tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post5923682089535594682..comments2024-03-22T05:20:44.167-07:00Comments on The Disaffected Lib: Sifting Through the Smoking Wreckage of Canada's F-35 FiascoThe Mound of Soundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-70810862078066309872012-12-09T19:19:26.358-08:002012-12-09T19:19:26.358-08:00That word domino is the real reason why Harper'...That word domino is the real reason why Harper's stuck to this thing with such near-religious fervor. <br /><br />You've and I have been looking for a political reason for it, but we forget Harper's primary concern. To appropriate a certain turn of phrase, it's the economy stupid! <br /><br />The Americans see Canada as the lynch-pin in the F-35. As you know, they plan to sell it to all and sundry, regardless of whether or not its any good at anything. If we back out, then the Americans are afraid that everybody else will pull the plug also. <br /><br />The partners are sticking to it because while I don't have the economic chops to prove it, I suspect that the F-35 is quite literally holding up the American economy at this point. If it should tank, then we all have much to lose. Lockheed Martin will lose billions, and not only that, but the US has absolutely no backup plan, and it would be too late to and too expensive to start a new one. The American public won't accept anything that isn't "made in America," and surely several political incumbents will lose their jobs over it. But worse, it's difficult to know how many American jobs are riding on this thing, and one has to wonder just how much retirement income is dependent on Lockheed Martin's bottom line. The more I think about it, and the more it seems so obvious: the one and only reason that Harper would so stubbornly back this plane would be that if the program were scrapped, that it would also sink the American economy and ours with it.<br /><br />That would also explain Harper's bizarre decision to allow the Nexen takeover, and the endlessly parroted need for the Northern Gateway Pipeline. These are the best contingency plans available in the event that the F-35 tanks; he's doing everything he can to soften the economic blow for Canada in case the program failed. <br /><br />It's a house of cards, and we're now desperately trying not to rock the table. It also explains the stubbornness with which our allies, Britain, Norway, South Korea, Japan and Israel are clinging to the F-35 - they have a lot to lose in an American recession as well. And upon realizing this, I'm not sure that Harper feels he has any choice but to back this albatross. Why else would he expend so much political capital, unless the economy of Canada depended on it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com