President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

Take Trump out of it for a second. Because I'll agree with anyone that Trump is a clown and the reason he is doing the things he has been doing is to grandstand and to try to present himself as a savior. A lot of sizzle, etc.

But take a step back from that. ... and there is no "should cost" price for those planes. Like anything -- especially something that is unique such as those planes -- there is a price that someone is willing to pay and a price that someone is willing to sell it for. It's that simple. And if the two can agree, there is a deal that satisfies both.

Now let's say that the DoD decided that it really wanted those planes. So we go out looking for them and we find a supplier -- we settle on Lockhead Martin. When they come back with a price, should it be a simple, "OK. We'll pay whatever you want"? Or should there be some assessment of how much utility in what the DoD wants, relative to the price. ... and based on that we negotiate? It's like everything else. Everything has a price you are willing to pay.

The problem is (for obvious reasons) That is NOT how our Federal government operates. It is marked by corruption, inefficiency and waste (again, for obvious reasons).

But even move away from that. Let's say we actually do agree to a price and we contract for the planes. And the company comes back and says, "You know what, we can't do it for the price we said. It's going to cost more." And they keep doing that. And the price keeps going up. Should we just accept that? Because that happens in large degree with government contracts.

So again, take Trump and his idiocy out of it. ... I don't understand why people have a problem with the idea of a negotiation itself. Lockhead Martin is not going to accept terms for the F35 that it can't live with. And really, why do I care that much about Lockhead Martin or its motives? That is something for the owners of the company to pay attention to.

It's not a bad thing if we actually negotiate up front, challenge cost overruns and occasionally even try to renegotiate if it might prove beneficial. You have nothing to lose, and a ton to gain, if you do it in a smart way. It's exactly how people and businesses manage their own purchases -- when their own money is in play. The only reason that our government doesn't operate that way is that there is no incentive to -- it's not the bureaucrat's money, and the person acting as a fidicuiary for the rest of us doesn't worry about the consequence of getting fired by the "owners" of their "business" if they don't operate efficiently. On top of it, they may actually have alternative incentives -- for corrupt reasons -- that reward them if they make bad deals.

To the extent that we try to rein those instincts in, and this stuff gets brought into more peoples' consciousness in a public way, I don't see why this is a bad thing (again taking Trump out of it). Put a spotlight on the DoD, and YES, let's question how much they spend. There is way more possible benefit from that than any possible negative consequence.

Yet I have been seeing people who don't seem to agree with that, because they are so blinded by the fact that it relates to the orange bloviator.