Back in February, I wrote a little piece regarding the F-22 Raptor, and how it represents the power the War industry has here in the District. Today Christopher Preble of the CATO institute (yes, yes, the very paleo-conservative CATO institute), wrote a piece that goes more into the waste of building the fighter in the first place. One statement he makes is particularly telling:

"The F-22 is an exceptional aircraft, but it faces only a hypothetical enemy in a future war that may never occur. The Air Force hasn't even deployed F-22s to Iraq or Afghanistan, since they're not well suited to the battles being fought there. The F-22's armor is too light even for small-arms fire, which forces it to drop its ordnance from high altitude. That increases the likelihood of civilian casualties, which make it harder, not easier, to win the support of Iraqis who remain deeply skeptical of American intentions."

So why the hell is the U.S. Taxpayer spending money on such a piece of crap? Probably because even though the overall manufacturing sector that used to provide high paying jobs to American workers has dwindled, weapons manufacturing still provides jobs. Jobs that are by nature dependent upon politicians looking to get votes. Never mind that it's a job constructing a death machine that no one will ever use.