From: Steve Grammont (islander@midmaine.com)
Date: Wed Jun 12 2002 - 14:44:58 PDT
Hi Ryan,
>Granted, but if you put the right kind of spin on something and get
>enough people yelling about it, congress critters listen. No matter
>what other people say. Look at the response to the last demil bill
>that included rifles.
I think we have to thank the NRA for that one more than anything else.
There are a few interest groups which are, in effect, the equivalent of
big business. The NRA spreads a LOT of money around. They also have
"big mouths" and know how to use them to their advantage :-)
>To some degree. Your and my buying an M35 doesn't hurt anyone except
>for perhaps the used truck market. A used M35 doesn't compare to a
>new truck of equivalent haulage except for cross country capability
>and nostalgic value.
The flaw in your logic is that you are using logic :-) Who ever said
industrial concerns are logical? I am of the firm opinion that they are
irrational and therefore illogical. They pretty much poo on anything
that even holds out a remote possibility of doing something they don't
like. Why else would they resist things like safetybelts, higher safety
standards, better fuel efficeincy, etc. etc.? Consumers all want these
things and therefore it would be logical under the basic foundation of
Captialism to give these things to us as quickly as possible. But since
this is not what happens, there must be something else going on.
>Not traditionally, however, if you can show that they help their
>constituents and don't raise flags that hurt them in elections, they
>can't help to notice.
I agree. Sad thing is that keeping our environment clean should NEVER
hurt a politician in an election. I was just talking with someone a few
minutes ago about an expensive water treatment plant that conservatives
voted down years ago. It finally got pushed through over their screams,
but now those same people are out in their hip waders 15 years later
fishing in a river that no longer can be smelled miles away. I find
something fundamentally wrong with them enjoying something they opposed.
>35 year old uniforms aren't skin off anyone's nose unless they are
>really the low bid.
Same as the M35s. Who said they are being rational? It would affect
businesses if these items were given away to hospitals for example.
Perhaps only a small bump in one quarter's sales, but they will fight
and die for those bumps not to happen. The rest of us be damned.
>This isn't what I'm protesting. Its the fact that it's not sold to
>someone rather than just destroying it.
I don't see them as being any different. Locking them up and throwing
away the key is the same thing as destroying them. Taxpayer money being
ill spent and the interests of the taxpayers not being primary.
>If a bunch of 60's era web gear gets burned rather than sold, it's
>wasting money. I don't see how it hurts a modern bid for modern kit
>if a bunch of 60's era collectors eventually wind up with it. If they
>wanted modern kit, they'd buy it.
The point is that the taxpayer paid for items that were not needed, then
paid for storage of them for decades instead of selling them off as
surplus or giving them away as charitiable goods. It is a waste of our
money, make no mistake about it.
>Some of that stuff gets left around for years because of the chance
>it may get used. I can understand that. That's why I have rack parts
>here at work that I might use but don't have uses for right now.
>Eventually I may need them so I try to keep them on hand.
This is, of course, logical. But the main reason why it is sitting
around is because too much of it was purchased in the first place. The
"future use" tagline is an excuse in many cases to justify the over
expendature.
Again... my main point is to not think that some conservative politicians
will make this problem go away. They are as much responsible, perhaps
even more responsible, for these kinds of wasteful and counter productive
(from a taxpayer standpoint) decisions than the moderate and liberals.
This of course is not good, but that is apparently the way things work.
Steve
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Fri Aug 16 2002 - 11:22:55 PDT