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There’s Not Enough Money in the World for Trump’s Golden Dome

Joe Wilkins

created: Feb. 8, 2026, 3:30 p.m. | updated: Feb. 12, 2026, 2:38 a.m.

At $175 billion, Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system already came with an astonishing price tag. One of them, conducted by the conservative American Enterprise Institute, suggests that taxpayers could spend $3.6 trillion on the Golden Dome over the next 20 years, or $4.4 trillion adjusted for expected inflation. To put this in perspective, if we pooled all the physical money together in the US, it still wouldn’t be enough. Including currency outside the US Treasury and Federal Reserve Banks, there’s currently $2.43 trillion floating around the US — a far cry from what we’d need. Given that Trump’s geopolitical rivals, China and Russia, may have 750 ICBMs between them at the moment, we’re talking 1.2 million SBIs worth of ordinance to assure security.

3 days, 11 hours ago: Futurism