Dissecting a $231 Million High-Tech Boondoggle

The L.A. Times takes to task the U.S. Congress, the Obama administration, and various military agencies for their combined role in supporting the expenditure of vast amount of money on a system called the Precision Tracking Space System. All told, according to the paper, the PTSS program -- which was to have provided early warning of missile launches, and precision tracking of the missiles themselves -- ended up blowing through more than $230 million before being cancelled. After talking to defense experts and reviewing hundreds of documents, the Times comes to what probably sounds like an easy conclusion for any big-budget military program that never reaches operation: it shouldn't have even left the drawing board.

Comments

Re:good.

[meglon]

I continue to see people blame Clinton for the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, you know.... Phil Gramm (REPUBLICAN), Jim Leach (REPUBLICAN), and Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (REPUBLICAN)... and i have to wonder if anyone that does was even alive in the 1990's. I mean, you'd have to have been comatose to think that Clinton could have gotten much of anything passed the republican congress he had, and even worse off to think that 3 of the most powerful REPUBLICANS at the time would be THE ONLY THREE people whose name got put on the bill. I mean... serious brain-death, head up ass comatose to think that. Yet, people who wanted something that turned out to be a serious fuck-up will continue to try to place blame elsewhere.

The REPUBLICAN bill to repeal the Glass-Steagall, which they'd been attempting to do for 20+ years prior to Gramm-Leach-Bliley, passed without enough votes to sustain a veto, however democrats agree to go along with it after republicans yielded on privacy legislation to keep medical and financial records private (republicans didn't want them to be), and on consumer protection legislation (again, republicans at the time didn't give a flying fuck about consumers rights). After conference, Clinton was sent a version of the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act that was veto-proof. Now, you could argue that he could have veto'd it, but it would have been purely symbolic.

So.... Glass-Steagall was actually repealed by republicans (because that's where bills get repealed... the house and senate, not the presidents desk), after they held consumer protections and private citizens privacy rights hostage to do what they'd been trying to do for decades. You can certainly blame Bill Clinton... but you'd be wrong, and anyone who lived through the 1990's (and actually remembers them) should know that.

You are correct though about that being a massive negative on economic stability.