The latest from “Inside the Ring” – news from the Pentagon by former John Locke Foundation speakers Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough – includes a fundamental lesson in economics and a polite spot check for Congress.

The “Ring” reports that the Navy’s shipbuilding budget has decreased under the leadership of Secretary Gordon England. The Navy contends that technology has allowed armed forces to do more with fewer ships.

(This, class, allows for the shifting of unused funds to other areas of greater defense needs.)

But senators from shipbuilding states don’t like the idea and may
withhold support of Secretary England – Rummy’s choice to replace Paul
Wolfowitz as deputy defense secretary.

In defense of this budget reshaping, England wrote to the senators,
“The Navy’s revised DD(X) acquisition strategy is intended to reduce
ship unit cost and thus save taxpayers’ dollars by concentrating the
workload associated with the lower build rate at a single shipyard.”

Thank you, Secretary England, for reminding our elected leaders (some
of them self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives) what they already
(hopefully) know but have forgotten (woefully).