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you're wrong about the private waste, I'm angry about it also but I can't do anything about that. But as a tax payer in the top 2% in the US I am justified in my anger towards the US govt wasting tax payer dollars shooting AIM-9x in F-22s to blow up balloons.

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Was there a more cost effective way to shoot down the balloon? Is there any actual competition in the missile industry?

I read the story about the F-18 shooting down a balloon with its gun, but it's also expensive to fly and maintain such a jet.

…not shooting it down in the first place.

If a balloon really is operated by someone attempting to spy on sensitive military installations, it makes financial sense to shoot it down. It's cheaper to spend 400k on a missile than to have your adversary learn something they shouldn't.

If the federal budget is $2T and if you paid $100K of that in taxes, your contribution to a $400k wasted missile is two cents. I might suggest that two cents does not justify very much anger.

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