Off-Topic: MM, you are wrong

Whitney Reservoir Topics

(Whitney Reservoir Specific)

0 messages

Updated

Off-Topic

Lakes Online Forum

84,091 messages

Updated 11/8/2024 10:28:12 AM

Boat Maintenance

Lakes Online Forum

5,204 messages

Updated 9/14/2024 10:10:50 AM

Whitney Reservoir Fishing

(Whitney Reservoir Specific)

0 messages

Updated

Jokes

Lakes Online Forum

4,172 messages

Updated 9/9/2024 5:04:44 PM

Sports

Lakes Online Forum

4,262 messages

Updated 11/6/2024 6:43:09 PM

Grilling & Recipes

Lakes Online Forum

2,979 messages

Updated 6/26/2024 5:03:03 AM

Tallapoosa River Topics

Lakes Online Forum

98 messages

Updated 4/15/2024 1:00:58 AM

Forum Usage Rules

Welcome, Guest

Select View Mode: [ classic | beta | recent ]

	Name:	Talullahhound -
	Subject:	MM, you are wrong
	Date:	1/6/2009 9:08:49 PM

You can't definitively say that new government employees will not create anything of value. They will not manufacture a product for sale, that is true. But, regulators and overseers are needed. I'm not sure what you think the majority of government people do, but they do alot. I spent hours and hours and hours with defense contractors who wanted to sell their technology and products overseas. And I spent hours figuring out how they could do just that, without furthering the high technology base of the Chinese and other countries. The technologies are very complex these days and countries don't just want to buy a widget, they want jobs and technology transfer. And when that UAE company wanted to take over port operations, my organization spent hours and hours with the US company involved, who was failing and needed to find a buyer that didn't pose a threat to national security. And that case was just the tip of the iceberg. And believe me, I didn't just have to understand the technology concerns, but also had to understand the business concerns.
When the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft was being co-developed with other countries, who do you think figured out what technologies could be manufactured overseas and then fought the political side of things? Do you have any idea how complex the technology of that aircraft is? And how cutting edge? And how many jobs are involved? And how many foreign countries would like to understand how that technolgy goes together so that they can apply it to their own failing industries and use it to compete with our companies? I have found that a lot of companies are very short sited about the ramifications of technology transfers to serve their immediate bottom line.
And when we have our troops fighting in another country, how do you think they get supplied? And who makes the decisions about whether very sensitive night vision technology (no, not what you can buy in Walmart) can be turned over to Iraqi troops who are fighting along side our soldiers? Our soldiers have access to technology that most people have no ideas about. If you had access to the level of thermal techology that our individual soldiers are using (which gives us a distinct advantage in night operations) you would be shocked. Yup, it's that good. And a number of US companies want to sell it to firefighters in China ( a valuable service you might believe) but one frought with the likelihood that the Chinese government will appropriate it for other purposes. So who do you think balances the national security with the needs of business with the needs for humanity? And when foreign companies decide to incorporate night vision onto their cars for sale to the general public, who do you think makes them put controls on who has access to those highly pilferable devices before they are installed? And who holds them accountable when they don't?

And who in industry deals with the Ciongolese soldier who is over here for training in miliary operations and in US style democracy, who is afraid to go home because the fighting has broken out again? Who decides if he can stay here or be sent home to die?

I would ask you if you consider these kinds of things worthless just because they don't produce a product for sale?

I'd be the last person to tell you that government can solve all the problems of this country or that it should try, or that more government means better solutions, but your views of a public service career are just not right.
And I'm only speaking from my small experience in one segment of our government.