The establishment broadcast their shock at the U.S./Russia meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday, with a New York Times headline that read: "U.S. and Russia Pursue Partnership in a Head-Spinning Shift in Relations."
In remarks from the Oval Office on February 13th, President Trump raised the possibility that the military budgets of the United States, along with those of Russia and China, might be cut in half.
President Trump: We Could Cut the Defense Budget In Half
In remarks from the Oval Office on February 13th, President Trump raised the possibility that the military budgets of the United States, along with those of Russia and China, might be cut in half.
President Ronald Reagan Shaking Hands with Donald Trump at a Reception for Members of The "Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies" Foundation in The Blue Room, 11/3/1987
Trump raised this with the possibility of "denuclearization." He added that the word “de-nuclearize” is a “beautiful term.” He stated that he looked forward to discussions with Presidents Xi and Putin, "once things have calmed down."
President Trump's comments came as DOGE is preparing to audit the Pentagon; "some parts of the military" are reportedly preparing a list of weapons programs to ditch; while Congress – bowing to the neocons and K-Street interests – is currently producing budget reconciliation proposals that increase the US defense budget over the next ten years.
The implications for the United States in such a “denuclearization” proposal are not to be reduced to the elusive "peace dividend" of the Bush/Clinton era. The physical economic implications are huge. It is hard to live in a tank, or eat ammo.
As America saw with President John F. Kennedy's Moon Shot, and earlier in the actual spinoffs of our World War II mobilization, it is the scientific and industrial cutting edge of such mobilizations that drives lasting increases in productivity and rising standards of living.
With the reindustrialization of the U.S. now on the agenda, a key problem to be solved is the current shortage of skilled manpower and of small and medium-sized manufacturers in our industrial and manufacturing supply chains. This writer devoted a fair amount of space to these intertwined issues in his recent book, published on November 5th, Rebuild the USA; the Trump Presidency and Beyond. 👇
Rebuild the USA: The Trump Presidency and Beyond
After all the years of campaigning, Americans have finally come to the agreement that we will Make America Great Again. But, how do we actually implement the intention, and with a minimum of mistakes along the way?
In coming Substack articles, this writer will take up President Trump’s consequential January 27th Executive Order, "The Iron Dome for America," and discuss those potentials.
President Trump's revival of a modern Strategic Defense Initiative to defend America's citizens, is not in contradiction to a desire to "denuclearize." To the contrary. First, consider Trump's remarks of February 13th, and the little understood physical economic implications.
Trump: “de-nuclearize” is a “beautiful term.”
In his remarks from the Oval Office on February 13th, President Trump raised the potential of meetings with Russia's and China's leaders, once the Ukraine and Palestinian/Israeli conflict are dealt with. The reader is encouraged to directly hear Trump's remarks. Here are highlights:
“When we straighten it all out, then one of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi of China and President Putin of Russia, and I want to say let’s cut our military budget in half. And we can do that, and I think we’ll be able to do that,” President Trump stated.
“At some point, when things settle down, I’m going to meet with China and I’m going to meet with Russia, in particular those two, and I’m going to say there’s no reason for us to be spending almost a trillion dollars on military... and I’m going to say we can spend this on other things...”
“There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons. We already have so many you could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over,” Trump added forcefully.
Throughout, President Trump expresses optimism that both President Putin and Chinese leader Xi would be open to such discussions.
Enormous Potentials
This writer wants to underscore the real economic potentials of such a fresh direction, while recalling earlier, similar efforts by President John F. Kennedy and President Ronald Reagan.
Today, the U.S. military-industrial complex currently employs some 5 million Americans. That is, five million Americans are employed by the US Department of Defense, corporate and private aerospace & defense (“A&D”) contractors, and their shared aerospace & defense supply chain.
This includes a huge proportion of what today exists as this nation’s currently highly-skilled workforce, including in machinery manufacturing and tool & die. Americans must now begin a fresh deliberation as to how best we might unleash a significant portion of that workforce to build out the USA's entire national physical economy!
3. Aerospace and Defense Contractors & Labor force
The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) states that they employ 900,000 employees directly, of which the AIA states that 43% are working directly in defense and national security. That’s approximately 387,000 workers directly working on defense and national security contracts, employed directly by prime contractors.
The largest six prime defense suppliers (Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and BAE Systems) are known collectively as the “Big Six” and represented 32 percent of all DoD prime obligations in 2019.
4. The Huge A&D Sub-Contractor Supply Chain
The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) reports that approximately 1.2 million skilled workers are part of their shared A&D supply chain of Small and Medium Manufacturers (SMM’s). These are the sub-contractors or “Associate Contractors.” (That number might be significantly larger. An earlier AIA report spoke of 1.5 million jobs in their shared supply chain, and there are other figures.) This is among the very largest concentrations of skilled workers and engineers in the nation.
Consider the human and physical resources, merely indicated here, as the human creative potential with which to fulfill the task of rebuilding America’s heavy industry & manufacturing base. In doing so, the USA must prioritize the construction of hundreds of baseload nuclear and fossil fuel power plants.
Expert in the almost forgotten science of physical economy. Basing his interventions on fundamental concepts, he’s engaged in a far-ranging dialogue to shape the future of our economy & culture.
The establishment broadcast their shock at the U.S./Russia meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday, with a New York Times headline that read: "U.S. and Russia Pursue Partnership in a Head-Spinning Shift in Relations."
We dive deep into current events: peace negotiations in Ukraine and the Middle East, law school indoctrination, audits by Elon Musk, and upcoming Supreme Court cases.
By combining Lyndon LaRouche's insights around the imperative to accelerate technological attrition with Trump's vision for a sovereign wealth fund, the U.S. will create a dynamic engine for unprecedented growth.
