Col#281- 5/1/26
THE COST OF WAR
By
Richard Davis
The war in Iran is merely an expression of the deranged ego of the United States President. There may never be such a thing as a good or justified war, but the military action in Iran makes no sense from a military, economic or political perspective. Then there is the obscene amount of money that this country is spending to do something that very few people believe should even be happening.
The U.S. has spent $51 billion in the first 28 days of the Iran war. Where is this money coming from and how will this ridiculous spending affect other government programs? According to the Institute for Policy Studies, “Daily operations in and around Iran for these major military systems are costing taxpayers an estimated $59.39 million per day. That $59.39 million a day could instead cover the daily costs of Medicaid for more than four million Americans, or SNAP (food stamps) for more than 9.5 million Americans. Both programs were subject to significant cuts under last year’s H.R. 1, with millions of Americans at risk of going hungry and without healthcare as a result.”
Secretary of “War” Hegseth tried to justify the cost of this war to congress by perpetuating the lies that have been used to promote it. Iran is decades away from building a nuclear bomb. There never was an immediate threat requiring international action. No matter what crap the administration throws out, Iran does not represent a threat to world peace.
World peace is now threatened because of the action of Trump and his sycophants. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is in turmoil. That situation is having a direct effect on the pocketbook of most Americans as the cost of gasoline and home heating oil rises to record levels. The pain of this cost is not worth a false war created by a madman.
The U.S. is sending out hundreds of costly missiles and weapons of war on a daily basis. It is worth considering how much these weapons of mass destruction cost. One Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile costs $1.5 million. Each flight hour of a B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber Sortie costs $4.5 million. One SM-3 Block IIA Interceptor costs $36 million.
Carrier Strike Group Operations cost $15 million per day per group. Each GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator costs $3.5 million. Every flight hour of an F-35A Lightning II Sortie
costs $42,000.
While we spend this money, 22 million people will be losing health insurance because of budget cuts. One day of the war could cover over 23,000 Americans for a year. At over 771,000, the U.S. has a record high number of homeless people. There are over 32,000 homeless veterans. Three days of the war, $442 million, could end veteran homelessness.
If you put all of these numbers into perspective, realizing that the Iran war should have never happened, it is clear the U.S. administration has no concern for the value of human life.
The fat cats are running the show and they have been allowed to have free reign over the U.S treasury.
Morality, ethics and common sense have no place in the world of Trump, ruining the lives of all of the rest of us.
