Economy Archives - KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show · Burt Cohen

Could These Guys Actually Cut Military Waste?

December 17, 2024·1 hr·3 clips

The F-35 can't dogfight well, carries fewer missiles, and spends half its time in the hangar—for $130 million per plane

Burt Cohen starts with a premise that sounds almost too strange to be real: could a Republican-led Department of Government Efficiency, backed by Donald Trump and billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, actually cut military waste and make the country safer? The conversation quickly points to the odd interest this has drawn from parts of the progressive left. The Hill, via Hannah Trudeau, is cited as reporting that Bernie Sanders, John Fetterman, and Ro Khanna are among those curious about the idea. That left-right overlap becomes the thread of the interview. Cohen keeps pushing past campaign talk and into the policy details. The guest says Trump is erratic and exaggerates, then circles back to the real question: where the money goes, what it buys, and whether that spending improves security. Saudi Arabia becomes the main example. The guest argues that unconditional U.S. support for Saudi policy, especially in Yemen, does not make Americans safer and may help drag the war out by keeping weapons and bombs flowing. The discussion also brings in the United Arab Emirates and the wider Gulf-state role in regional conflicts, from Yemen to Sudan and Libya. The larger point is that the old oil and intelligence logic still shapes policy, even if the guest sees the Gulf states as a net negative for U.S. security and Middle East security. The conversation closes on the anti military industrial side of the argument, with a final hope that any real cuts would start with the Pentagon's low-hanging fruit.

As heard by us

A budget fight that treats military waste as a democracy problem, not a talking point.

The discussion links military waste with Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the habits that keep poor policy in motion. Burt Cohen keeps the frame skeptical without losing balance, asking whether a Trump-led efficiency push, however erratic, could surface real Pentagon waste and even draw…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If you want a serious look at military waste and the odd left-right overlap around cutting it, this one goes straight there.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Economy Archives - KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show