Blog

Nothing New in Military Technology Disasters

by Bill Buppert | Jun 6, 2024 | Blog

vasa

Readers think I am highly critical of Western military foibles and bad decisions (I am) but history is replete with mismanagement and poor planning planet-wide in military technology.

Like the Indian nuclear submarine disaster from leaving a hatch open on the INS Arihan in 2018 or the German Type VIIC U-boat (U-1206) sinking due to a high pressure toilet, history is replete with poor technology implementation.

The new Swedish warship, Vasa, launches in 1628 and sinks in twenty minutes.

Looks expensive…

“The warship survived the first blast of wind it encountered on its maiden voyage in Stockholm Harbor,” writes Lucas Laursen for Archaeology. “But the second gust did it in. The sinking of Vasa took place nowhere near an enemy. In fact, it sank in full view of a horrified public, assembled to see off their navy’s–and Europe’s–most ambitious warship to date.” Engineering problems sank the ship–but this PR disaster for the Swedish navy has become a boon for archaeologists. Here’s how it happened and how Vasa’s influence is felt today.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bizarre-story-vasa-ship-keeps-giving-180964328/

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What Inequality?

by Sheldon Richman | Jun 6, 2024 | Blog, Economics, Politics

According to research conducted by Phil Gramm, the late Robert Ekelund, and John Early, documented in The Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate and summarized in this video:

The bottom 20 percent of households have an average annual income of $13,000, according to the Census Bureau. However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, those households consume an average of $26,000 worth of goods each year. How can that be?
In the standard computations of inequality that are used to justify more government spending, the incomes of the rich include taxes paid while the incomes of the poor exclude two-thirds of government benefits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, food stamps, and Medicaid. (There are more than a hundred transfer programs.) The rich artificially appear richer, and the poor artificially appear poorer. It’s a statistical illusion.
When inequality is adjusted to count taxes paid by the rich and cash and noncash benefits received by the poor (net of government admin costs), measured income inequality between the top and bottom quintiles drops from 16.7:1 to 4:1. Real income inequality is a quarter of what it is said to be.
Compared to 1967 and using inflation-adjusted dollars, two-thirds of Americans are in the top income quintile.
People in the middle quintile have about the same income as the people in the bottom quintile, though only about a third in the bottom work.

That shines a different light on things, doesn’t it?

Immigration Talk

by Sheldon Richman | Jun 6, 2024 | Blog, Economics, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics

I talk about immigration with Michael Liebowitz on The Rational Egoist.

Kyle Anzalone on Judge Nap: Foreign Policy Rundown

by Will Porter | Jun 5, 2024 | Blog

Check out Kyle’s latest appearance on Judge Napolitano’s show, ‘Judging Freedom.’

American Odysseus

by John Weeks | Jun 5, 2024 | Blog

Matthew Hoh, former Capt. USMC, led men into war. So he knows the truth that war cheerleaders will never tell you. Check out his recent Memorial Day speech here:

A Morality of Anger and Guilt

American Israel Supporters: Fake

by Scott Horton | Jun 5, 2024 | Blog

Everyone is sick and tired of murderous, dishonest Israel.

So they use ChatGPT to fake it.

“I gotta reevaluate my opinions due to this new information.”

Now They Figure It Out…

by Bill Buppert | Jun 5, 2024 | Blog

cheapdrones

Too little and too late and once the smaller companies get Pentagon contracts, they will be destroyed in the Pentagon’s Soviet acquisition system.

“While the Armament Directorate remains committed to our highly-capable legacy products, we have become convinced that widening the aperture to include more non-traditional aerospace companies offers the best chance at accomplishing our cost-per-unit goals, project timeline, and production quantity goals,” Cassie Johnson, the armament directorate’s ETV program manager, said in the release.

The open-architecture drone is to fly at least 500 nautical miles, deliver a kinetic payload, and use commercially-available subsystems, according to a solicitation DIU released in September.

The Pentagon’s current way of building drones is slowed down by “exquisite components” and “labor-intensive manufacturing processes,” DIU said.

“Vendors are incorporating commercial off-the-shelf components wherever possible to mitigate supply chain bottlenecks and to keep costs low. Vendors will also leverage modern design for manufacturing approaches, ensuring air vehicles are not over-engineered for their intended mission, minimize use of expensive materials, and enable on-call high-rate production that is not possible with more exquisite counterparts,” today’s announcement said.

https://www.defenseone.com/business/2024/06/pentagon-looks-beyond-primes-cheaper-drones/397074/?oref=defense_one_breaking_nl

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