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.
    • TehWorld@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      Defense contractors are mostly publicly traded companies. Raytheon, Lockheed, Boeing etc.

        • TehWorld@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          As opposed to having the government directly design planes and ships and stuff? Even in ‘communist’ countries such as Russia and China, they have companies that compete for business. Remember that essentially all the billions spent with these defense contractors is employing and producing products here as opposed to overseas.

  • Norgoroth@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    Please keep fucking with the defense contractors, surely they won’t take any drastic measures against you

  • Zink@programming.dev
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    20 hours ago

    I had the “wait, a good thing?” reaction too.

    But thinking about potential underlying motivations, it makes complete sense that the compromised traitor holding the reins would want to weaken the military at the same time as destroying the government.

    Or maybe it isn’t to help other dictators, and he just wants the opportunity to weed out more people who are loyal to the constitution.

    • ⛓️‍💥@sh.itjust.works
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      18 hours ago

      This may signal he is getting pushback from the military which is a very good thing. If he is serious about Canada and Greenland he will need a strong military. It makes no sense to start cutting the budget now.

      Refusing unlawful orders is always cool and moral.

  • cultsuperstar@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    It doesn’t need to be halved. They just need to figure out where a large portion of the money goes, since they can’t seem to account for it.

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    If he actually halves Pentagon Spending, that would be… the first good deed he’s ever done.

    • answersplease77@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      He never will. He sent a message for weapon manufacturer CEOs to chip in, and off course they will gladlyl buy him just like how silicon techies did

      • tempest@lemmy.ca
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        8 hours ago

        Exactly, this is just fishing for a bribe, just like the tariffs. Bribe Trump enough and your program or industry will get a loop hole or passed over for 6 months or whatever.

    • bitchkat@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I can see him doing away with seasonal clock shifts by accident at some point.

  • sudo@programming.dev
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    20 hours ago

    In case y’all forgot Trump’s last term, his general pattern is to constantly announce insane plans and only follow through on a fraction of them. Cutting the pentagon’s budget in half is one of the distractions. Some General will dandy himself up in his class A and jingle some blueprints for a useless wunderwaffe and the defense budget will go up.

  • flop_leash_973@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I don’t like it when I agree with the general notion of something Trump says or does. Makes me feel dirty.

    • MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Wait until you see how i gets halved. Im willing to bet they axe the VA, any scholastic programs, ROTC et al as most policies are about destroying America.

    • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Thats the magic of trump though, when he’s vague about things he can sometimes spin them as something agreeable. My guess is he’ll keep the regime change bullshit and nix stuff like burn pit procedures, ukraine support, and veterans benefits

    • Stern@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Broken clocks. If its any consolation he could be, variously-

      1. Floating random shit. Common Trump talk.
      2. Actually wanting to weaken the U.S. militarily, to the benefit of his leash holders.
      3. Fishing for bribes.
  • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Good time to buy then. He already pledged to increase funding to Israel. Just need to research what company supplies the most weapons for them and invest there.

  • lmuel
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    1 day ago

    Realistically speaking… Is anything gonna happen?

    Fuckers are just gonna invest as always, capitalism knows no morals.

  • ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip
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    23 hours ago

    I just don’t even know how I’d react if he successfully cut the defense budget in half. Would i have to join MAGA at that point?

    Because… yeah, I hate everything he’s done or let others do so far. His Cabinet is/ will be a nightmare. I assume this defense cut would come with more egregious tax cuts for the billionaire class.

    But cutting that much from our stupid war budget … man that’s such a nice thing to get…

      • MrEff@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I was already going hard on AI stock, then day of inauguration when he sent the clear message of where tech companies stand in running this country I dumped ALL investment money into AI stock. If I have to live in this hellscape I better at least get to retire in it.

        • abrake@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          My brother, have you heard about the benefits of diversification? If you want to retire at all, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

    • jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 days ago

      Since the entire thing is contingent on China and Russia agreeing to half their defence budget too, the only thing to bet on is when it will be rescinded.

    • Sc00ter@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      I bought lockheed martin call options after the way the steel markets rebounded

      Edit: just checked volume on LMT. 2.4M today vs an average of 1.35M. Yeeeeeeah. Lot more buyers than usual today

      • oyo@lemm.ee
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        1 day ago

        Yay for incredibly immoral investments. It’s disgusting how stock trading has been gamified and divorced from what it actually is, owning and supporting a company.