Politics

[Scott CWO]

And that would make Biden a better choice because....?

Desantis or Haley would be better and could be President for 8 years. We are in the primary season still and lots of Republicans aren’t thinking about 8 years?!?!?

 

[Scott CWO]

I’m with you @tundratiger we parallel pretty much, I will not vote for the blowhard in the primary on Tuesday but as I’ve stated before I will hold my nose vote for him in November and then be sick for a week or two.

That’s what I did and will do. I would rather have Desantis or Haley now but will vote for Trump if I have to while holding my nose. We’ve got to stop all this illegal immigration or our country is doomed.

 

[Scott CWO]

Did Trump ever?

Trump won’t sign a pledge to support other Republicans in 2024. Who said they will support him?

Trump said that he won't sign a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee. Here's a look at which candidates have signed the pledge.

www.usatoday.com

Guess, Haley feels the same way as Trump in regard to people she wouldn't endorse.

Touche’

 

[Zambezi]

You are quoting made up nonsense. Whose pockets and what open market are you talking about?

The typical Defense contractor runs a 12 - 14% profit margin. My old company, Northrop Grumman, achieved 12.07% last year. That means a 500 million dollar contract generates around 6 million in profit. That then is primarily distributed to share holders and new investment. Salaries are part of overhead. MacDonalds on the other hand runs a gross profit margin of 57.04% and ROE of 26.63.


What do you actually know about this? I frankly assume nothing at all. I do not know what your profession is, but this is mine. DOD and the services have extraordinarily stringent accounting procedures. So does the industry that supports them - subject to both government and internal audits.

The right wing political propaganda machine which is just as bad as the left, apparently assumes nothing is being properly accounted. That is blatantly untrue. Unlike most of the propagandists, I actually speak from personal professional experience and a real understanding of DOD accounting procedures. I actually ran all the the US Army's security assistance programs. But such knowledge is irrelevant to the typical nonsense being spewed on the right wing sites and sadly here.

Think you meant SIXTY million in profit for that contract.
But agree with the rest.

 

[Vintageguy]

You are quoting made up nonsense. Whose pockets and what open market are you talking about?

The typical Defense contractor runs a 12 - 14% profit margin. My old company, Northrop Grumman, achieved 12.07% last year. That means a 500 million dollar contract generates around 6 million in profit. That then is primarily distributed to share holders and new investment. Salaries are part of overhead. MacDonalds on the other hand runs a gross profit margin of 57.04% and ROE of 26.63.


What do you actually know about this? I frankly assume nothing at all. I do not know what your profession is, but this is mine. DOD and the services have extraordinarily stringent accounting procedures. So does the industry that supports them - subject to both government and internal audits.

The right wing political propaganda machine which is just as bad as the left, apparently assumes nothing is being properly accounted. That is blatantly untrue. Unlike most of the propagandists, I actually speak from personal professional experience and a real understanding of DOD accounting procedures. I actually ran all the the US Army's security assistance programs. But such knowledge is irrelevant to the typical nonsense being spewed on the right wing sites and sadly here.

Thank you for clearing that up.
All politicians and bureaucrats are honest and there is zero mischief or corruption in our government. Also, a lot of money went to places other than supposed weapons. But you actually made me laugh out loud. If you think government and large corporations are ran all above board and honestly then you are a whole new level of gullible.

 

[Red Leg]

Thank you for clearing that up.
All politicians and bureaucrats are honest and there is zero mischief or corruption in our government. You actually made me laugh out loud. If you think government and large corporations are ran all above board and honestly then you are a whole new level of gullible.

What Is your actual experience with either that gives you this insight? I am sure we would all benefit in understanding how your professional experiences are so different than mine.

 

[Red Leg]

Think you meant SIXTY million in profit for that contract.
But agree with the rest.

lol. Math was never a strong suit.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

My most despised teams are LSU and the University of Oregon. For years I debated with myself which one I'd root for should they meet on the field.

After all the frigging debate, one of my daughter's ended up marrying an LSU guy and they now live in East Texas. Argh....

@HuntingGold You are doubly blessed! LSU genes in the family and East Texas living.

 

[Vintageguy]

What Is your actual experience with either that gives you this insight? I am sure we would all benefit in understanding how your professional experiences are so different than mine.

It called life. 33 years of dealing with corporate lies and politicians and their shady deals and seeing both fleece the customer and the taxpayer.
Now I’m going back to my coffee because I violated a personal rule of not engaging with neo cons with TDS because, 1 it does no good, and 2 you seem incapable of engaging with others without insults. A regular pattern you show here by the way. Good day.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Actually, you Trump haters should look at the Aspen Beat article by Glen Beaton which can be accessed easily through the Power Line Blog (which EVERYONE should read). It might make you think about a differing point of view on Trump.

Just read the Trump article, and yes it does paint a very positive image of the Donald. The blogger ignored the many negatives, in my opinion.

