It certainly wasn't built on defense spending alone. But after a phrase like "I’ve always believed that government tends to screw up whatever it touches", he comes across as a bit silly.

It's quite arguable that government (i.e. the US Federal one) has gotten a lot less competent as of late, compared to the post-WWII through the '50s period. He's only 40, the government he's directly experienced is much later than the Silicon Valley seeding period we're talking about.

There are a whole lot of things you could (and people do) argue. Doing so is probably best left to other sites, but I guess I just don't like those sorts of statements. The government screws some things up, just like it gets some things right. Same goes for people and companies.