bpwallace49 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 ..Two never-used Navy “ghost ships” sent for scrap. .By Laura Rozen Senior Foreign Affairs Reporter .PostsEmailRSS .By Laura Rozen | The Envoy – 23 hrs ago ....tweet83EmailPrint..... The Henry Eckford (US Navy) In the era of massive belt-tightening budget cuts, the story of two never-completed, unused Navy ships now being sent to the scrap heap after costing U.S. taxpayers $300 million is a case study in Pentagon waste. Requisitioned by the U.S. Navy in 1985, the two oil-hauling ships, the Benjamin Isherwood and the Henry Eckford, "have never gone on a mission, were never even completed, yet they cost taxpayers at least $300 million," the Virginia-Pilot's Scott Harper reports. Now the "ghost ships" are headed from their dock on the James River in Virginia to a Texas scrap yard to be dismantled, Harrop writes. And there's one more catch--the United States awarded a $10 million contract to dismantle four ships, including the Eckford and the Isherwood, to a UK firm, so no money from the reclamation will return to the United States. You can watch a WUSA newscast about the ships below: The two vessels were part of a $567 million request for three oilers put out by the Navy, Harrop writes. But the builder, Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Co. in Philadelphia, defaulted on the contract in 1989. A Florida firm contracted to finish the ships cancelled the contract over price disputes in 1993. The ships are now being scrapped, rather than refurbished, because they do not meet modern specs. "t will close one of the saddest chapters in American shipbuilding and for that matter, federal fiduciary folly," writes global maritime commentator Joseph Keefe, Harrop notes. :kickrock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEC=UGA Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 :kickrock: There is SO much WASTE in the Dept. of Defense it is ridiculous. Same can be said for a litany of other departments. The fact that these jackasses in DC can't find a way to cut 10 to 20% out of the budget is simply stunning. Further, the fact that they will not combine to put in place a balanced budget amendment is even more stunning (I guess, and this is sad, that if we were wasting money, but at least not running deficits while doing it, I may not have as huge an issue with much of this wasted money...) Even worse, is that they are wasting all this money and telling the taxpayer, "Well, we need to raise your taxes to cover our costs." Seriously, you want to raise my taxes when, just in three or four articles that I have read recently, I can note damn near $100 billion of wasted, fraud and misappropriation of funds across three or four departments. Bunch of freaking jackasses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Irish Doggy Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Well, to be fair it appears this one is on the company that defaulted on the contract. The Navy paid roughly half the money for the ships - not the full amount. I'm sure a big chunk of that is a deposit to buy materials. So, this is written as a big government gotcha, but the shipbuilder gets my assfinger. They didn't deliver as promised. Not disputing there is a bunch of waste in government here, just that this is not the best example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untateve Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 There is SO much WASTE in the Dept. of Defense it is ridiculous. Same can be said for a litany of other departments. The fact that these jackasses in DC can't find a way to cut 10 to 20% out of the budget is simply stunning. Further, the fact that they will not combine to put in place a balanced budget amendment is even more stunning (I guess, and this is sad, that if we were wasting money, but at least not running deficits while doing it, I may not have as huge an issue with much of this wasted money...) Even worse, is that they are wasting all this money and telling the taxpayer, "Well, we need to raise your taxes to cover our costs." Seriously, you want to raise my taxes when, just in three or four articles that I have read recently, I can note damn near $100 billion of wasted, fraud and misappropriation of funds across three or four departments. Bunch of freaking jackasses. Candidate: I want to cut 10-20% of waste from our defense budget! Opposing Candidate: Why are you so weak on defense? Why do you want the terrorists to come here and kill our children? Candidate: After careful review, I want to increase defense spending. My opponent wants to keep the status quo and that's simply not good enough. I guess he wants to give America to the terrorists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpwallace49 Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 There is SO much WASTE in the Dept. of Defense it is ridiculous. Same can be said for a litany of other departments. The fact that these jackasses in DC can't find a way to cut 10 to 20% out of the budget is simply stunning. Further, the fact that they will not combine to put in place a balanced budget amendment is even more stunning (I guess, and this is sad, that if we were wasting money, but at least not running deficits while doing it, I may not have as huge an issue with much of this wasted money...) Even worse, is that they are wasting all this money and telling the taxpayer, "Well, we need to raise your taxes to cover our costs." Seriously, you want to raise my taxes when, just in three or four articles that I have read recently, I can note damn near $100 billion of wasted, fraud and misappropriation of funds across three or four departments. Bunch of freaking jackasses. If you cut social security, you must hate grandma and grandpa If you cut Medicare/Medicaid, you are "rationing healthcare" and instiuting death panels for grandma and grandpa. (I guess those will be needed to put them out of their misery after you cut social security) If you cut welfare, you hate poor people. If you cut the military, you are a traitor that hates the troops. If you re-institute the tax rates of the mid-90's, you hate the rich "job creators" . . . I guess the only thing left is to focus on NPR, the Department of the Interior and focus on illegal migrant farm workers. . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpwallace49 Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Well, to be fair it appears this one is on the company that defaulted on the contract. The Navy paid roughly half the money for the ships - not the full amount. I'm sure a big chunk of that is a deposit to buy materials. So, this is written as a big government gotcha, but the shipbuilder gets my assfinger. They didn't deliver as promised. Not disputing there is a bunch of waste in government here, just that this is not the best example. Who chose the companies? If I hire a contractor for my company, and they are Ionic Breezes, then at the end of the day I am the one that thought they were a good idea to hire . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keggerz Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Who chose the companies? If I hire a contractor for my company, and they are Ionic Breezes, then at the end of the day I am the one that thought they were a good idea to hire . . . probably won bid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Irish Doggy Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Who chose the companies? If I hire a contractor for my company, and they are Ionic Breezes, then at the end of the day I am the one that thought they were a good idea to hire . . . Wow. I guess we have different methods of conducting business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpwallace49 Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Wow. I guess we have different methods of conducting business. So if you have 3 comparable quotes . . . and YOU CHOOSE one that turns out to be completely incompetent, you dont consider yourself to be at fault at all for not doing due diligence on that company? I think we have different methods of determining professional responsibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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