Sanswired: I agree with part of what you say and disagree with the other. When I was in charge of the project, we were well within budget. The $200,000 allocated to me for constructions would only yield a stripped down version of the Strat.
Once the GTE "exec" arrived, the financial lid was off. We weren't ready to move to San Bernardino because we were still fabricating parts at Redlands. But, we did anyway. Money budgeted for the Strat was being spent on executive apartments, laptop computers for their kids, lavish dinners and Heaven only knows what else.
When I asked the "exec" about his exorbitant spending, he simply told me, "Don't worry about the money." In essence, my $200K budget vaporized into thin air.
This guy caused problems with the hourly workers, promising 'bonuses' that were NEVER paid, working them upwards of 14 hours a day, 7 days a week for months on end. Then, I was always under the threat of, "Well, we can bring in NASA people."
On March 15, 2005, I began feeling the onset of another stroke when the GTE "exec" fired one of my best workers due to a personality conflict between the two. I had nearly $500K dollars in cash and stock and figured that the project wasn't worth dying over. I told the GTE "exec" to bring in his NASA people and walked out the door.
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