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Uncle Joe

(61,508 posts)
Wed Apr 9, 2025, 12:05 PM Apr 9

Elon Musk Stands to Get Even Richer as Trump Backs $1 Trillion Budget for Pentagon



As federal agencies face crippling cuts and are forced to cut essential services, President Trump has announced he will seek a $1 trillion budget for the Pentagon, a record-setting number that would mark the highest level of U.S. defense spending since World War II. William Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, blasts the promised budget as "completely unnecessary" and says that "almost the only beneficiaries are going to be the weapons manufacturers." Hartung also discusses the growing political influence of Silicon Valley defense technology startups, including Alex Karp's Palantir and Elon Musk's SpaceX.

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Elon Musk Stands to Get Even Richer as Trump Backs $1 Trillion Budget for Pentagon (Original Post) Uncle Joe Apr 9 OP
The Ukraine military has held off the Russian army with drone technology. Go and listen to this 35-minute podcast. usaf-vet Apr 9 #1

usaf-vet

(7,472 posts)
1. The Ukraine military has held off the Russian army with drone technology. Go and listen to this 35-minute podcast.
Wed Apr 9, 2025, 01:47 PM
Apr 9
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/wtf-20-tim-mak

This podcast suggests whether the US military needs million-dollar jets or whether the battlefield can use $1500 drones in significant numbers to destroy the enemy as the Ukrainian army has done.

Quote from the podcast: If you can use a $1500 drone to destroy a $3 million armored vehicle , the math doesn't make sense anymore.

Then, it further points out that it takes years for a pilot to qualify to fly a jet, but any kid who grew up playing video games can learn to fly drones with a few hours of instruction.

Of course, lobbyists will be swarming legislators to defend the budgets and continue to build expensive weapons.
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