Congress si, Detroit no!

Earlier, I quoted Bill Lind about the Pentagon drones who keep buying marvelous and increasingly expensive new weapons. So it’s only fair to note that the Pentagon is a tightwad compared to the Congress. According to Roll Call, the US Air Force wanted to buy a Gulfstream bizjet for $65 million, the better to ferry Congressfolk on their vacation trips—er, junkets—er, fact-finding missions. Far from being delighted, some anonymous Congressman inserted an earmark to make that three Gulfstreams, at a cost of about $200 million.

And that’s not all! The Wall Street Journal reports that in addition to the Gulfstreams, a bunch of Boeing 737s are also in play. The Pentagon wanted to buy one of the business-class airliners (more luxurious by far than the version you fly!) plus two that it previously leased. The same or another Congressman inserted an earmark to make that five Boeings. Total cost: about $550 million. Grand total of Air Force planes dedicated to carting the Washington elite from place to place: close to thirty.

That may seem chump change in an era of trillion-dollar deficits, but does make one wonder: how come the Congressfolk were so upset last fall when the executives of General Motors and Chrysler flew down to Washington in company bizjets? They were so humiliated that, the next time they were summoned, they arrived in Detroit-built SUVs. Blue skies! – Dan Ford