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Lockheed To Furlough 3,000 On Monday, Layoffs Also Kicking In
Dawn Kawamoto writes "Lockheed employees are the latest casualty in the government shutdown, with the defense contractor announcing Friday it plans to furlough 3,000 workers on Monday. But what they didn't mention is they are laying off workers too, says a Lockheed source on the hush-hush. Lockheed, of course, isn't the only defense contractor taking it on the chin. Other contractors include United Technologies, which has furloughed 2,000, and BAE Systems which cut 1,000."
Lockheed Martin is a welfare queen sucking heartily on the tax payer titty for decades...boo fucking hoo.
the two main exports of the USA are death and maiming. these companies provide that
They want to make you think that if you don't give them what they want then you'll suffer for it. Legal extortion from the ring masters.
Most of what I have heard about is crap the government should have never been funding in the first place. So what if some beltway bandits get furloughed? So instead of spending as much on weapons as the next thirty countries, we may slip to only the next twenty countries. Even the closing of the national parks has an obvious solution: raise the entrance fees to cover the operating expenses, so no funding is needed.
A couple of problems with your scenario. First, the purpose of many of the park closings (and other closings) is to inflict pain for political purposes, not because it costs the government money to leave them open or accessible. They are actually spending money to erect barricades and to close parks and monuments that have been left open or accessible in previous shutdowns. Call it the "Chicago way." Just look at the fact that a growing number of government web servers are still up and running, but the web page says "we're closed." A few will let you get past the to see data or forms you need, but not many that I've seen today. Did the data change? No. So they are just being jerks - paying money to not only put up the warnings, but to also make the servers refuse to provide useful information despite the fact that they are still running. Like I wrote - the "Chicago way."
Obama Forcing Shut Down of Parks the Feds Don't Even Fund
Second, a lot of US defense spending is for personnel and readiness. The US has an all volunteer military that pays wages competitive to the civilian sector. Most other countries have mainly relied on conscription. US soldiers make a lot more than soldiers in other nations that are drafted. There are also disparities since the US is a first world nation and many others either aren't, or are much poorer. An American corporal makes as much per month as a Chinese or Iraqi general. The same goes for weapons purchases. Big cuts in the defense budget will eat into capacity. Some people may be OK with that, but eventually it will bite the US.
Until the educational/unionization/bureaucratic complex is dealt with, more money wont make any difference in our schools.
Worse than the unions is the deliberate sabotage by the Republicans happening for the past 20+ years. Public school is like welfare, so the Republicans pass unfunded mandates like NCLB to deliberately harm students in the hope the people will give up and pull funding, re-purposing it to private religious schools with charter schools and vouchers.
Learn to love Alaska