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   Anime Wong (elliptica@poa.st)'s status on Tuesday, 03-Jun-2025 23:17:41 JST Anime Wong
   I understand what's going on now.
   
   RT: https://www.minds.com/api/activitypub/users/1195374038134824967/entities/urn:activity:1776615897797779456
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     Anime Wong (elliptica@poa.st)'s status on Tuesday, 03-Jun-2025 23:17:40 JST Anime Wong

     in reply to

     • That Would Be Telling
     @ThatWouldBeTelling @abgreport
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     That Would Be Telling (thatwouldbetelling@shitposter.world)'s status on Tuesday, 03-Jun-2025 23:17:41 JST That Would Be Telling

     in reply to

     @Elliptica @abgreport Except it's almost certainly complete bullshit.

     You can run the numbers, but if you think two economic sectors governed entirely or almost so by monopsony (single buyer) government purchases are axiomatically high profit, you're claiming extreme corruption on the part of said governments. Which is possible but you need to make a case for it.

     See also the maxim that "there is no value in a second best military."

     I've also been noting lately most of the money is in weapons development. Buying, it depends, but munitions stockpiling and maintenance get short shrift. For example ~447 Challenger II tanks were built by the U.K., some for export. In that nation, though, about twenty five are operational. USNavy ships are notoriously under-maintained.

     For munitions, just a few anecdotes are the USNavy ending MK48 torpedo production "twenty years ago" with a current inventory of ~1300. We're manufacturing something like twelve of the most advanced version of the SM-6 a year if memory serves ... and we've used up a great deal of our missiles in the ludicrous prior to Trump Operation "Prosperity Garden" against the Houthis. (On the other hand, guns against drones worked well.)

     General TL;DR: the USNavy's contribution to a potential defense of Taiwan will be very limited with nearly empty magazines.

     As for pharma per the pictured meme, that's so ludicrous the author is a propagandist or pig ignorant. Small-ish portion of US healthcare spending (like 7%??), and as drug development got a lot harder as the low hanging fruit was picked, most drugs are now generic. And much if nor most made by the PRC at least for precursors and APIs, and India for final production. Doesn't mean they won't hit it out of the ballpark occasionally, like the new weight loss drug class, but....

     And, again, government want to spend as little as possible on them. including the US, but it's extreme elsewhere, which is the basis of Trump's recent actions. Socialism as usual turns out to be a bad idea.