Our Govt. is Killing Us

[jaybet]

Just heard on NPR this morning that the Air Force has awarded the contract to replace all of their tanker planes to Airbus over Boeing. Airbus has taken on Northrup Grummond as a small subsidiary. NG will assemble the planes in the US but most of the manufacturing will be in France. The politicians are all making noise about it, but it's just another example of how our govt. beats the hell out of us from every angle.

Also in NJ Gov. Corzine has decided to help with the horrible budget deficit he's going to eliminate aid to towns under 5000souls and cut aid to towns from 5-10,000 souls to force us to consolidate and become big towns. Of course, it's the big towns that have all the trouble that takes us most of the services anyway.

I see moving somewhere in my future.

[Hazcat]

Just heard on NPR this morning that the Air Force has awarded the contract to replace all of their tanker planes to Airbus over Boeing. Airbus has taken on Northrup Grummond as a small subsidiary. NG will assemble the planes in the US but most of the manufacturing will be in France. The politicians are all making noise about it, but it's just another example of how our govt. beats the hell out of us from every angle.

Also in NJ Gov. Corzine has decided to help with the horrible budget deficit he's going to eliminate aid to towns under 5000souls and cut aid to towns from 5-10,000 souls to force us to consolidate and become big towns. Of course, it's the big towns that have all the trouble that takes us most of the services anyway.

I see moving somewhere in my future.

Boeing is disputing the award.  Don't know if any thing will come of it but at least they're fighting.  Supposedly there were RFB changes at the last minute that pretty much assured the contract to EADS!

As far as moving...we got nice weather here!

[someguy]

FWIW, I grew up in Mobile and still have family there, so I've heard a bit about this (although I haven't followed it really closely...)  The other side of the coin is that EADS realizes that the dollar is weak, which means that labor is cheaper HERE.  With skilled labor costs going WAY up in Europe, they are actually moving more jobs stateside.  They have said they're going to move production of all a330s (not just the tankers) here.  I've also read that for pretty much the same $, the A330 holds about 30% more fuel...  Kinda hard for the USAF to ignore that, I'd think.  I also wonder if the two boeing execs who got nailed for bribes had anything to do with it...  Who knows.

[jaybet]

Agreed- I should have started my post with the disclaimer that I have always been distrustful of the American military-industrial complex and any of their big contractors. There's no doubt all kinds of crap going on there, but during a recession and an election year it sure seems funny.

[Jkwas]

Also in NJ Gov. Corzine has decided to help with the horrible budget deficit he's going to eliminate aid to towns under 5000souls and cut aid to towns from 5-10,000 souls to force us to consolidate and become big towns. Of course, it's the big towns that have all the trouble that takes us most of the services anyway.

I see moving somewhere in my future.

Jay, how is this going to affect Cape May and the surrounding municipalities like West Cape May and the Point? Are towns going to consolidate into townships?

It's time to pull out of there anyway.  It's not what it once was unfortunately.  It was paradise.   No more.

[Sponsor]

[jnevis]

There is a HUGE stink about the KC-45 contract but most of it is from people who don't look into the details (politicians not reading past the first sentence, never happen!!)  Contrary to what the news is reporting Northrop Grumman IS the Prime contractor for the project and EADS is delievering the planes to them.  Also the capabilities and cost went decisively against Boeing and thier proposal.  BTW only the first 3-5 aircraft will be completely overseas, the rest will be assembled here with parts supplied from all over including here.  That's just the way it goes now.  Even the Boeing plane would have parts supplied by subs from Canada, China, and Europe.  Plus the NGC/EADS plane has FLOWN and been ordered by other countries while the Boeing proposal was all on paper.  It's almost reason they lost the JSF contract to LMAC.   They had a good proposal but they shot themselves in the foot by taking sections of the plane off before the hover test.  They said that they didn't make a difference but the seed was sown that the proposal may not work as advertised if they felt the need to do that.  LMAC's plane had no problems in the test and exceeded the requirement while the Boeing plane just barely made it even with the panels removed. 

The President's Helo is a Eurocopter (EADS) but Lockheed is the prime, not a lot was said about that when it was announced.  The first one is here flying and it's LEASED from the Italians.  The first production aircraft is supposed to be here by the end of summer, maybe.

[2HOW]

Jay, how is this going to affect Cape May and the surrounding municipalities like West Cape May and the Point? Are towns going to consolidate into townships?

It's time to pull out of there anyway.  It's not what it once was unfortunately.  It was paradise.   No more.

  I spent many summers in Cape May, the Lafayette Hotel. Good times

[howlrwy]

FWIW, I grew up in Mobile and still have family there, so I've heard a bit about this (although I haven't followed it really closely...)  The other side of the coin is that EADS realizes that the dollar is weak, which means that labor is cheaper HERE.  With skilled labor costs going WAY up in Europe, they are actually moving more jobs stateside.  They have said they're going to move production of all a330s (not just the tankers) here.  I've also read that for pretty much the same $, the A330 holds about 30% more fuel...  Kinda hard for the USAF to ignore that, I'd think.  I also wonder if the two boeing execs who got nailed for bribes had anything to do with it...  Who knows.

Actually it costs about 30 Million more than the Boeing, but not only does it carry more fuel for refueling, it has about 76% more range, can hold about 25% more cargo and carry a lot more troops (I forget the number on that).  Still I don't like sending our money to companies in France and Germany, especially in these days of terrorism etc. 

[MikeBjerum]

If this was a bidding process why didn't Boeing bid something similar?

If this was a variation from the bid specs, was Boeing given the chance to bid something similar?

If Boeing was not given the chance to bid similar there is something wrong that needs to be righted.

If Boeing got lazy and chose not to compete it is their own damn fault.

[Jkwas]

  I spent many summers in Cape May, the Lafayette Hotel. Good times

I especially used to like the Gold Whale at the bottom of the hotel.  Grew up there.  Good times is right.  My kids missed out on so much.  Shame they have to grow up in todays world.