Etched In Memory

I had a very close friend who recently passed away. Nick had enlisted in the U. S. NAVY in 1966 and soon became the Boxing Champ among a group of ships. At 6’4” with long arms, Nick was formidable. Soon, Nick knew quite a few important people and he was eventually assigned a great job as the head of the inventory on a Vietnam Supply Ship. On one occasion, the ship was on its way to pick up 24 crates of N.I.D.’s and Nick had absolutely no room on the ship for a single one of them. He informed the Captain of this dilemma and the Captain asked what they had the most of on the ship. “We have 86 fifty-five gallon drums of Red Oxide, Sir!” Red Oxide is a serious paint used primarily on badly rusted metal. “And how many drums do we need off the ship to make room for the N.I.d.’s” came back the Captain. Without delay Nick replied, seven and a half so, eight, Sir!” And without delay the Captain said, “Dump them overboard”. “Yes, Sir!” Nick knew not to point out to the Captain that Red Oxide was vile stuff that would end up in the ocean water once the drums rusted through. The next day, the N.I.D.’s were picked up in Guam and in two more days Nick was preparing to deliver the crates and a list of other boxes and barrels in Da Nang, Vietnam. Curious as to what was in the crates, Nick read ‘Nail Insertion Device’ on the bill of lading; each crate contained 96 of them at a cost of $592 each. That would be right at $50,000 for each crate. Nick was curious to know what these expensive gadgets looked like so, he grabbed a crow bar and within ten minutes he was holding a Nail Insertion Device in his hand. It was a paradigm shift for Nick at that moment and on hearing the story, it was a paradigm shift for me. In his hand, Nick held a hammer; a Nail Insertion Device that could have been purchased at any Hardware Store in the United States for under $7.00 in 1968. Another price shock came in the mid 1970’s, when I read a list of cost items for the Space Shuttle Program then underway. The government was then paying $400 EACH for incandescent light bulbs…JUST LIKE THE ONES IN A FOUR PACK AT THE HARDWARE STORE FOR $1.59. When Donald Trump was first approached about the New Air Force 1 that would be produced at a cost in excess of three billion dollars, rather than just sign the P.O., Trump balked. Not until over a Billion U. S. Dollars was shaved from the invoice would Trump sign it. Kudos to Trump!!! Now, some people think that the new DOGE (Department Of Government Efficiency) department will not be able to cut government spending to any appreciable degree. These are the very people who ‘HAVE NO CLUE’. They look at an N.I.D. on an invoice at $592 and they think nothing more than ‘Freedom is expensive’. The new DOGE will be very effective if they recommend a couple of hundred indictments in their first thirty days. Then, watch the rats run!! The DOGE has no real powers other than ‘RECOMMENDATIONS’. I would recommend indictments first, changes and cuts later. The degree of CRIMINALITY in the United States Government is widespread and has seemingly grown to a ‘point of no return’. The brilliant minds of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will together make the greatest beneficial changes to the United States Government in over a hundred years! This new idea…this new OUTLOOK…that government should be accountable to the people who pay for it…is so simple that it is BRILLIANT!!! Few people realize that it is such a tribute to our Capitalist System that, despite all the Fraud and Corruption, we have grown wealthy. I believe that fully half of every TAX DOLLAR is wasted to Fraud and Corruption. First Recommendation? Eliminate the Office of Government Accontability. Send them all packing!!