Earmark Puts $17,000 Pans On Army Craft

New York Times :

WASHINGTON — In the 1980s, the military had its infamous $800 toilet seat. Today, it has a $17,000 drip pan.

Read the whole story at New York Times

Comments

[Lightoward]

03:35 PM on 05/22/2012

\\“Congress mandated a leakproof transmission drip pan,” said Dov Schwartz, an Army spokesman.//

As someone having a background in product design and production, I have to say that statement is so obvious as to be preposterous it has to be said. It's like saying a soup pot ideally should be manufactured without holes in the bottom.

And you don't need a background in product design and production to understand that.

[zackeryrichards]

04:55 PM on 05/20/2012

I mentioned this same corrupt "rip off" in a comment a few days ago. This is what
makes Boehner's stance so dispicable. They cut food programs for school kids to
finance their new Defense Bill that gives even MORE to these military contractors
How any American citizen can suport this kind of acts is out of my scope of reason.
Boehner harps on "for every dollar we spend, we have to cut a dollar from the budget"
so we can get the deficit down. You will notice that "all the cuts" are from the poor
and needy and NEVER from the "benefactors". If they just cut this kind of fraud out
of the defense bill, it would amount to more than what they got by cutting the food
program for needy kids. This "drip pan" is just ONE of the frauds . . . they pay 8
or 10 dollars for a washer that you or I can buy at our local hardware store for a dime!!
There are literally THOUSANDS of these instances in EVERY military contract.

[fredrdr]

09:30 PM on 05/22/2012

Many military experts believe that a reduction of between 100 and 150 billion can be achieved without cutting a single weapon system or troop. There is much waste, but too many campaign contributions depend upon congress looking the other way. As for overpriced and under performing systems, that's another majore investigation.

[zackeryrichards]

11:48 PM on 05/22/2012

fredrdr: Thanks for adding the information to my post. And yea, the services
even told Boehner they did not need the raise. You are also right about the
campaign contrubutions, and "looking away" makes Congress just as guilty
as the crooks doing this. There should not NEED to be an investigation of
this fraud . . . . if it happened in a private sector business they would just be
charged with theft and the contract cancelled. If the American people do not
stand together and DEMAND Term Limits on the Senate & the House, the
career politicians are going to finish taking over this Country. These career
politicians have been in Washington so long and acquired so much power
& influence that no one can oppose them. They have robbed us of our free
election process, which is a big step to total control of our government. We,
the people, can no longer pick a candadate to represent us. The "power
brokers" pick them and by making us "think" we have two Parties, we get
to think we elect our officials.

[foresure]

04:31 PM on 05/20/2012

Question for someone familiar with military acqusition:

Can a Congressman or act of Congress specify which company the military must purchase each of its parts?

I would imgagine yes for a billion dollar piece of equipment. But does that extent to replacement parts?

[fredrdr]

11:26 AM on 05/21/2012

It is done in all military contracts. The new LPD's are being constructed on the Gulf Coast. The Republicans from that district mandated that to design the ships, a local software company's software was to be used rather than industry standards. That caused months of delays and problems as the designated package was incapable of that level of design. Both parties do it. Billions for the executives, pennies for the troops.

[PatrickforO]

04:30 PM on 05/20/2012

The military industrial complex run amok. Hey, I've got an idea! Let's purchase transmission fluid drip pans from Checker, AAA or NAPA. They run about $25.

WHY do we need $15,000 ones? Are they made of gold?

And you know what? I'd be willing to bet that the workers in the building shown above are making around $12/hr if that. So who is pocketing the profits?

[fredrdr]

11:27 AM on 05/21/2012

$12? You must be kidding. $8 to $9 is closer. As for the profits, the executives who donate to willing politicians.

[BobHiggins]

04:10 PM on 05/20/2012

If a pan to catch leaking transmission fluid costs 17 grand I have to wonder what those leaky transmissions are going for and what it might cost to buy transmissions that don't leak. But hey, I'm no expert.

[philos56]

05:03 PM on 05/20/2012

lol

[Micheal Frisbie]

02:19 PM on 05/20/2012

In the 1980s, the military had its infamous $800 toilet seat. Today, it has a $17,000 drip pan... wouldn't bed pans do just as well... plus serve a dual purpose... and be a lot cheaper.

