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Comment by BinaryIdiot | Hacker News Reader

I worked on a large DoD contract where there was a core of about 12-20 people doing the majority of the work and about 140 additional people just... having a job.

The legal requirements to collecting money on defense contracts pretty much always does this.

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I know someone personally who's company was hired as a subcontractor to one of the majors on the F-35 project. He was put in a room to do nothing. They forgot he was in a meeting once and he overheard them saying that they were just hiring the subcontractors to get the government schedule people off of their backs, they were not there to actually do anything.

So happy my tax dollars are going towards this rather than feeding the hungry or providing shelter to homeless kids.

Part of the problem is you; not a personal attack, just an explanation: if you would be more concerned about your tax dollars staying in your pocket, you would be much more careful with all the government spending and putting much more pressure on doing the right thing. If your position is "the government take my tax money, at least I wish they spent it on something good" then you are less involved, it's no longer your money and you care less.

This is an odd statement. How do you know what my level of concern is with my tax money staying in my pocket. No matter the level of concern, I still have to pay taxes and the amount does not change based on my level of concern.

"you would be much more careful with all the government spending and putting much more pressure on doing the right thing"? what exactly can I do to be more careful about government spending besides voting for my preferred candidate?

Are you fully in control of everywhere your tax dollars are spent? Do you protest every dollar that is spent on a program you don't agree with?

All in all an odd statement but best of luck to you and I wish you well.

I'm guessing the logic went like this:

You displayed support for "feeding the hungry or providing shelter to homeless kids". Therefore you are a "socialist".

"Socialists" want the government to take people's money, and spend it on all kinds of dubious rubbish.

Your are complaining that your taxes are being spent on dubious rubbish.

Ergo, your position is hypocritical.

Only the second part; not only socialists spend people's money on all kinds of rubbish, every government does. People should keep governments accountable for every dollar they take from you, whatever is spent on.

Again, you stated I was the problem. What do you do personally that renders you not the problem? How are you personally and key here; effectively, holding the government accountable "for every dollar they take from you"?

As far as the socialist charge from the poster above you, I am not against taxes, I just believe they should be used to create a society where the least among us are provided for instead of endlessly feeding the military.

unfortunately in this country (USA) people who want the government to feed the hungry, provide health care and ensure a clean environment are called socialists while those that want the government to spend trillions on the military and the fossil fuel industry are called conservatives.

Fortunately I don't live there and I am neither of these 2 categories.

Hint: read "you" as the generic taxpayer. As I said, it is not an attack to a person, but a comment on taxpayer mentality that tax have to be paid, so the only thing to be cared of is what the tax money is spent on: not true, this is what I am trying to say. It is a false dilemma.

In my opinion: "feeding the hungry or providing shelter to homeless kids" != "dubious rubbish". "Hiring engineers to sit in a room to placate government officials" == "dubious rubbish". Each to their own though.

Defense companies sell butts in chairs. They know the game and play it well. I remember working on defense and the PM was pushing me to reduce hours. I was costing the project over $500/hr. The IC who was working with me could work all he wanted though, due to the way his costs were billed.

Working at that place, I heard stories from other defense veterans detailing massive, unending incompetence and graft.

If there's one thing I've learned over my time as an engineer, it's that there's far fewer people actually doing anything than you expect. I've worked with engineers building 5G infrastructure, the people who are actually doing the work probably account for a few dozen, but add the managers, sales, marketing, business development, and bloody project manager and you're up to hundreds immediately. It's always a nice surprise when you end up in a meeting and someone utters a shibboleth and ting this guy must actually do the work!

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