Bloomberg: Flawed F-35 Fighter Too Big to Kill as Lockheed Hooks 45 States

[unhappycamper]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-02-21/flawed-f-35-fighter-too-big-to-kill-as-lockheed-hooks-45-states



Almost half a billion dollars 'worth' of F-35s

Flawed F-35 Fighter Too Big to Kill as Lockheed Hooks 45 States
By Kathleen Miller, Tony Capaccio and Danielle Ivory on February 22, 2013

The Pentagon envisioned the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as an affordable, state-of-the-art stealth jet serving three military branches and U.S. allies.

Instead, the Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) aircraft has been plagued by a costly redesign, bulkhead cracks, too much weight, and delays to essential software that have helped put it seven years behind schedule and 70 percent over its initial cost estimate. At almost $400 billion, it's the most expensive weapons system in U.S. history.

It is also the defense project too big to kill. The F-35 funnels business to a global network of contractors that includes Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) and Kongsberg Gruppen ASA of Norway. It counts 1,300 suppliers in 45 states supporting 133,000 jobs -- and more in nine other countries, according to Lockheed. The F-35 is an example of how large weapons programs can plow ahead amid questions about their strategic necessity and their failure to arrive on time and on budget.

"It's got a lot of political protection," said Winslow Wheeler, a director at the Project on Government Oversight's Center for Defense Information in Washington. "In that environment, very, very few members of Congress are willing to say this is an unaffordable dog and we need to get rid of it."

[NYC_SKP]

1. That's how they do it. It's a pretty effective business model.

And it makes me sick.

K/R

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. another type of welfare for the profit making biz...

Wonder how many of those companies are paying any serious taxes?

[CrispyQ]

2. 53¢ of every tax dollar goes to the military.

Next time you hear someone complain about social security benefits for seniors so they don't have to eat cat food, or whine that their taxes are being spent so our kids can have a hot lunch, make them watch this 4 minute video about the military industrial complex.

President Eisenhower warned about the military industrial complex. The MIC currently gets 53¢ of every tax dollar & they want more. Talk about entitlement!

Facebook has removed this video from my page twice.

[unhappycamper]

3. I hadn't seen that video.

Thanks!!1!

[CrispyQ]

4. You're welcome.

I think the drawing is fantastic & the message is critical.

The F-35 is too big to kill. The banks are too big to fail. I'm so sick of fraudulent, corrupt institutions & enterprises being too big to do anything about.

[NYC_SKP]

6. Fuck FaceBook! (nt)

[CrispyQ]

7. Agreed.

Behind Facebook's tax bill
February 22, 2013

http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/22/technology/social/facebook-income-tax/

A tax advocacy group says Facebook, which made $1 billion in U.S. profit before taxes last year, will pay no U.S. income tax for 2012.

Tax experts say that could possibly be true -- and if so, it's perfectly legal -- but it's only part of the story. At issue is a sizable tax deduction from stock options that Facebook issued to its employees.

Stock options, like regular cash salaries, are tax-deductible for companies. Companies can use those deductions to offset their profits, and apply those losses to previous years, too. That's how a company could even be eligible for a refund in a year when it made money.

Citizens for Tax Justice, the advocacy group, says Facebook (FB) will receive a tax refund of nearly $430 million as a result of those options.

Facebook said in an e-mail that the company believes "in paying our fair share, and we do pay our fair share."

I know this is one paragraph over the limit, but that last one just had to be included.