Yes, sadly, all of that is true.
Even more depressing than that is the general lack of proficiency in the American government. It seems that they can’t do anything right anymore. Imagine all of the large engineering programs of the past: the Panama Canal, the Manhattan Project, the space program, etc. — I doubt that they could do any of those programs today.
” I doubt that they could do any of those programs today.”
We’ve gone from a government that was probably 80% honest in 1920 to 50% honest in the 1930’s to 10% honest today. That failed healthcare website cost as much as a navy destroyer and doesn’t even work. The money went to cronies, not software. The cronies kicked back an agreed amount. That’s how it works. Everybody involved gets rich and the public gets screwed.
I have often wondered if we could build an Iowa class battleship today...and I think not. The unique, incrementally developed skills necessary to build something like that are likely lost to memory, and would have to be re-learned.
And that is just one example.
That is sobering.
Add in the Unions and you have a disaster on your hands. They have to be over paid, under worked, and need all those coffee and lunch breaks. So very little work gets done.