An Enormous Digression.

I pray you’ll excuse a slight geek holiday here. Defensetech is a great website. They try to stay abreast of the latest issues and technology in law enforcement and national security. The really nice thing about Noah and the boys is that they’re completely non-partisan and aren’t on anybody’s payroll, so they have no qualms about calling out some of the more stupid things that get done in that arena. Anyway, a little piece got thrown up over the weekend about the Littoral Combat Ship that’s being built for the Navy. Seems that after they built the first one Lockheed Martin almost doubled the quoted cost per ship, from $220 million to almost $410 million. Two thoughts immediately came to mind. First, I willing to wager if we started buying these things overseas the price would magically stabilize. I’m not so much of a blind patriot that I enjoy bending over for a defense contractor that hides behind the flag. Second thought: I really need to work in a business where I can just pass along my cost increases and budget overruns to my employer. “Sorry sir, but I’m going to have to charge you double my annual salary. Seems I’ve had some unexpected entertainment expenses on the weekends and the increase in gas prices has led to some expanded transportation costs.” The good news is that the Navy has issued a stop work order to Lockheed Martin.