Saturday, October 11, 2014

Afghan Military Scraps Planes At US Taxpayer Expense

The US Government spent about $500 million supplying the Afghan military with 20 military transport aircraft manufactured in Italy.   Apparently, there were issues with maintenance, reliability and spare parts.  So, the Afghan military, without advising the US, scrapped 16 of them selling the dismembered planes for 6 cents a pound for the scrap metal.  First, why the hell did the US government buy planes manufactured in Italy, rather than supplying the Afghan military with Boeing made planes manufactured in the US, which would have been more reliable.  Italians make great pasta and ceramics; not so sure about airplanes.  And second, everybody knows that given the corruption that exists in Afghanistan that this money either went into the heroin drug trade and or the Swiss bank accounts of the military and government officials who made the sale. 

Since this was American taxpayer dollars, at a minimum, the US government should demand the monies received by the Afghan military for this pile of junk.  Further, who ever in the US government that authorized this purchase if Italian made planes and those that lost control of the airplanes, should be FIRED.   This is one of the reasons this Blogger opposes any kind of tax increases for the American people.  The waste, fraud and abuse that exists at all levels of government is legend.  Of course, $500 million in Washington DC is chump change; but it is not chump change to the American people whose hard work it represents.  The 50% of us that pay all the income taxes in the United States would be far better served if we were able to keep our hard earned money to invest, plan for retirement, or just to buy whatever we want to spur economic development and job creation. 

Instead, our hard earned money is confiscated by government bureaucrats, many of whom are crooks, feeding at the trough.   Further, government failure is often rewarded with even more money and promotions for those who steal from us.  So now, there will be a drive to replace these planes for the Afghan military that stole this money from American taxpayers.   So, what else is new.  At least this time, if the planes are replaced, perhaps the new ones will come from an American manufacturer so the jobs created might just be in the United States.   If they are going to steal from us, at least it should create American jobs that benefit the Middle Class in our country.

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