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I'm sure you could trade a handful of Patriot missiles and one or two F-35's to fund it several times over.
by deeeeplearning 6y ago
I'm sure you could trade a handful of Patriot missiles and one or two F-35's to fund it several times over.
- singemonkey 6y agoQuick and probably very inaccurate calculation Arecibo cost $9.3 million in 1963. This is equal to $79,000,000 now (https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1963?amount=9300000 https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1963?amount=93000...). An F-35 costs about $100 million. Based on that, I'd be happy to give up a single F-35 to rebuild Arecibo.
- petschge 6y agoAnd the US is planning to purchase 2500 of those. Because 2400 are clearly not enough.
- admiralspoo 6y agoThe defense budget is tiny compared to the US's welfare state programs.
- zaroth 6y agoIt also affords the US a position as the world’s reserve currency which itself is worth trillions of dollars. I’m not sure the ROI analysis is particularly straightforward, all things considered.
- deeeeplearning 6y agoYou think that removing 2 F-35s from the budget will significantly alter that calculus? To be clear. The US' >5000 Nuclear warheads is more than enough to cement its place as the most important military power in the world.
- sigstoat 6y ago> You think that removing 2 F-35s from the budget will significantly alter that calculus? you think that the "don't buy 2 F-35s and fix arecibo" train of thought ends at fixing arecibo? like, if the military hawks would just give up enough budget to fix it, all the other cries to reduce their budget would cease? come on.
- rootusrootus 6y agoI don't know if tiny is the word I'd use. ~3% is smaller than ~5%, yes, but still an absurd amount of money.
- CamperBob2 6y agoThe defense budget IS a welfare program.
- JetSpiegel 6y agoCorporate welfare. But as Romney says, "corporations are people, my friend".
- CamperBob2 6y agoA couple of SSBNs are all we need to assure national defense. The rest is one big jobs program.
- jessaustin 6y agoWelfare programs promote the welfare of USA residents, which is a valid use of public funds. The defense budget is almost entirely wasted. We haven't won a war in 75 years. Our various bumbling military misadventures have killed thousands of Americans and millions of other humans. If we spent a tenth of what we spend, both we and humanity in general would be safer, happier, and more prosperous. The Pentagon is never held to account for its myriad failures, so over time it has evolved to do only one thing well: consume vast resources.
- knaq 6y agoRule of law means we must check the US Constitution for what is "a valid use of public funds". OK... Well, it looks like war gets the public funds.
- ryandrake 6y agoThe scale of how much money the USA spends pointlessly on weapons is almost as mind boggling to comprehend as the size of the galaxy. It's depressing to imagine what we could do otherwise if all this money wasn't wasted, or if it was simply returned to taxpayers.
- stjohnswarts 6y agoProbably cut 10 F35s and build a new one. Of course current politicians won't do anything that is bipartisan and generally forward thinking. Dems only want to spend money on social programs and Republicans only want to spend it on blowing brown people up. It's a sad state.