Issue being that Egypt is no longer at peace with Israel. We need to stop arming our enemies. It's not that hard. (Not saying you are making it out to be hard, Denny.) Go Blazers
I don't single out the defense industry. Anything built for and sold to the govt. should not be for sale elsewhere.
we have been aiding, funding, and arming al qaeda since we created them, why stop now? yet we are locked in a bitter neverending war with them, they are our mortal enemies, and they are endangering our freedom, and worse, our very lives. id say anyone in favor of our bloated millitary is an idiot, but you cant blame them, fear is a helluva drug
That makes no sense. GE can't sell light bulbs anywhere else since their distributors are selling on various government contracts? 99.9% of things "sold to the government" are mundane, everyday items.
Any manufacturer or retailer making one dollar from the government will depend 100% upon the government for its existence. The company will be controlled, and in effect owned, by the government. Even Communist and WW2 Fascist countries didn't go that far. Karl Marx didn't, either. I have to think about this new system you invented, Denny. This may make you famous, after they kill you.
Government shouldn't buy light bulbs from GE. They should buy them from a company that makes light bulbs for the govt. exclusively.
I'm suggesting govt. doesn't fund the development of weapons systems that end up being sold to other nations or NGOs. It's already not a free market if the govt. is a customer. Things built with govt. funding should be public domain or owned by the public, not the property of some company. We pay for the R&D with our taxes. Like in this famous case: http://www.gesmer.com/insights.php?NewsID=456
Well, you suggested a lot more than that, didn't you? You want gov't-only manufacturers of, well, everything. It's a silly idea.
That's not at all what I suggested. If the govt. buys fighter jets from a company, that company should not be able to sell planes anywhere else, period. Or parts to planes, plans, and so on. Otherwise the company would just change some part and call it a different plane and be able to sell it.
No heart attack, car accident, or death from burglary yet? You know that the big computer in the sky has already reclassified you, right?
I'm suggesting that the way you keep corporate interests out of govt. is to treat the already special relationship between govt. and it's vendors specially. The military industrial complex is best known, but govt. shouldn't be buying Chevy Volts now should they? Even if they gave Ford a fair shot at the fleet sale, it sure looks fishy. It's even worse when GE buys the Volts and somehow pays $0 in tax. Quid pro quo. You can't be against welfare abuses and turn a blind eye toward corporate welfare.
So, you did suggest that there be gov't-only manufacturers, right? I don't think you've given his idea much thought at all. We all have bad ideas at times...
Let's say the government has all its buildings sprayed a lot, so it only needs 10 mousetraps for the whole government. Factory overhead on the $1 million per year factory will be spread over only 10, so they will cost about $100,000 each. Let's say the government takes out a restraining order on only one madman, PapaG. This will take the private detective (the 1930s slang for that was dick) 5 seconds of his time per day. But the private dick has to feed his children so he adds overhead to make $40,000 per year. This is inefficient. Correction on that last one: Never mind. I decided it's worth it.
The idiotic thing is that the govt. pays $100K each for mouse traps now. You wonder why health care costs so much? Because govt. pays for it. People see the deep pockets and figure they can charge more.
First....Flagrant 2 on Denny for hijacking my thread. I should get two free shots at Denny and my thread back. Second, are you suggesting that any health care provider that accepts payment from medicare or Obamacare should not be allowed to care for Joe Schmuck, if he wants to pay cash?
I already suggested the govt. should build hospitals and clinics and hire doctors and buy equipment - then they provide service for as minimal a fee as they can afford. So yeah.