The Military Industrial Complex Lives
Let’s be honest. There is a big link between the Military and the industries that supply military equipment. This is not news. President Eisenhower warned of this issue in a 1961 speech. In case you have forgotten, he was the supreme commander of our European army in WWII.
Some of us would like to deny that military is not a necessity. There are people and nations in this world who would like to see the United States fail. The problem is that many Americans love military things. They love the fight. They love the equipment that helps the military carry out its assignments.
Military equipment needs evolve as the world changes. Some of that old reliable equipment is not necessary or appropriate in the year 2009 and beyond. That is obviously the result of new items that are technologically superior to those old reliable things. The most obvious item I have seen in news reports is the drone aircraft. Those drones are controlled from points thousands of miles away from the field of battle. 60 Minutes’ Lara Logan provided a report telling how the control of the “unmanned aerial vehicles” is accomplished in Nevada. This equipment really does make many of our manned aircraft obsolete.
The Boeing Company launched its own attack on public opinion by advertising the need for the C-17 cargo plane. A full page ad appeared in the Los Angeles Times. The Times reported that similar ads appeared in major newspapers around the nation. The same article provided interviews with people who are calling the continued manufacture of this plane as corporate welfare. There is a UAW union that of course contends that there is a need for this plane but they are interested in protecting the jobs of its members. The coast will be $275 million each.
I do not know how many other old reliable pieces of equipment are still on the “buy” list. Shouldn’t these decisions be made by the Secretary of Defense? It appears that politics and a need to provide welfare for various companies is taking priority over the nation’s real needs. Those 14,000 people that will be effected by closing down the Long Beach aircraft factory could be utilized manufacturing high speed trains, wind turbines for power generation or other needed products.
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