GrittyPrettySitty t1_isrk6gc wrote on October 18, 2022 at 4:22 AM

Reply to comment by actual-rationalist in NASA outlines case for making sole-source SLS award to Boeing-Northrop joint venture by jeffsmith202

The market? You mean the companies who fail to meet deadlines?

nate-arizona909 t1_isuuqzj wrote on October 18, 2022 at 9:30 PM

Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop, et. al. are so enmeshed with the federal government it’s almost impossible to see where the one ends and the other starts. They are at best quasi-government entities.

The big clue to this is you will almost never see a cost plus contract of these sorts in the private sector.

GrittyPrettySitty t1_it5k005 wrote on October 21, 2022 at 2:17 AM

Good point. I agree. They are the biggest jobs program in the world.

SexualizedCucumber t1_iswo9du wrote on October 19, 2022 at 6:38 AM

Government contractors aren't allowed enough risk of failure and because of this, they drag their feet at massive cost to the government.

For example: If Starliner and SLS fails, Boeing will be at 0 risk of going under. If Starlink and Starship fails, SpaceX will almost definitely go under. So it's no surprise which of those two moves more quickly.