Lockheed Martin == Big Brother?

[gigag04]

Interesting read:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/ ... eed_martin" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Among my favorite snippets:

...Lockheed Martin is now involved in nearly every interaction you have with the government. Paying your taxes? Lockheed Martin is all over it. The company is even creating a system that provides comprehensive data on every contact taxpayers have with the IRS from phone calls to face-to-face meetings.

[The Annoyed Man]

Interesting? Yes. A typical Slate anti-capitalism screed? Yes, also. Lockheed Martin is guilty of being successful. They build/design/program things in response to requests from their biggest customer - the gummint - to do so. They didn't think up the F-35 on their own initiative. The government sought bids for a joint strike fighter with stealth technology, and Lockheed Martin won the contract. There were other bids.

They don't build a ship and then offer it for sale. The government asks for a bid. Lockheed Martin submits their bid alongside other providers, and then they win the bid, presumably because it is the best offer.

Slate makes some interesting reading, but they are so far off base on so many things that I don't take them very seriously.

[chasfm11]

Interesting? Yes. A typical Slate anti-capitalism screed? Yes, also. Lockheed Martin is guilty of being successful. They build/design/program things in response to requests from their biggest customer - the gummint - to do so. They didn't think up the F-35 on their own initiative. The government sought bids for a joint strike fighter with stealth technology, and Lockheed Martin won the contract. There were other bids.

They don't build a ship and then offer it for sale. The government asks for a bid. Lockheed Martin submits their bid alongside other providers, and then they win the bid, presumably because it is the best offer.

Slate makes some interesting reading, but they are so far off base on so many things that I don't take them very seriously.

TAM, I understand your perspective. Isn't the point of the article that LM has mixed and matched between military and non-military work? I've always worried about government data bases turning into Joe McCarthy on steroids. Given the recent political diatribes about how ramped up rhetoric caused the AZ shooting, are you not concerned about secret (they were supposed to be de-funded) data bases in the hands of some of those same people?

I admit that I have a tin hat tendency. Simple programs like State vehicle inspections see to go awry. Cars which shouldn't pass do and many of the rest of us get caught up in senseless conflict of picayune matters that really have nothing to do with vehicle safety and making sure that cars on the road don't cause accidents. Escalate that same type of deviance 1000 times in the form of data gathering on individual citizens, particularly in the hand of a Federal government that seems to demonstrate daily that it has little to no regard for any aspect of the Constitution and the results could be just plain ugly.

Perhaps the last season of "24" is too fresh in my mind.

[Carry-a-Kimber]

I went to get a TWIC (Transportation Workers Idenitification Credintial) card yesterday at the TSA office and was supprised by the sign that said "Make all checks payable to Lockheed Martin". I guess they are also running background screenings for TSA.

[powerboatr]

LM isn't different from any other lager government contractor
i worked for Titan before they merged with L3.
Titan had divisions in just about every facet of government operations.
we had divisions in ships, aviation, engineering, environmental etc.
bottom line is they all exist to make profit for the stockholders.

Titan even did work the government chooses that they want done but cant legally do it because it could be perceived as wrong.......
in fact Titan got fined heavily and we all had to go to special training after Titan was accused, convicted and fined by the same government that sent them there to do a job, for ....sit down....Influencing an election in another country. Yes i am serious ...look it up it is public record.

this caused our merger with L3 to be delayed as you can imagine


but the bottom line is most contractors with our government have far reaching divisions, its called a .....Diversification. Just like doing stocks, you have to be ready for the ups and down and let the averages keep you in the black

it made our stock options drop a bit, but we recovered

[The Annoyed Man]

TAM, I understand your perspective. Isn't the point of the article that LM has mixed and matched between military and non-military work?

GE makes MRI machines and jet engines.

Hewlett Packard sells computers to you and me, AND IT contract support to the U.S. Navy.

General Dynamics built nuclear submarines and corporate jets.

Fairchild used to build aircraft, cameras, and semi-conductors. All three of those product categories have been sold to both the military and the civilian markets.

And so on. Eisenhower famously warned about the "military-industrial complex." I am more sanguine than he is. Companies invent good new technologies, and they use those new technologies in various kinds of products - some of which have military applications, and some which have civilian applications. Good for them. I hope they get rich, and in the process that they sell more stuff to both the government and private sectors... ...because that makes for lots of jobs for American workers.

[FL450]

LM also runs FAA Flight Service Stations ( Flight Plans and Weather Briefings)

[WildBill]

I am not shocked nor suprised. This is just another case of the Federal government contracting out work. That's how Ross Perot became a billionaire. NASA does it all of the time. So does the military. Some state governments contract out their correctional facilities.

Large corporations, like Lockheed, also contract much of their work to save money or reduce their risk. Maybe it should be spread around a little more, but it is done every day.

I have always found it interesting that President Eisenhower, former Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, warned us about the "military industrial complex". I guess if anyone was in a position to know, it was him.

[4LOKO]

Even if everything they say is true, Lockheed Martin =/= Big Brother.

Lockheed Martin may be an agent or a tool of Big Brother, but that's not the same thing. Like with so-called gun violence, the real problem is the violent criminal, not the gun. The gun is only a tool.