Once again, the U.S. military grounds F-35 fighter jets. This time it was for cracks in an engine component of an F-35 in California.

A couple of weeks ago the Marine variant was grounded locally within days of being delivered because it wasn’t working correctly.

It is going to be a decade before you will be able to fly a factory-fresh F-35 with any confidence it won’t drop out of the sky. That’s assuming there is anyone left who wants to buy the aircraft.

The BBC reports that UK loses top AAA credit rating for first time since 1978:

Chancellor George Osborne said the decision was “a stark reminder of the debt problems facing our country”.

“Far from weakening our resolve to deliver our economic recovery plan, this decision redoubles it,” he added. “We will go on delivering the plan that has cut the deficit by a quarter.”

As the UK slips into its third recession since the global meltdown, Messrs Cameron and Osborne will triple down on their austerity program which will continue the downward spiral of the British economy. This is because their only other option would be to actually follow the policies that helped to end the Great Depression, i.e. increase government spending to make up for the shortage of private sector demand. It doesn’t seem to occur to Mr Osborne that public spending on the Olympics helped the economy to grow, and when that spending stopped so did the growth.

Via Susie, CBS is reporting that the Feds have raided The Scooter Store.

My Mother likes old TV westerns, like Gunsmoke and Bonanza, so she often has a channel called TVLand on her set when I stop by. I called the channel Medicare TV because all of the ads seemed to be related to things for people on Medicare.

One of the most annoying advertisers is The Scooter Store which sells motorized wheelchairs, telling people that the equipment will be paid for by Medicare and Medigap insurance companies ‘at no cost to you’. My gut reaction to the ads was this is a scam, and I have been vocal enough about it, that my Mother mutes the TV when one of the ads comes on so she doesn’t have to listen to me rant about it.

At the direction of Congress, Medicare is restrained from providing necessary medical equipment in anything approaching an efficient manner. Most of the time they are required to lease equipment from private companies when it would be cheaper for the government to just buy it in bulk and issue it as required.

Before this case is over, I expect to hear that The Scooter Store defrauded Medicare out of millions of dollars, at a minimum. I hope they haul in some of the doctors who wrote unjustified prescriptions for people who should have been walking for exercise, instead of sitting down all the time.

Friends?

Stay away!

[Editor: Mini-Sox and company are annoyed at all the activity next door to my house, and have transferred ‘operations’ to Mother’s house. He is not happy to see me. The common interpretation of Robert Frost’s Mending Wall about fences and neighbors may not be right.]

Friday Ark