Then another branch gets involved and it has a completely different way of thinking, so it wants 2 engines instead of one, but it must be lighter and use aluminum instead of steel to save the weight and...

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Second: This spending was greenlighted before Obama came into office and has nothing to do with any spending Obama signed off on.

Third: People who are saying things like "I don't want to pay for this stuff with my tax dollars!" fail to understand that unless things get fixed in this country, you'll be unemployed and wont have to worry about taxes because you wont have any income anyway.

My guess is you're tax schedule falls well below $250k a year, so you'll likely be paying less in taxes, if you make over $250k a year and pay, in full, what is dictated by your tax bracket, you should immediately fire your accountant because he's doing it wrong.

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There's an appropriations bill coming up to vote either this week or next that he plans to sign. It has over 9000 earmarks on it currently.

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(j/k, I know he's not. Besides, nothing tastes better than a 8 hour old hot dog from 7-11. One of the best perks I had when I worked there. Nice leathery hot dogs smothered in imitation chili and imitation cheese "food")

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Get it? HAHAHAHAAA!

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// I had a laid off auto worker go NUTS on my brother for driving his Honda Accord, because according to that worker, it doesn't matter if a car is of higher quality and costs less than a domestic car, it's unpatriotic to buy it. Lol.

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No different from the Harrier jump jet.

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If "patriots" want to complain that this helicopter isn't American made I would suggest those same "patriots" try actually serving in their military. If these cowards were to do that they would realize a lot of what the US military uses is foreign designed. I spent 10 years in the US Army during which time I carried an Italian designed pistol and commanded a tank covered in British designed armor, protected by British designed smoke grenade launchers, and armed with a German cannon and two Belgian machine guns! The standard light and medium machine guns in the US military are Belgian designed. The standard issue pistol is Italian. Our elite Rangers rely on Land Rovers and Swedish designed rocket launchers while the Marine Corps has opted for the Mercedes G-Wagon and Israeli designed rocket launchers. The Coast Guard flies French helicopters.

What irks me is that President Bush (this project started under his watch) ordered these fancy helos for the President while our Marine Corps is forced to make do with Viet Nam era Sea Stallion, Sea Knight, and Huey transports. Nothing but the best for our troops my ass!

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Take my town, Dearborn MI, home of Ford Motor. We border Detroit and have around 100k people. If Ford was to go under every city on the west side of Detroit would be in SERIOUS trouble. Everyone would be out of work and when I say everyone, I literally mean the whole area.

If all 3 went under the Feds numbers are complete BS as I'm telling you right now, all 4+ million in Metro Detroit would be out of work as EVERYTHING would dry up and collapse. This is why in Detroit we drive Ford, GM, and Chrysler to support our local industry. If you choose to go elsewhere for you car that is obviously your choice, but that means that you do not support your community and you saving a few bucks is more important than you keeping your job, your friends keeping their jobs, or your kids having a future here. Is this view extreme? Not at all... It's ignorant to think otherwise. Out of all the people I know, hang out with, or are related to, only 1 drives a foreign car, and that is a Jetta.

I have been driving Ford and GM vehicles exclusively for the past 17 years and in that time have had 11 cars. Out of those 11 the only one I had problems with was the one that was built in a time when it should have been a complete POS, a 1977 TBird (I got it when I was 16 in 91/92). The thing was the size of a wagon, but was a 2 door… It was insane how big that thing was and how underpowered it was. Having a 5.7 liter V8 putting out something like 180hp and the car weighing in at 5000+ lbs is ridiculous… Aside from that I honestly have had no problems what so ever. The last problem I had was when I got gas from one of those crappy gas stations and it clogged up my fuel filter.

Is that the norm? It is with people I know… But obviously that is a pretty small survey compared too 300+ million.

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Wrong, actually. The Kestrel is the name for the EH101, which is an Italian/British helo. VXX was supposed to use an "off the shelf" modification to speed production and reduce costs. We offered the S92, for a lot less money and a newer design which currently met FAR/JAR part 29 safety requirements.

Lockheed licensed the model to be assembled and completed in the USA, thereby barely skirting legislation that requires presidential VIP transport to be made in the USA for security reasons. This was a major point of contention with Sikorsky during the contract award. They built a final assembly plant in Owego NY to build the US101 while importing the major assemblies (including dynamic system components) from Spain, Italy, and England. Critical components and flight safety parts were supposed to be domestically sourced...

The VH-71s have gone so far over budget and been changed to such a degree, the first few airframes are actually going to be an entirely different model classification from the remaining ships. VH-71A, VH-71B, etc. Anyone familiar with aerospace knows that means a major difference.

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When we are forced or even encouraged to buy American instead of buying what's best, we put our troops at risk and we ultimately make American industry less competitive. But in this case the American company, Sikorsky, was the company with the more reliable and cost effective design and they should have gotten the contract, leaving the extra billions of dollars available to make up-armored humvees and body armor for front-line troops.

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Corvette C6 / Z06 / ZR1

Just saying...

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"If you choose to go elsewhere for you car that is obviously your choice, but that means that you do not support your community and you saving a few bucks is more important than you keeping your job, your friends keeping their jobs, or your kids having a future here. Is this view extreme? Not at all... It's ignorant to think otherwise."

I don't know about that. You do realize about 60% of Toyotas that are sold in the US are also built in the US, right ? Should THOSE autoworkers not be supported as well ? Honda, Nissan, and Hyundai as well all have state of the art factories in the US. I'm pretty sure the people who work in them are glad to have jobs too...I'm gonna guess they like being able to provide for their children so they can have a future...and I'm pretty sure their tax dollars go towards public resources, projects, and national defense just like those of workers in the GM, Chrylser, and Ford factories.

Except of course for the factories from those companies in Mexico, Brazil, and Canada.

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same here. before 1993 - go with toyota, after 1993 - honda.

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"Now, let the Obama hating begin..." - SJRNWT

Thing of it is, it was Bush who ordered up this boondoggle, and continued to extend the project despite huge cost overruns. And if I remember correctly they awarded the contract to Augusta Westland Co. primarily as a kickback to the UK for helping us out with the war in Iraq, rather than going with the US-based Sikorsky company that has made every other presidential chopper.

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