Despite the pronouncements of the White House, wasteful government spending is endemic and shows no signs of abating anytime soon. The military, which accounts for half of all federal spending, is not immune. While the media like to remind people of the Pentagon spending $435 for a hammer or $640 for a toilet seat, accounts of true billion-dollar boondoggles often go virtually ignored.

More expensive and potentially deadlier than a hammer or toilet seat are the myriad problems associated with the F-35 fighter jet program. The latest chapter in the saga of the F-35 boondoggle is a recent crash in South Carolina due to yet another malfunctioning Pratt & Whitney engine. It caused the military to temporarily ground all of the Pentagon’s costliest planes.