You have to keep inflation in mind. 550 would be 450 2019 dollars.
MDCCCLV
Not really a countermeasure, but the scalping certainly proved that there is a lot of people willing to buy their stuff at high prices.
The article is wrong. You don't need high growth, any amount of growth more than 0 over a long time frame will inevitably see a civilization spread throughout the galaxy. If there was a civilization a hundred million years old in our galaxy it would be noticeable.
Sulfur cools the planet but not by shading, it's more similar to how CO2 acts but in reverse.
That's not really relevant. Fine particulate emissions from coal power plants, which are already mostly gone in the US but are still used around the world, don't travel a really long distance.
F35 is guaranteed to be better than a "6th generation" Chinese plane and they can be upgraded anyway. And it's actually very successful now with a very cheap per plane cost.
It's more about sensors and communication, there's no reason you can't have f35 use drones and stuff. But the better plane will see and target the enemy first. And it can operate without GPS. In other words it's better to have 3000 f35s flying missions plus a bunch of drones. Being able to deliver a lot of firepower first is a huge deal.
This is just fake propaganda.
That's not how proof works.
All the rules have been exposed as toothless and being reliant on acting earnestly in good faith. It really doesn't work in a partisan environment and it wasn't built for a two party system.
They hire literally everyone, including people that don't normally ever work that type of job. Only like a third stay after the first week. And it's still more money than fast food.
As always, buying a used previous gen flagship is the best value.