternating Conservative and Liberal governments. It’s amusing to me that some of the same folks who terrorized the electorate with visions of a profligate “tax and spend” left wing government are now complaining that the government has cut too much (Yarmouth ferry, education, nurses).
And I will give credit to right wing THINKERS when I agree with them. Off the top of my head, I can say that I agreed wholeheartedly with William F. Buckley, who called Reagan’s “War on Drugs” a costly and pointless farce.
IDEOLOGY vs FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
Oh dear, the usual mindless anti-Harper rant.
The OP is, of course, without ideology. He writes (ideology in capitals): “It is a PREMEDITATED STRATEGY that will be CYNICALLY EMPLOYED to MANIPULATE CITIZENS into supporting the CONSERVATIVE PLAN of cutting spending that they are IDEOLOGICALLY OPPOSED TO (never mind the MILLIONS that they will spend on THINGS THEY LIKE and further the MYTHOLOGY that the CONSERVATIVES are the party of FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY.”
Gee, it’s so good to see someone who is not ideologically motivated. Tell us another one, OP.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
All Politicians & their Party Politics is GARBAGE.
THey are all no fucking good.
But to condemn the NDP about our 12 BIllion dollars deficit is a gross miscarriage of blame.
The Conservatives & the Liberals between them have run this Province into the Ground !
These 2 Parties have passed control back & forth for over 250 years !
Blaming our debt on the NDP isn’t at all fair.
But don’t confuse that for them being any different.
We can all see just how different they are !
Same old same old…just a third group to now get to belly up to the trough !
More, in my opinion, this NDP government are just as fulll of shit as the other two. This was the goddamn party, when in opposition, who debated endlessly about openess and accountability – now that they’re in power, they’re more closed-mouthed than the fucking former KGB.
it’s not gonna come from their pockets, so why the fuck should they care in the least. i wouldn’t either, if i was nickel and diming you to death, almost daily. what a wonderful fucking political system, we don’t have.
High tech fighter jets and Canada/US will still lose to a bunch of so-called barbarians in the mountains and deserts. But the official story will say it’s a tie.
Being a small-c conservative I for one will welcome our new Taliban overlords. As long as they don’t mess with my beer and my baby-backs I’ll be happier than a pig in whiskey to grow a chin-slinky and wear black (Hay, it’s slimming) and I have wives 2, 3 and 4 already picked out so Katy Perry, Rhianna and that Asian chick from the bus last night with the knee socks and short skirt – I hope you know how to cook borscht & pierogies >; )
What if they put y’all on reservations?
Make mine for 8:30 with a table by the fireplace. And if I don’t get my 10 oz. bacon wrapped medium rare filet with rosti potatoes and goat cheese/endive salad in 10 minutes – then the terrorists will have won.