Iran War Cost Tracker • Hacker News Board

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#321

Post by readitalready » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 10:19 PM UTC

lukan wrote: post #297

bdangubic wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

President Trump would hard disagree with you on that one

Fortunately he is not undisputed king of america, yet.

lol the Israelis would also disagree, otherwise they would have let the Palestinians live with them instead of literally going village-to-village, and door-to-door to forcibly remove the Palestinian residents or be killed if they didn't.

If the state of Israel doesn't believe in native rights, then you shouldn't believe in supporting their native rights either.

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#322

Post by throwaw12 » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 10:19 PM UTC

lukan wrote: post #282

readitalready wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no moral justification for Israel's right to exist. Israel does not have a right to exist. They exist purely as a foreign invasion force originally started by European Jews - who didn't even practice or believe in Judaism - in order to make their own private racist mediterranean resort state by killing the native people and stealing their land. What makes you think anyone would want support their existence o…

You do realize most Israelis were born there? Having a right to live where you are born is a pretty fundamental one.

> You do realize most Israelis were born there?

So do Palestinians. It wasn't an empty land, right?

> Having a right to live where you are born is a pretty fundamental one.

I don't think West Bank settlers agree with you on this

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#323

Post by karmakurtisaani » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 10:19 PM UTC

baxtr wrote: post #143

hedora wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone except the president is suggesting this will turn into a regional forever war.

The same "everyone" that said Ukraine will be taken in 2 weeks max? No one knows how this will end. Anyone claiming to is either lying or stupid or both.

This is not a good take. Obviously no one knows, but there very serious and good reasons to believe this will not end easily or well.

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#324

Post by anigbrowl » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 10:21 PM UTC

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.

I suggest that the US is putting its citizens at considerably more risk than they were in last week.

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#325

Post by 13415 » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 10:22 PM UTC

Paul_S wrote: post #182

Can we subtract the number of dollars that it would cost not to start a war?

We can't. That would require a carefully conducted cost-benefit analysis of potential outcomes including the costs and benefits of not starting it, with estimates for short-term (3 years), ten years, and twenty year outcomes. Such a study doesn't exist publicly and there is no way you can convince me it exists at all other than showing it to me with evidence that it was written before the US attacked Iran. It's also not usual to make such analyses because the costs of a human life lost are calculated very differently in each domain and are hard to assess. For instance, 13.7M per life is assumed in airline safety but that's not a figure the military would use.

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#326

Post by sva_ » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 10:22 PM UTC

lukan wrote: post #272

sva_ wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

Yeah my 2004 3-series BMW also still works, but if it broke down, I wouldn't think I lost the price that it originally cost.

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#327

Post by bdangubic » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 10:23 PM UTC

ikrenji wrote: post #116

cvoss wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

excuse me? the government's job is absolutely to maximize its ROI. I'm not paying taxes just for the money to be wasted

^ who is going to tell him…? :)

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#328

Post by s1artibartfast » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 10:23 PM UTC

nprz wrote: post #310

richardfeynman wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A falsifiable prediction. Thank you.

175 dead children is already far too much suffering and if you're incapable of understanding that you are operating with a fully broken moral compass.

I think it is a hard problem to discuss clearly, but it not automatically a deal breaker. What about 175 children vs 30,000 protesters? What about 30,000 protesters a year in perpetuity?

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#329

Post by karmakurtisaani » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 10:23 PM UTC

tzahifadida wrote: post #224

What would have happened if the US dis not get involved in WWII. We would probably not be here... Not everything is short sighted bean counters. Having major cities explode by nuclear devices in the US will surely cost more.

I'm sorry but this is a braindead take. Trump is exactly a short-sighted .. well not a bean counter since I doubt his ability to count. But short sighted for sure.

Thinking an Iranian nuke is threatening a US city is probably a Fox news talking point, so dogshit by definition.

Re: Iran War Cost Tracker

#330

Post by nitwit005 » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 10:24 PM UTC

lefstathiou wrote: post #19

bubblewand wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A carrier operating at sea on the other side of the world is a ton more expensive than a carrier in port at home. The Ford in particular would probably be in port now if not for these back-to-back expensive adventures, they’ve been deployed for a remarkably long time now. (As for whether this reflects only those added costs, I don’t know)

Carriers aren't meant to hang out at port at home. The US has protected global sea lanes for 80 years.

They haven't exactly been sending aircraft carriers after pirates. It's a huge excess of firepower for any traditional threat to shipping.

The US has liked to portray itself as the world's protector, but often that's just spin. The carriers are big weapons of war, meant for waging war.