[1rudeboy]

I draw the line at making John Q. Public pay more for ping-pong balls in the name of national security. That's not patriotic, it's poisonous.

If we decide we want a second manufacturer of armor-plate, then Uncle Sam needs to build a plant, and either pay its workers to sit on their butts until they are needed, or purchase their work-product and stockpile it. Both cases are dangerously close to simply being a Federal job program, for reasons that don't need to be explained on a conservative website. And don't get me started on the Law of Unintended Consequences, other than to remark that if we get to the point that the armor-plate is needed, chances are that it or the plant itself will be obsolete.

It's that simple: if it's a matter of national security, then Uncle Sam needs to cut the check. We need to quit pussy-footing around with non-solutions, and quit listening to whichever politician-of-the-moment chooses to pay lip-service to the issue.

[mr_hammer]

1rudeboy; "If we decide we want a second manufacturer of armor-plate, then Uncle Sam needs to build a plant, and either pay its workers to sit on their butts until they are needed, or purchase their work-product and stockpile it"

mr_hammer: ...and that is exactly why you need domestic demand / manufacturing, there are fixed costs to running a business. If you can augment domestic production with military work the cost of making widget's for the "G" is amortized with the domestic side of the business. See, this is the critical mistake free traders make. By erasing domestic production you cripple your country in the ability to make things for defense at reasonable cost.