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Comment by Nifty3929 | Hacker News Reader

I find it frustrating the the US Govt spends > $800B/yr on our "defense" while we run out of basic supplies like ammunition and all of our tanks and ships are falling apart.

Meanwhile, that same Govt spends < $1B on fusion, which could change the course of humanity.

I'm usually the last person to suggest that the govt should spend money on things, but for goodness sake I wish we could at least get our priorities straight as far as what to spend the money on.

If I didn't know better I'd think that the whole point of the defense department was to funnel money to well-connected corporations and execs.

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> while we run out of basic supplies like ammunition

Because they're actively being used in a war in Ukraine at a prodigious rate? And we're spending money ramping up production.

And we're not "running out" -- we're keeping plenty to defend ourselves, we just want to be able to send Ukraine even more.

> and all of our tanks and ships are falling apart.

Source? This is the first I'm hearing of this.

The US has the most powerful and capable military in the world. You're acting like we're spending money on it but are getting something cut-rate in return. But we're not.

otoh, Its the natural state of ships to be falling apart, they’re very maintenance heavy

Too much fox/maga media/kremlin propaganda. All the ammo given to Ukraine has been expired and due to be disposed of.

What in the world led you to think that? In the real world, solving problems is more than just a function of how far to the right you slide their budget allocation.

In case of fusion I don't think it's a money problem. ITER has funding from a lot of countries and even they have a hard time with it. It could be that fusion is almost impossible with the current state of technology that we have now.

As for govt spending on military vs science almost all govts are like this. I wish it was different. It's almost like a zero sum game when it need not be like that

Source on running out of ammunition? I've never heard that about the US military before

There's a difference between running out of ammunition and running out of ammunition that can be supplied.

They're running out of ammunition that can be supplied, because the rest is being reserved for if we end up needing it for ourselves.

As for tanks and ships falling apart, I have no idea where you're getting that from.

I imagine it has a lot to do with oil company lobbying.

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