• Lockheed CEO: Trump 'absolutely' contributed to F-35 savings
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[quote]The head of defense giant Lockheed Martin on Tuesday said President Trump “absolutely did contribute” to the company’s speedy deal on the F-35. Lockheed chief executive Marillyn Hewson said Trump’s involvement in the February deal was "perfectly appropriate,” adding that the company has now set a goal to save more than $5 billion on the aircraft. “We were in discussions ... and he helped accelerate that along, and I think he put a sharper focus on price and how we would drive the price down,” Hewson told reporters at a Lockheed media event in Arlington, Va. “So he absolutely did contribute to us getting to closure on that.” The most recent Pentagon purchase of the F-35, called Lot 10, includes 90 aircraft — 55 for the U.S. military and 35 for international partners. The $8.5 billion purchase brought down the price from the last batch of planes by $728 million and dropped the cost of the F-35A variant below $100 million for the first time. Trump — who bashed the F-35 program as being too expensive while on the campaign trail and wrote on Twitter in December that costs were “out of control" — took credit for the driving down the price. Analysts and Pentagon insiders argued the price would have come down year over year, regardless of his involvement. Hewson did admit cost reductions would have continued as more planes are bought but said Trump’s “emphasis and his engagement did absolutely make a difference.”[/quote] [url]http://thehill.com/policy/defense/325021-lockheed-ceo-trump-absolutely-contributed-to-f-35-savings[/url]
I guess trump can occasionally do good things
If he didn't say that he'd have the administration breathing down his neck and all navy contracts would go to the super duper hornet
Might as well get brownie points with Trump by making him look good.
[quote]Trump — who bashed the F-35 program as being too expensive while on the campaign trail and wrote on Twitter in December that costs were “out of control" — took credit for the driving down the price. Analysts and Pentagon insiders argued the price would have come down year over year, regardless of his involvement.[/quote] so, this was a trend happening anyways, but we can all admit he's always had the ability to affect businesses and market values by publicly whining about them
but why? are they rushing them out? cutting corners?
no he absolutely did not stop being fucking shills the price was going to come down as the production for parts and planes expanded the f-35 has an enormous supply chain that is finally ramping up
Well let's be fair if he doesn't play ball with Trump he'll probably start a Twitter tantrum like he did with Boeing and drive down Lockheed's stock price
Just like *every* plane in existence, each one flies away at a slightly lower price than the one before it. With so many planned (Something like 4.5k), they're going to cost as much as an F/A-18 does now by the time the last one rolls out, and are already cheaper than new F-18 E and F's This was going to happen no matter what Trump's involvement may have been
[QUOTE=abcpea;51993453]but why? are they rushing them out? cutting corners?[/QUOTE] [quote]The most recent Pentagon purchase of the F-35, called Lot 10, includes 90 aircraft — 55 for the U.S. military and 35 for international partners. The $8.5 billion purchase brought down the price from the last batch of planes by $728 million and dropped the cost of the F-35A variant below $100 million for the first time. Trump — who bashed the F-35 program as being too expensive while on the campaign trail and wrote on Twitter in December that costs were “out of control" — took credit for the driving down the price. Analysts and Pentagon insiders argued the price would have come down year over year, regardless of his involvement. Hewson did admit cost reductions would have continued as more planes are bought but said Trump’s “emphasis and his engagement did absolutely make a difference.” “Since his election, President Trump has made clear that he and his administration will be focusing on ensuring that the government is a smart buyer, getting the most for the taxpayer’s dollar,” Hewson said. “In our positive and constructive dialogues over the last few months we were able to communicate how Lockheed Martin is fully aligned with these efforts.” The Pentagon is currently negotiating the next block buy of 120 F-35s. Costs for the aircraft are expected to be more than $10 billion. [/quote] by buying more of them go against him and he'll blast your company on twitter and tank your stock. brown nose and he'll buy more of your "shitty and expensive" product and sing you praises [editline]21st March 2017[/editline] but most people have such a poor understanding of economics that they'll probably believe that he "saves money" like it's magic or something
So if I'm understanding this correctly, Trump saved us money on the F-35 by buying more of them, which reduces the unit cost, but spends more money overall.
