Not even for Air Force One.
Defense contractors were pretty excited when Donald Trump won the election, figuring it was fat and happy time once again for defense spending. And if happy time means the Pentagon will once again be willing to fund what the nation needs for its defense, then there should indeed by plenty of smiles to go around.
As for the fat part, defense contractors are used to the idea that cost overruns are no issue with the Pentagon because whatever they order they have to have, and have right away. The cost-is-no-object approach to national security is understandable in a certain sense, but when contractors know they can go hog wild with no consequences . . . well, they're going to go hog wild. Frequently.
It doesn't look like Trump intends to play that game, not even with his own aircraft. A standing order with Boeing calls for the development of a new Air Force One, and the word has gotten to Trump that the cost of the plane has risen to as high as $4 billion. Regardless of how much a new Air Force One may be needed, Trump made it clear that he will cancel the contract entirely before he pays that:
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Pres Osama wanted 3 new planes. 1 for him and his posse, another for his elegant wife, and 1 more for al Sharpton and jeremiah wright and their entourage
ReplyDeleteMany years ago,like 45, I was in the commercial Diving business and got a call to inspect the small boat railway at Annapolis Naval Academy used for maintaining a fleet of 80 ft boats they used for the middies training. They wanted a report of what was wrong with the railway and an estimate to repair it. I used scuba diving gear and it took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to repair it and about 30 minutes to write up an estimate for which I charged the Navy 850 dollars,bear in mind the navy has an experimental diving unit right at the Washington Navy Yard with plenty of qualified divers there. I submitted my estimate which was 8 thousand dollars and was told to go ahead and fix it. My business partner and I repaired the railway in one day. I felt a little guilty so we messed around about another half day. when we got done I was told if we gave the navy a 2 percent discount that we would get paid in 10 days. 2 percent no problem and that is just a small example of what happens all the time with government contracting and that is why we need business savvy people running our government.
ReplyDelete6:41 I have a similar story. I used to do home improvement work and got a request to give a Wicomico county department ( welfare dept I think) a price to paint a bed room where the kid had written on the walls with crayons. I looked at the job and since it was almost 4 o'clock I headed for my favorite watering hole. I ordered a beer and figured out a price that would have made me a fairly good profit I continued having a few beers,after about 3 beers I got thinking what the hell nothing ventured nothing gained so I doubled the price after about 6 beers I doubled that price. I turned in the price that was 4 times as much as my original figure. I got the bid and I was only 17 dollars lower than another bidder. It is easy to spend some else's money particularly when its tax payer money.
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