Let's take just one issue, the border wall. Trump campaigned that he'd get the border wall built and make Mexico pay for it. Didn't happen. Trump lovers will say, Congress prevented Trump from getting the wall built and I wouldn't disagree with it. Trump isn't a leader, he is a boss. I believe he should have gathered some key Congressmen and Senators, from both parties, from the border states and had them push legislation to get the wall built. Had the wall been built, we would not have today's border crises. This is on Trump as much as it's on Biden.

Washington is infamous for tagging stuff to the POTUS (Reaganomics, ObamaCare, The Trump Wall, Bidenomics). Had Trump actually shown some real leadership, he would have pushed for the wall project, using the lead sponsors name on the bill. The Dems were purposedly throwing roadblocks on anything and everything named Trump. Just like the Republicans are doing with Biden.

 

[WAB]

Thank you for clearing that up.
All politicians and bureaucrats are honest and there is zero mischief or corruption in our government. Also, a lot of money went to places other than supposed weapons. But you actually made me laugh out loud. If you think government and large corporations are ran all above board and honestly then you are a whole new level of gullible.

I can’t speak to government, but I retired as a divisional president of a Fortune 500 company. As a senior officer I spent many days in compliance training. We, and every US company I did business with, did everything in our power to ensure that we operated with 100% compliance. Don’t believe everything you read, those that bend the rules are very much the exception.

 

[mdwest]

Thank you for clearing that up.
All politicians and bureaucrats are honest and there is zero mischief or corruption in our government. Also, a lot of money went to places other than supposed weapons. But you actually made me laugh out loud. If you think government and large corporations are ran all above board and honestly then you are a whole new level of gullible.

There is dishonesty and corruption in every industry… that is simply the nature of the men and women that work in a business that allows it..

Have you bothered to look at what’s going on inside many facets of the Ag industry? How about food services? Energy? Construction? The list is as long as there are major industries available to consider..

I also work in defense… my firm works on smaller margins than @Red Leg ‘s former firm.. we do in fact not only submit to our own internal and external accounting audits annually, we also submit to audits by the DCAA, DCMA, and DS as a matter of routine. We literally use outrageously expensive accounting software that was specifically designed for the defense industry (that also gets audited as a platform routinely by the government) just so we can keep up with the intensely regulatory environment of defense accounting (there is an entire volume of federal regulations dedicated to just accounting in the government sector)…

Have there been incidents where price gouging has occurred? Obviously yes… have there been double billing incidents? Of course…

Are they common or in any way standard practice within the industry? Absolutely not..

But when a defense firm screws the govt (whether by intent or by accident) that makes great news…

When you get screwed at the McDonald’s drive through (and they screw 10,000 people the same day)… the only person that cares is you… CNN doesn’t see a story there..

 

[Altitude sickness]

Does the Sarbanes-Oxley Act or (SOX) ring a bell.

When I assumed a certain position at my last company I had to read and sign a legal document explaining that I could be charged in a court of law. For willfully falsifying or fraudulently documenting anything, financially.

The company and myself could be charged and prosecuted. And also had to sign monthly documents stating all was legit.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

Thank you for clearing that up.
All politicians and bureaucrats are honest and there is zero mischief or corruption in our government. Also, a lot of money went to places other than supposed weapons. But you actually made me laugh out loud. If you think government and large corporations are ran all above board and honestly then you are a whole new level of gullible.

@Red Leg states from a higher level the same experiences as I have had.

I have 40 years in and out of US Defense Systems Acquisition. The out years were spent in Desert Storm, in swamps, and deserts enduring nearly the worst that nature could throw at my Corps. I also spent a few years working for other Government non-DoD agencies.

In the Marines, we trained to, and got paid to be miserable. We got pretty good at it... But by gosh while our equipment may have been old, it worked as designed. Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen place their lives in their equipment operating as it should!

We, the United States has the best military equipment in the world. That stuff can’t be bought at Wal Mart! Sure, there have been examples of items of excessive cost but those were to meet the specifications called out in a contract.

During Fiscal Year 2023 the US Defense budget was $816.7 Billion with a “B”! Of that $130 Billion was allotted to Research Development Test & Evaluation, i.e. developing new technologies and defense systems to defeat the enemies’ new defense systems. Add to that over $167 Billion for procurement of developed and tested defense systems and spare parts. So, over $307 Billion to ensure that the USA has the best, most reliable, most lethal, and most survivable defense systems in the world! One may think that’s way too much but if that same person were to face the enemy, I bet they would be pleased that their issued equipment works as designed. Further, when shxt hits the fan and their unit needs to “call for fire”, a minute or two later our artillery or aviation put high explosive ordnance on target, well it’s nice that our defense systems function as designed!

Back to that $307 Billion with a B. Of course that will be a few bad apples on both the US Government and contractor sides of the contract. Are they extorting the Government for millions of dollars? Hardly. More like they were too overworked to do a deep dive into every contract deliverable such as a non-sparking, aviation quality hammer. Or maybe they were good people who read justification as to why those special hammers were required? It happens. The number of Fat Leonard’s taking more than a few ink pens home from the Government are relatively few and far between.

The US Defense Systems Acquisition is regulated by the DoD 5000 series of orders. That includes developing Functional Requirements, Technical Specifications, and Final Designs on all developmental system. Commercial Off The Shelf procurements must meet Functional Requirements at a minimum.

