General Dynamics, is one of the largest defense contractors in the world. This is the same General Dynamics that was in the news about a month ago for an "accounting glitch" involving 900 million dollars worth of Stryker replacement parts. This doesnt include the no-bid $1.5 billion Stryker maintenance contract the Army has with General Dynamics that has the Army over-spending by some 300+ million dollars.
But, hey, welcome to the Iron Triangle.
This 2:27 minute local Bath, Maine news report, back from February of this year, gives a great example of how the Iron Triangle works and it pertains to this topic. Here you have both Senators, a Republican (Susan Collins) and Independent (Angus King) from the state of Maine, "working hand in glove" to get congress to pass a new defense budget. Here you also have union leadership talking about preserving jobs, hoping for a new defense budget. You have the president of BIW, proclaiming: "if nothing changes, it could lead to more job layoffs in the years ahead".
What you have here is organized labor and industry in unison with elected bureaucrats, all with one voice. That voice is clearly aimed at congress. Could it be because of the 5000+ jobs at stake in their districts/town? Or could it be all of them having their pockets lined with the billions at stake with the Department of Defense? General Dyanmics will surly profit from building ten new destroyers. Organized labor gets to keep their scalps. Last but not least, Susan Collins gets to keep her whore-master, General Dynamic, fat and happy, for ther investment into her campaign.
Here is a little something about Susan Collins we should know first:
Voted NO on investigating contract awards in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Nov 2005)
Interesting? You would assume someone who is on both Senate committees of Appropriations and Armed Forces, would want some type of transparency into contract/rewards, wouldn't you? Now, here are some of her earmarks...
| $20,000,000 | High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle Repair |
| $6,000,000 | General Dynamics/Saco Defense: MK47 Mod 0 Advanced Lightweight Grenade Launcher |
$3,200,000 General Dynamics/Saco Defense (Collins) General Dynamics Armaments and Technical Products (Leahy, Snowe): Lightweight Caliber .50 Machine Gun
Care to guess her top fundraiser over the last six years?
| Contributor | Total | Indivs | PACs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Dynamics | $89,750 | $48,250 | $41,500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Raytheon Co | $65,801 | $16,801 | $49,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Blue Cross/Blue Shield | $52,000 | $3,000 | $49,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Marriott International | $51,500 | $36,500 | $15,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National Assn of Postmasters | $49,000 | $0 | $49,000 |
"Its embarrassing..... ah... that or government has put people in this position because of the inability of people to work together."
Its embarrassing we have put a defense contractor in this position because the Iron Triangle's red tape isn't moving fast enough? Insert hilarious laughter here. I'm not pointing out anything that isn't obvious. Sure, we have corruption. We all know that but this isn't corruption as much as it is everyday business in the US of A. Where common sense and the statesmen has been assassinated and replaced by pimps with out of touch - bloated budgets (read Defense) who are running nothing more than a jobs program for the public while sanctioning nothing short of mercenary work to its soldiers. All the while the "elected" officials play the part of Mary Magdalan... nothing but a whore hiding behind an illusion.
