Defense stocks drop after Trump says Pentagon spending could be halved
Defense stocks drop after Trump says Pentagon spending could be halved
Shares of Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin were under pressure after President Donald Trump raised the idea of large cuts to defense spending.
KEY POINTS
- Defense stocks dropped sharply Thursday afternoon after President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. could massively cut defense spending.
- Trump has sent mixed messages on military spending throughout his 2024 campaign and in the early days of his presidency.
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Would be a good thing if it would actually happen but we all know it won't. Happy to be proven wrong however
The military is a jobs program. It’s paying for a ton of education and scientific research too. The first thing to go is going to be the scholarships not the guns.
Would it be a good thing? A lot of our power comes from military spending
We spend more on our military than the next 9 countries combined not including our dark operations that we can't account for in our budget already.
We could cut our military in half and still be the best funded military in the world.
That problem isn't other nations, it's the US and the military industrial complex
Have you ever read the unclassified annual threat assessment? There is an official report the intelligence comminity puts out every year detailing what other nations are doing around the world. And that's just what theyre allowed to tell us.
Ive read it, and if you look at what they detail out for chinas militarzation moderniation plans, theres not many reasons theyre doing what theyre doing unless to compete with the USA. Not to mention, chinas going faster than what originally was thought, and theyre becoming less reliant on other nations to do it. Thats just 1 nation. The usa has stuck its nose in too many peoples business that if they stop the arms race, there could be a lot of nations coming knocking. Weve painted ourselves into a corner (or at least have the perception of it).
Edit: all that said, theres definitely ways to be more fiscally responsible with our military spending... just look at the f35 or the sentinel program
The poor F35. Another example of why you don't build planes by committee.
But we also sell a lot of that military equipment to allies, making everyone stronger and recouping some of that spending at the same time.
A quick search shows about $300b in sales last year with a spending budget about $800b. Of course, that depends on whether Ukraine survives to be able to repay its debt. But even if it can't, all the military spending goes to US owned companies or citizens (our soldiers) which circulates in the domestic economy.
Good news, we're about to have a lot less allies!
And sell a lot of equipment to genocide perpetrators.
And it's due you lose some
The US shouldn't have the power that it does, so yes. It would be a good thing.
But if the alt is china, of course the usa is a better option.
Considering how we've used that power in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam? Yes, its a good thing.