Contracting follows without wavering the Defense Acquisition Regulations (FAR), along with gosh knows how many other regulations and US Code Public Laws. The Army Contracting Command is tighter than you know what when trying to do good for the Soldiers! ACC does not budge from regulations.

Then there are the Defense Contracts Management Agency and Defense Contracts Audit Agency. Yes, an AUDIT agency!

A Government contractor’s profits are regulated by the FAR from around 4% for Time and Materials, to under 10% for Cost Plus, and way under 20% for Firm Fixed Price (FFP). A FFP contact puts the company at high risk. It's all or nothing! For all of the above contract types, it's where the two contracting agencies come in.

No business is perfect. But, overall the DoD adds everything and I mean every bureaucratic roadblock for checks and balances it can to ensure that our tax dollars are going to what they are supposed to! Often the Government spends a dollar to save 10 cents…

Then there is Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution that states the Army shall be funded for no more than two years. Now, that funding time limit applies to all armed services. Presently DoD funding is good for: one year for Operations and Maintenance, two years for RDT&E, and 3 years for Procurements. Once on a procurement contract, the contractor has 5 years to deliver.

Article 1, Section 8 adds significant cost to doing business with DoD.

Other US Government agencies are not regulated to a certain number of years to spend their budget, at least not by the US Constitution.

 

[mdwest]

Does the Sarbanes-Oxley Act or (SOX) ring a bell.

When I assumed a certain position at my last company I had to read and sign a legal document explaining that I could be charged in a court of law. For willfully falsifying or fraudulently documenting anything, financially.

The company and myself could be charged and prosecuted. And also had to sign monthly documents stating all was legit.

Yep…

SSAE16,SOX, GAPP, etc..

Every process, procedure, etc must be compliant..

Then.. if you’re in defense, you better also be dcma, dcaa compliant…

And God help you if you’re engaging in cost plus contracts or anything other than FFP contract vehicles… the govt will dig into your every accounting decision looking for issues as a matter of routine…

It is a very different operating environment than most people realize…

 

[Altitude sickness]

The grift is left for the dirty politicians.

 

[Brent in Az]

Haley wins GOP primary in D.C

Hell......my Grandma could beat Trump in the swamp infested cesspool of D.C

Trump will crush super Tuesday.

#MAGA

 

[Red Leg]

It called life. 33 years of dealing with corporate lies and politicians and their shady deals and seeing both fleece the customer and the taxpayer.
Now I’m going back to my coffee because I violated a personal rule of not engaging with neo cons with TDS because, 1 it does no good, and 2 you seem incapable of engaging with others without insults. A regular pattern you show here by the way. Good day.

So you have no experience with government or corporate compliance.

What bothers me about this whole everyone and everything is corrupt mantra is that it undermines confidence in not only our institutions but also our economic system. Capitalism, and all those evil corporations, are what has created the wealthiest culture - I in include Western Europe - the planet has ever known.

Sadly, people believe whatever they hear or read on sites are channels that fulfill their confirmation bias. It makes for interesting bedfellows. Only in today's America could we have an AOC at one end of the spectrum and a member of this site complaining about "corporate lies."

I am not sure how I have insulted you. You spoke with such certainty about Corporate and government malfeasance, I was generally curious where or how you had experienced it. Moreover, don't you think when labeling those who disagree with you neo cons or sufferers of TDS, it is rather rich to then complain that I "seem incapable of engaging others without insults?"

I fully understand most would be happiest if this thread were purely a complaint session about the evils of you name it. Most of us are happier not dealing with information that challenges our preconceived beliefs. The truly great thing about this discussion is that it takes place among a group who neither thinks the same nor has the same experience base upon which to base their beliefs. Most also have no trouble articulating the basis of those beliefs. That makes for informed debate and discussion.

 

[Tanks]

What people also do not understand is the massive amount of documentation that is required on various government contracts.

A past client got a contract to produce electrical connectors (very specialized and patented by them) for a government project and they had to build a new plant just to produce these.

Requirements were complete genealogy of each connector. So, when someone inquired about a connector serial number the vendor had to provide.

• Who worked on each part at every step of the manufacturing process, and when.
• Serial or lot numbers of each individual component that went into each part.
• All testing results for each stage of the process (if tested).
• Calibration data of equipment used applicable to each part and sub-part
• etc. etc..

I had 11 employees working on the software for a year. Add to that the infrastructure required, servers, workstations, fiber optic networks, database software, data backup hardware and software etc., etc.

Then, we had to train all plant employees on how to use the software in a clean room environment.

Cost millions in just our part of the scope to build the plant.

BTW, $400 hammers exist and are popular with guys that use them day in and day out.

 

[Altitude sickness]

My grandpa‘s Company got his first government contract with the Navy. He owned a bearing manufacturing company, so some of his bearings were on the Nautilus, the first US nuclear submarine.

If you want to check into anal government contracts. build something for a nuclear submarine. The “Sub Safe” program you have to trace that part back to the dirt it was mined from