Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The F-35 fighter jet, set to replace a large part of the US warplane fleet, has become the most expensive weapons program ever, drawing increased scrutiny at a time of tight public finances. Following a series of cost overruns and delays, the program is now expected to cost a whopping 382 billion dollars, for 2,443 aircraft. ... Defense officials say the original cost estimates have now doubled to make each plane's price tag reach some 92 million dollars. At the same time, the contract awarded in 2001 had been planned to last 10 years, but has been...

CAIRO — A Virginia man, stuck in Egypt for the last six weeks living in a cheap hotel and surviving on fast food, said Wednesday his name was placed on a U.S. no-fly list because of a trip to Yemen. Yahya Wehelie, 26, who was born in Fairfax, Virginia, to Somali parents was returning with his brother Yusuf from 18 months studying in Yemen, when Egyptian authorities stopped him from boarding his flight to New York saying the FBI wanted to speak with him. Wehelie said he was then told by FBI agents in Egypt that his name was on...

KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.S. military's workhorse rifle — used in battle for the last 40 years — is proving less effective in Afghanistan against the Taliban's more primitive but longer range weapons. As a result, the U.S. is reevaluating the performance of its standard M-4 rifle and considering a switch to weapons that fire a larger round largely discarded in the 1960s. The M-4 is an updated version of the M-16, which was designed for close quarters combat in Vietnam. It worked well in Iraq, where much of the fighting was in cities such as Baghdad, Ramadi and Fallujah.

• Lehman Brothers Chairman and CEO Richard Fuld Jr. made $34 million in 2007. Lehman (OTC:LEHMQ) filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection earlier this month. Fuld also sold nearly a half-billion –$490 million – from selling LEH stock; • Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS)paid its Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein $70 million last year. Co-Chief Operating Officers Gary Cohn and Jon Winkereid were paid $72.5 million and $71 million, respectively. • Bears Sterns (BSC JPM)former chairman Jimmy Cayne, rescued by a $29 billion Fed shotgun wedding to JPM, received $60 million when he was replaced; • American International Group (AIG) chief executive...

"With our economy in crisis, the US Government is scrambling to rescue our banks by purchasing their "distressed assets", i.e., assets that no one else wants to buy from them. We figured that instead of protesting this plan, we'd give regular Americans the same opportunity to sell their bad assets to the government." "Use the form below to submit bad assets you'd like the government to take off your hands. And remember, when estimating the value of your 1997 limited edition Hanson single CD "MMMbop", it's not what you can sell these items for that matters, it's what you think...

" .. Dan Mudd, the CEO of Fannie Mae, is getting $9.3 million of severance for destroying his company. Richard Syron, the CEO of Freddie Mac, is getting $14.1 million .." "But the severance money comes right out of the pockets of taxpayers, who didn't agree to the severance deals and aren't ponying up to save the companies because they want to. Taxpayers are saving Fannie and Freddie because they have to--because Mudd and Syron were incompetent. 'Incompetent'? Is that too harsh? Absolutely not. Both men gambled big and lost bigger. The fact that they may not have appreciated how...

Op-Ed Contributor TOO BIG TO FAIL, OR TO SURVIVE By WILLIAM POOLE Published: July 27, 2008 CRITICS of the Congressional housing package complain that we are now committing taxpayers to huge new outlays to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That view is wrong: Congressional inaction over the past 15 years had already committed taxpayers to the bailout. ... Whatever the amount of the bailout, even if “only” $25 billion, the real question is not immediate survival of the loan giants but their long-term future. Instead of being regarded as too big to fail, we should look at them as...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lockheed Martin Corp. beat out Boeing Co. to win an Air Force contract worth up to $3.57 billion to build as many as 12 next-generation global positioning satellites, the Pentagon said Thursday. The deal is the first of three awards to supply a total of 32 satellites for the Pentagon's new GPS III system. As the manufacturer of the first block of satellites, Lockheed will be in a strong position to win the two follow-on contracts. Col. Dave Madden, commander of the Air Force's Global Positioning Systems Wing, said the Air Force hopes to work with the...