Instead of throwing $2 trillion dollars away on soon to be obsolete manned fighter aircraft.
https://www.gao.gov/blog/f-35-will-now-exceed-2-trillion-military-plans-fly-it-less
America should spend taxdollars on Americans
byu/toddsputnik ineconomy
by toddsputnik
5 comments
The F35 is selling like crazy and back ordered. They made their money back. It’s not just the US buying them.
And that 2 trillion is total expected cost until 2088. If the U.S. goes unmanned that number goes way down
Ukraine is one of the largest exporters of food. That war raised food prices.
All that Israel Hoothy stuff can increase the price of gas. And if they shut down the Suez the price of all shipping goes up.
Both of those things are worth billions to the US economy.
You can argue should we spend 10 billion a year or 100 billion a year.
You can argue China has the same trade as the US they should support keep the shipping lanes open not the US.
All valid but the valid complaints. But the value of our 2 biggest military adventures is not 0.
We’re exporting them at a profit, the total cost is kind of irrelevant.
It’s an incredibly capable platform and essentially a flying computer/sensor suite. There are goals/plans to have a manned F-35 fly with drone wingmates allowing the operator access to more capabilities than their own craft can provide alone.
The F-35 is a good investment. It also does provide wages to American workers throughout the supply chain, so it does spend tax dollars on Americans.
To your point, we should be providing things like universal healthcare to our population rather than the predatory insurance/private medical system we have now. That’s a separate point.
US spent $900B last year paying for healthcare for US citizens through Medicare and Medicaid. They spent $1.4T paying for retirement through social security. They spent $68B on housing subsidies for low income people. They spent $112B on SNAP food assistance. $120B on US infrastructure. Don’t have an opinion on this program, but we are already spending more on US citizens than we can afford.
It is actually in the Constitution, ‘…for the general welfare of the United States.’
“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.”