From: ricci@cbmvax.commodore.com (Mark Ricci - CATS)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.space,sci.space
Subject: Re: Pres Debate & military spending
Date: 16 Oct 92 13:41:06 GMT
Reply-To: ricci@cbmvax.commodore.com (Mark Ricci - CATS)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman) writes:
>Unfortunately, the aerospace industry is ill equipped to operate when
>separated from the government teat. There's little consumer demand for
>$800 toilet seats, or $120 million dollar ex-ballistic missiles. The
>companies don't have a clue how to make $19 Walkmans, or even $2 million
>dollar sewage treatment plants. Their corporate culture isn't setup to
>handle such concepts. A much reduced Boeing might survive on airliner
>sales, but have you looked at the airline industry lately? They aren't
>in a position to be buying a lot of airplanes. If the government money 
>goes away, these companies, and their military capabilities, are going 
>to go away. Perot's right, they can't be just thrown on the consumer market, 
>they'll die.

So what you're saying is that we're stuck with these guys for the rest of
time.  I don't think so.  Homey don't play dat.  

I do agree that the government bears responsibility for creating this industry
and has an obligation to see it gracefully decline.  To that end, I would 
support measures that would help workers learn new skills or go back to school.
However, the corporate culture you speak of is on its own.  I worked for three
defense contractors during the 80s and they knew exactly what they were doing.
The last one, GE/RCA in Camden, NJ was the worst.  The project I was on, the 
IRR program for Trident subs, was known as the cash cow because of the profit
they made on it by taking advantage of the contract.  They wouldn't last ten
minutes in a competitive atmosphere, but that's their doing and they will
suffer the consequences.

>The question is, though, just what high tech consumer goods do these 
>companies know how to produce, and more importantly, *market*? And,
>how much of their military capabilities will they preserve for the
>day when the world heats up again, as it will? We're told that an
>Iowa class battleship can't be built today because no company has
>the technology to do it. It's been lost as the shipyards and steel
>companies have converted to civilian markets. We're told that we
>can't rebuild the Saturn V because the subcontractors went bankrupt
>during the funding cuts of the 1970s. Can we afford to let this happen
>to our aerospace companies?

Yes and no.  Yes because they must move on to other businesses and space will
be one of them.  Get the government out of space and you open up possibiities.
No because we will maintain a formidable military in any event.  I'm not 
calling for gutting defense as we did in the 70s, but I'm not going to agree
to keeping these guys afloat simply because they only know one way of business.

>Actually the Federal government is in better shape than most consumers.
>They spend 35% of their income servicing the debt. How many of you
>spend less than 35% of your incomes on house notes, car notes, and
>consumer debt? The US government owes four times it's annual income.
>How many of you living in $200,000 houses and driving $40,000 cars
>can say you owe less?

Correction: the government spends our income servicing the debt. And that debt, 
unlike my mortgage, is increasing every single minute.  Do the math for paying
off $4 trillion.  It's bloody scary.  


Mark
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Newsgroups: talk.politics.space,sci.space