Proof that Trump has broken a lot of people.
Would be perfectly acceptable to say "hey, here is the new system we came up yesterday to monitor and comment on fraud in the Air Traffic Control management, and we will report that fraud to the alternative press" would be absolutely good for the government.AtticusMatlock said:
Well hopefully they don't just show up one day and be like "hey here's the new system we just came up with yesterday."
TxLawDawg said:flown-the-coop said:
People are up in arms assuming Elon will cheat the system whilst turning a blind eye for DECADES (and even now) to those that ACTUALLY cheated the system.
FIFY
A bit of a weird flex against Elon, but having submitted proposals to government contracts for nearly 2 decades now, I can confirm that this is actually how most all procurements worth responding to work.clw04 said:
How does it work any other way - SpaceX engineers come in and write requirements and then put it out for bid for other contractors to deliver a product that looks like SpaceX User interfaces since the requirements likely are based on them? We will see where all this goes, but the level of insight that they have into business strategies and such across all of government is ripe for issues with the conflict of interest protection being "trust us". Having Elon not involved in "day-to-day" operations doesn't relieve from conflict of interest - no one will know until years down the road for items like this.
Probably just a Starlink terminal - Sure SpaceX will hand them out for free.AW73 said:
I don't know what they will recommend, but if the technology changes significantly, I do know that refitting a lot of aircraft with new avionics won't be cheap and might drive a lot of GA users out of the sky.
MemphisAg1 said:
I'm more concerned about bringing rapid improvements to air safety than I am if Elon somehow gets a business advantage from this.
Biden and team had every opportunity to revitalize this area but chose instead to focus on DEI, school board parents, LGBTQIA+, letting in illegals, and all kinds of other stuff.
I welcome a fresh set of eyes on this.
I don't think Elon is a bad guy - I just don't think anybody should have the amount of information/access he is aggregating without some level of oversight. We don't have oversight because that "would slow them down".flown-the-coop said:A bit of a weird flex against Elon, but having submitted proposals to government contracts for nearly 2 decades now, I can confirm that this is actually how most all procurements worth responding to work.clw04 said:
How does it work any other way - SpaceX engineers come in and write requirements and then put it out for bid for other contractors to deliver a product that looks like SpaceX User interfaces since the requirements likely are based on them? We will see where all this goes, but the level of insight that they have into business strategies and such across all of government is ripe for issues with the conflict of interest protection being "trust us". Having Elon not involved in "day-to-day" operations doesn't relieve from conflict of interest - no one will know until years down the road for items like this.
We never bid any contract that is based solely on lowest cost wins. Its stupid for the gubmit / contract admin and incredibly stupid for the contractor.
Instead, the better procurements focus on relevant experience with a HEAVY nod to previous experience working in such contracts. The only thing that it is second to in important is actual experience with the type of work being done.
I am thinking that regardless of DOGE, the company that can return rocket ships the size of a skyscraper to land itself back on a launch pad (repeatedly) and who has launched a complete revolution in communications across the globe to the remotest of areas including the polar regions and who has millions of cars out there they can locate within feet on a map... maybe they have some experience that would be applicable to ATC.
Oh, and they are doing this all in the open and they WELCOME competition.
Painting Elon as a bad guy is the ultimate in fool's errand.
FriscoKid said:VegasAg86 said:FriscoKid said:
I'm not liking the Musk relationship very much TBH. If he left his day job for 4 years then I would 100% appreciate his support, but he really can profit with the direction the government takes. His influence with AI is one thing. Space X and electric vehicles are another.
I hope his partnership with DC will help everyone and not be slanted to his company interests.
You think he's going to try something shady while he's under a media microscope that rivals what was done to Trump?
He already has. Look at how he is trying to crush OpenAI which would benefit X. I think he's an absolutely brilliant man that is doing revolutionary things, but I'm worried about replacing one swamp with another one. No crony capitalism from either side. Just, cut our bloated government.
How exactly are they going behind closed doors and what value is there to have Auntie Maxine and liber press with the collective IQ of a donut sitting at the computer terminal with them?clw04 said:
I don't think Elon is a bad guy - I just don't think anybody should have the amount of information/access he is aggregating without some level of oversight. We don't have oversight because that "would slow them down".
And they likely are not doing it out in the open - If they wanted to do it out in the open they could invite press and other potential bidders to the "sessions." Announcing that they are going to go do this and then doing it behind closed doors isn't doing it in the open. They are going to get insight into items that we used to red team for our proposals.
Even if the FAA updated all their systems in 1995, they are probably still running on that 1995 technology today.Quote:
New ideas, new ways and old-fashioned common sense can improve government while reducing its costs. Let me give you an example. The United States Government is the largest purchaser of vacuum tubes in the Western world. This is a Federal Aviation Administration vacuum tube. Good solid 1895 technology. This is the updated mid-1950s version. When you fly in America, vacuum
tubes in the air traffic control system keep you safe. Our purchasing rules are so complicated and so wasteful that our government has not been able in seven years to figure out how to
replace vacuum tubes with this. This is a microchip that has the computing power of 3 million vacuum tubes. So today's government operates this way; after we remake it, the government of the future will operate this way.
My point is this: this same reliance on the obsolete pervades most of the federal government--not just in regard to computers but in regard to its thinking, its attitudes, its approaches to problems.
-Newt Gingrich, 1995
Jesus. Do you read the **** you post?clw04 said:Disagree that we shouldn't care - The system needs to be fixed but replacing one issue with a different set of issues isn't the way to do it. There needs to be transparency across the board and Elon's companies getting insight into systems and being able to manipulate that for their interest isn't really any better than the prior issues, its just different.flown-the-coop said:FriscoKid said:
I'm not liking the Musk relationship very much TBH. If he left his day job for 4 years then I would 100% appreciate his support, but he really can profit with the direction the government takes. His influence with AI is one thing. Space X and electric vehicles are another.
I hope his partnership with DC will help everyone and not be slanted to his company interests.
What existed before Elon was that bureaucrats would "retire" to the private sector then leverage their connections in Congress and in the Executive to define requirements for new government "needs" then talk to their other friends about how to meet those "needs" then lobby the funding and millions later we have a study saying we need a new system and a failed implementation due to HUB/Section 3/DEI requirements.
At least with Elon it is all happening in the open. And he doesn't come across as someone who just wants more money or to be even more richer. He seems to view the wealth as a means to keep pursuing endeavors he believes benefits mankind.
Let him and Trump do their thing. If they are successful and make some bank doing it, we all benefit. With the libs, they get their wealth through destruction. So this is better.
Yeah, lets give Boeing a shot at it first. Maybe they can do it as well and cheaply as they did with Starliner, and Elon can come in and pick up the pieces after they have hopelessly F'd it up again.TexAgs91 said:
SpaceX is ONE of the companies that could do this. They shouldn't just start without a selection process.