[WillsaLoonie]

01:23 PM on 05/20/2012

We shouldn't be surprised by any of this. I'm sure it happens more often than we realize. Seems as though these drip pans, or "dripping pans" as Congressman Rogers states in the article, have been turned into pan drippings for Phoenix Products. "Mr. Rogers, please pass the gravy and I'll be sure to get some of those taxpayer dollars back into your pocket".

[ohiomark]

01:22 PM on 05/20/2012

.......and Obama spent $1 trillion on "stimulus" that didn't stimulate anything except money coming back to his campaign.

[starchildjg24]

02:02 PM on 05/20/2012

State governments spent most of the money. If you don't think they did a good job, then you should go after them. The President's mistake was in trusting the states to use the money wisely. Many did - and created about 3.2 million jobs. Gov. Perry in Texas used it to balance his budget, because he had a severe shortfall, which didn't look good running for president. Some state politicians just shoved it in their pockets, or gave lucrative contracts to their relatives. If you really care about facts, all the information about how the money was spent and how it was used by each state can be found online:
http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/default.aspx
As for the nonsense about "money coming back to his campaign", do you have any sources to support such a lie? Or is it just one on the list of talking points at some extremist site?
3.2 million jobs, and many states helped greatly, yet you have no comment on the topic of this article. Because it is a Republican, a pork project is fine with you? Have you ever even looked to see exactly how the stimulus money is spent? Or are you one of the extremist posters that troll all topics just to post their favorite "talking points"?

[philos56]

05:14 PM on 05/20/2012

Maybe... But where I am employed, we have increased our work force by 30% and we have never been busier. Also the DJIA went from 6300 and falling to as much as 13500 until the mess in the Euro-Zone last week.While we are talking about it...Europe embraced austerity instead of stimulus. Now their economies are tanking and their unemployment rate is vastly larger than ours. Wonder who did the better job?

[kareemachan]

12:51 PM on 05/20/2012

I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

Not.

[starchildjg24]

02:04 PM on 05/20/2012

Not being shocked is probably true for many of us, and the shame and blame belong to us. We vote for these people, we don't make a fuss or contact or Congressmen, we just moan and complain and let it continue.
Way too many voters will say, "well, he got money for our state, and he hates abortion and those gay people, so I will vote for him".

[zackeryrichards]

04:37 PM on 05/20/2012

starchildjg24: Good point. And true. Most Americans won't take a
minute or two out of their "busy schedule" to sign a petition or write
an email to their Congressman. If they would, we could fix all of this
at the polls.

[brenobacci]

11:08 AM on 05/20/2012

Free market my...

How many good drip pan entrepreneurs out there were driven out of business because of this guy picking favorites?

[kareemachan]

12:52 PM on 05/20/2012

If even one, too many.

[ItsGettingWeird]

10:54 AM on 05/20/2012

Tag-team looting of the Federal Treasury.

[wetespalda has a word]

10:20 AM on 05/20/2012

The worse part is no one is going to do anything about this. It's getting out of hand. Is not the politicians that are bringing this country down, is the American that see this crimes and does nothing but help continue the cycle of injustice and corruption. We've seen this throughout history and the result continues to be the same. Revolution .

[Ron Booth]

10:07 AM on 05/20/2012

Gee, I wonder which one of the clowns campaign contributors would be manufacturing these drip pans? Oh never mind, the contributor would probably be subcontracting the job to an overseas company!!!

[Tahut]

10:06 AM on 05/20/2012

Unless the company in question holds an exclusive patent on the drip pan in question that cannot be copied, the government can, and does quite frequently, look for other proposals that can offer the same quality for less. That they're not doing so could possibly imply the selection process has been corrupted in favor of the company at the expense of the tax payer.

[tiredofthesameoldstuff]

10:13 AM on 05/20/2012

As the article notes there is another company making the same drip pan that costs 2500 dollars meaning roughly five times less then the company being purchased from.

[Tahut]

10:45 AM on 05/20/2012

But there may be something in the design that makes the expensive one superior to the cheaper one. If they're both identical, then the lessor costing item should be the one selected unless someone has manipulated the selection process.

[kuvasz]

10:01 AM on 05/20/2012

"It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress."
Mark Twain

The New York Times, January 30, 1906
VIEWS OF MARK TWAIN ON BEING IN CONGRESS

http://www.twainquotes.com/19060130.html

[TRD714]

11:02 AM on 05/20/2012

And things never change....