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Iran War Cost Tracker

iran-cost-ticker.com

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271–280 of 486 posts

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#271

Post by tstrimple »

cvoss wrote: post #85
roughly wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've been at this for 2.5 days, and the president is suggesting this could last a month or more. I suspect the long term ROI on free school lunches is going to far exceed that of this war, as well.

The government's job is not to maximize its ROI. For example, (and I make no argument about whether the current situation does this), protecting its citizens is of extreme moral importance, even if it's very very expensive and unlikely to somehow feed back into the economy in a way that recoups the cost long term.

It's all about government efficiency for some folks until the time comes do drop bombs on girls schools. Then there is no need for ROI or smart spending.

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#272

Post by lukan »

sva_ wrote: post #92
bawolff wrote: post #4

Wouldn't some of these costs be present either way? Without a war US would still have aircraft carriers, they would just be floating somewhere else. On the other side, it seems like this is not tracking interceptor costs (presumably due to it being classified), which have certainly been used extensively and are extremely expensive. For that matter i doubt we have a very clear picture of how much ordinance has been us…

Also, the taking the production/purchasing cost of some F15s that were 25 - 35 years old doesn't make a whole lot of sense, or does it?

They still work, if they get shot down, you will have to pay to replace them. (also using them is expensive and causes wear, especially under the stress of real action, where the limits are pushed)

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#273

Post by underdeserver »

throwaw12 wrote: post #87

This doesn't include generational damage in sentiment: * Europe is in trouble because they can't get gas from Russia, Qatar stopped supplying gas * Japan is in trouble because Middle East supplies its 75% of oil, which is blocked now * Ukraine is in dilemma, because US giving every support to Israel, but not to Ukraine * Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain is asking questions, if US can't defend us and is moving all defensiv…

> Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain is asking questions, if US can't defend us and is moving all defensive missiles to protect Israel, why should we even be ally with them

Where are you getting this information? The UAE, for instance, is relying heavily on missile defense - and it's working out for them:

https://gulfnews.com/uae/uae-intercepts-186-ballistic-missil...

It's all US technology, too:

https://www.wired.me/story/inside-the-system-that-intercepte...

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#274

Post by throwaw12 »

flyinglizard wrote: post #255
chmod775 wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> values align with those of the US Some values those are. Yikes.

More chances than not that you live in a country that benefitted from the American propensity to do the right thing, even at a huge cost to itself. Yes we have a different and more selfish America now, but all said, America still protects the world order that allows this conversation to exist.

we don't need good boys, we need good laws where everyone is equal and punished equally for violating the common moral principles, e.g. for being a pedophile

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#275

Post by deaddodo »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #147
SauntSolaire wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's quite humorous to try and factor in opportunity costs for aircraft carriers, "but we could be bombing someone else!"

Doing actual bombing is more costing than just patrolling relatively peaceful seas, no?

Yes, but not at the cost of the construction of an Aircraft Carrier. This is why the military uses "operational costs" (fuel, munitions, activated duty pay, equipment losses, etc) to factor the cost, not the total amount of every dollar ever spent to build+sustain a military force.

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#276

Post by collinmcnulty »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #89
roughly wrote: post #6

Next time someone asks how we're going to pay for, eg, free school lunches, keep this site in mind.

The question is fundamentally poorly formed, and as a consequence, so is the rebuttal. A state can pay for anything, since it doesn't have to be in a budget surplus. Household budget analogies emerge any time someone wants to limit spending, or criticize spending, but one of the biggest points of Wealth of Nations (which is the foundation for modern macroeconomics) is that the budget of a state is fundamentally diffe…

This is not exactly true on the scale of these interventions. The state can't run out of money but it does run out of the time and talent of its people, the resources of its land, and the patience of its partners. State capacity is a real limit, and where we direct the money is a pretty strong proxy for where we spend these, the true resources of the state. We don't pay for bombs with dollars, we pay for them with schools, roads, and hospitals.

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#277

Post by lukan »

adventured wrote: post #187
ripvanwinkle wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

because it worked out for North Korea

Nobody was desperate to invade North Korea prior to their acquisition of nukes. It's a horrific war field and combat prospect. Iraq and Afghanistan were each a cakewalk next to going into North Korea (again). North Korea was safe as they were. The primary threat to Gaddafi over time was internal, nukes would not have protected him. What was he going to do, nuke his own territory? The same was true for Assad. The prim…

"The primary threat to Gaddafi over time was internal, nukes would not have protected him. What was he going to do, nuke his own territory? The same was true for Assad."

Have you checked, how many outside interventions both countries had and still have?

Labelling this as "internal" is pretty missleading. If both dictators would have had nuclear weapons ready to launch, no foreign bomber would have dared going in against the regime.

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#279

Post by lukan »

jklinger410 wrote: post #155
throwaw12 wrote: post #87

This doesn't include generational damage in sentiment: * Europe is in trouble because they can't get gas from Russia, Qatar stopped supplying gas * Japan is in trouble because Middle East supplies its 75% of oil, which is blocked now * Ukraine is in dilemma, because US giving every support to Israel, but not to Ukraine * Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain is asking questions, if US can't defend us and is moving all defensiv…

I think citizens in those countries recognize that allowing a repressive regime to exist simply for cheap oil costs is not necessarily a good solution, either.

Because they all live themself in repressive regimes?

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#280

Post by 13415 »

throwway120385 wrote: post #128
slg wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People should be able to separate the man from his politics and look at this apolitically. I don't see how anyone can see the way his speech patterns have changed over the years and not conclude that he has had a sharp cognitive decline. It's baffling that we don't talk about it, especially after we just went through this with Biden and had the whole retrospective about how that was ignored. Now here we are doing the…

See, it's okay if it's the person you voted for and he's doing things you like. But when it's someone you didn't vote for and you don't like what he's doing then the cognitive decline is suddenly a huge problem.

I understand that you're making some political statement about the voters but it has to be pointed out the mental health of a president is a problem or not a problem independently of what the voters think. Sorry for pointing out the obvious, it just seems to me that many people nowadays fall into some kind of polarization trap that hinders their understanding of the world.
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