In yet another (see gun control laws, sequester, yada yada yada) instance of the government doing exactly what people do not want, we have this:
Built to dominate the enemy in combat, the Army's hulking Abrams tank is proving equally hard to beat in a budget battle.
Lawmakers from both parties have devoted nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer money over the past two years to build improved versions of the 70-ton Abrams.
But senior Army officials have said repeatedly, "No thanks."
Of course, there are some reasons why the Congress critters are insisting.
Yet in the case of the Abrams tank, there's a bipartisan push to spend an extra $436 million on a weapon the experts explicitly say is not needed.
"If we had our choice, we would use that money in a different way," Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army's chief of staff, told The Associated Press this past week.
Why are the tank dollars still flowing? Politics.
Keeping the Abrams production line rolling protects businesses and good paying jobs in congressional districts where the tank's many suppliers are located.
I have no objection to spending the $436 million ... even in those districts! Why not use that money for an effective stimulus program! Education, bridges, unemployment benefits, health care... or
at least build a weapon that the Army wants! Or build something that people want ... like wind turbines, or happy widgets, or transformers to improve our electric grid.
Rant over.
I don't have a list of the Congress critters who are responsible, but many seem to be in Ohion, which gives them extra bipartisan shielding.
So it's no coincidence that the champions for more tanks are Rep. Jim Jordan and Sen. Rob Portman, two of Capitol's Hill most prominent deficit hawks, as well as Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Brown was in a tough race, as we know, so it would be hard for him to fight against this. Still, you Buckeyes might want to give him a shout-out.
The economy is starting to improve. So it would not have the same impact as before.
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Tired of politics? Need to escape? Try one of my Greek mythology based novels, either the story of Jocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus or a trilogy about Niobe, whose children were murdered by the gods - or were they? or one of the first examples of civil disobedience, Antigone and Creon. Or, if you like mysteries and/or Jane Austen, treat yourself to
The Highbury Murders: A Mystery Set in the Village of Jane Austen’s Emma.