[QUOTE=Kybalt;51993520]So if I'm understanding this correctly, Trump saved us money on the F-35 by buying more of them, which reduces the unit cost, but spends more money overall.[/QUOTE] a very difficult concept to understand if one has never been inside a costco before
Good news!
[QUOTE=Trebgarta;51993642]This explains why Lockheed Martin CEO is so ecstatic about less profiteering[/QUOTE] [quote]Even before Donald Trump went on Twitter and posted his market-cratering tweet lambasting Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jets, the company's stock was already falling. At 8:26 a.m. on Monday, Trump tweeted that Lockheed's "F-35 program and cost is out of control," referring to the defense contractor's military equipment deals with the government. By then, though, shares of Lockheed Martin (LMT, -1.11%) had already lost about $1, sparking accusations of insider trading—some suggested that Trump had tipped someone off about which company he would next target on Twitter (TWTR, -3.64%). How else could investors have known to sell Lockheed Martin before Trump's tweet, which ultimately pushed the stock down nearly 2.5%? It turns out, though, that Twitter is not only the place to read about the President-elect's latest idea, it's also a good tool for predicting what Trump will tweet about next—and what stocks are about to fall. And while many investors sold Lockheed Martin shares after Trump tweeted, hedge funds likely dumped the stock sooner. Hedge funds are increasingly using analytics from companies like Dataminr and Social Market Analytics to uncover trading signals buried in the firehose of tweets and other social media posts. Fidelity customers, for example, can add Social Market Analytics' sentiment indicators derived from social media to their stock dashboards, along with traditional metrics such as volatility. And there were plenty of clues that Donald Trump was likely to attack Lockheed Martin, which hedge funds no doubt picked up on. For starters, Trump had made almost identical comments on Fox News Sunday an entire day before he tweeted them. "If you look at the F-35 program with the money, the hundreds of billions of dollars, and it's out of control," Trump said on the weekend television show.[/quote] [url]http://fortune.com/2016/12/13/donald-trump-twitter-lockheed-martin-stock-dump/[/url] wonder what this means?? truly mysterious
More like "We've finally got a warmonger in place who will ensure long-term profits that will more than cover us dropping the Failure-35's inflated price."
[QUOTE=Kybalt;51993520]So if I'm understanding this correctly, Trump saved us money on the F-35 by buying more of them, which reduces the unit cost, but spends more money overall.[/QUOTE] p. much. The economy of mass production does make this "cheaper" in the end. But now the buyer has a shitload of extra units lying around they weren't anticipating when the contracts were first drawn up. So it's going to cost you guys an arm and a leg in maintaining planes that are likely to never need to be used. Just sitting around in reserves, like the metric assload of Abrams that just get shifted around the country to keep factories busy.
So this is basically the equivalent of buying four gallons of milk instead of one because you get the fourth one free, regardless if you're even going to use that much. Genius:hiddendowns:
[QUOTE=Zero-Point;51995253]So this is basically the equivalent of buying four gallons of milk instead of one because you get the third one free, regardless if you're even going to use that much. Genius:hiddendowns:[/QUOTE] Not really, milk is a consumable good, whilst a fighter jet helps guarantee your security however long you keep ahold of it
[QUOTE=Mallow234;51995310]Not really, milk is a consumable good, whilst a fighter jet helps guarantee your security however long you keep ahold of it[/QUOTE] My point was that spending more on more stuff that you don't really need doesn't save you money. So then, how about: It's like buying 200 toaster ovens because they're on sale. Because honestly, the fuck are you going to practically do with 200 toaster ovens?
[QUOTE=Zero-Point;51999693]My point was that spending more on more stuff that you don't really need doesn't save you money. So then, how about: It's like buying 200 toaster ovens because they're on sale. Because honestly, [U][B]the fuck are you going to practically do with 200 toaster ovens?[/B][/U][/QUOTE] [I]practically[/I] toast 400 bagels but then there's the cost of cream cheese.....
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