UK considers JSF pullout

[Jimmy]

Technically, I'm sure they could. But the cost of that...

It could be spun in the media as a good thing for the economy. More jobs, domestic manufacturing, stuff like that. Not terribly difficult.

[highsea]

...Not terribly difficult.

I'm sure Boeing would be more than happy to convert the F-22 aft fuse production lines to F-35. The timing would be just about right too...

[jlvfr]

It could be spun in the media as a good thing for the economy. More jobs, domestic manufacturing, stuff like that. Not terribly difficult.

Correction on my post: I didn't mean just the money cost, but also the time cost. Can the USAF really aford another major delay in one of it's only 2 new combat aircraft programs?...

[clyder]

The papers today say that the Chancellor has decided to accelerate the aircraft carrier programme to reflate the economy during the anticipated recession.

[jlvfr]

reflate the economy

Me not get. Explain please

[clyder]

Me not get. Explain please

There is obviously a high probability of an economic recession accross many countries starting now following the financial catastrophe of the last months. One way to reduce unemployment is to expand armaments expenditure. The chancellor seems to be saying he will bring forward the aircraft carriers and the trident submarine replacements to create work. In addtion he is talking about funding new underground transport links in London, which seems to me to be a somewhat more useful use of taxpayers money.

[jlvfr]

There is obviously a high probability of an economic recession accross many countries starting now following the financial catastrophe of the last months. One way to reduce unemployment is to expand armaments expenditure. The chancellor seems to be saying he will bring forward the aircraft carriers and the trident submarine replacements to create work. In addtion he is talking about funding new underground transport links in London, which seems to me to be a somewhat more useful use of taxpayers money.

Ah ofc... dumb me.

Increase public spenditure to provide work and try to stimulate local economy. Severall countries (Portugal included) are gonna try this...

[Jimmy]

Correction on my post: I didn't mean just the money cost, but also the time cost. Can the USAF really aford another major delay in one of it's only 2 new combat aircraft programs?...

I think the F-35 is a lower priority than the F-22 in that situation. The F-35 wont reach IOC for several years already.

[Silent Hunter]

Increase public spenditure to provide work and try to stimulate local economy. Severall countries (Portugal included) are gonna try this...

It's called Keynesian economics. Rather an old theory, getting a new work-out.

[jlvfr]

It's called Keynesian economics. Rather an old theory, getting a new work-out.

Wasn't Roosevelt's "New deal" also based on this idea?

[Jimmy]

Yes, and it worked. But it also saddled us with social spending that is impossible to repeal, and is a major contributor to our national debt.

[gunnut]

Yes, and it worked. But it also saddled us with social spending that is impossible to repeal, and is a major contributor to our national debt.

A school of thought argues that the New Deal, or Keynesian economics, delayed the recovery from the Great Depression, not hasten it.

[Jimmy]

Really? I've NEVER heard that.

It did give us the Hoover Dam, though.

[gunnut]

Really? I've NEVER heard that.

It did give us the Hoover Dam, though.

Yes sir. I just read about it maybe 2 weeks ago. I believe Shek mentioned it and someone else too. I forgot. Let me see if I can find it. Might need a memory brewster...I mean booster.

OK here we go:

I see it as a sectoral correction that will have some spillover effects. Slow to no growth with a possibility of some minor contraction. A deep recession will only occur if knuckleheads make it a self-fufilling prophecy, aka, the sky is falling and so folks start the equivalent of stuffing dollars into mattresses. My greatest fear is that politicians will try to correct the problem, thereby exacerbating any slowdown, just as the US Government prolonged the Great Depression through its "solutions."

Just a few days before I saw this post by Shek I read an opinion piece in the newspaper that mentioned the New Deal prolonged the Great Depression.

Astralis mentioned on the next page of the thread quoted above that the poor monetary policy by Hoover curtailed trade and actually triggered the Great Depression.

All of this great recalling work without beer...

[Tin Man]

It's called Keynesian economics. Rather an old theory, getting a new work-out.

Ah yes...this was Maggie Thatcher`s God also. We all know what happened there...She also deregulated the banks and removed financial constraints in the market place, these regulations had been in place since the 1930`s.

This critical change in the market place is "partly" responsible for the UK Goverment "Bank grab" we are seeing now.

Back to topic, the UK carriers will bring some job security in the Labour party heartlands, where they are failing for the first time in terms of confidence. Any economic plans that get the carriers built are a good thing in my view.

If we do pull out of the JSF plan, which would be a surprise in my view, it may damage UK / US relations politically, obviously, but not significantly. Not a good start with regards the impending new US leadership but it may be small Beer.