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You could make a strong case that the Vietnam War was a more significant error. Including Iraq and Afghanistan, the War On Terror cost about 6 times as much as

You could make a strong case that the Vietnam War was a more significant error. Including Iraq and Afghanistan, the War On Terror cost about 6 times as much as the Vietnam War, but Vietnam cost more in terms of American lives. I believe the Vietnam War inflicted greater damage to America's reputation and self-conception, and it ended in unconditional retreat after achieving none of its goals. https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-09-09/war-on-terror-could-be-costliest-yet https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-09-09/war-on-terro...

rmrfstar 6y ago
There is no single advisor, but I'd vote for the group of economists who drank so much of their own Kool-Aid they believed that offshoring all of our industrial capacity was a good idea.
- jointpdf 6y ago
  But think of the utils that you’re leaving on the table by not fully exploiting comparative advantage. /s
  - rmrfstar 6y ago
    Utility is actually a really useful framework, provided you've correctly specified your utility function. [1] "I've shipped my N95 production off-shore and there is a global pandemic" is the kind of thing economists leave out of their models. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann%E2%80%93Morgenstern_utility_theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann%E2%80%93Morgenster...
- JamisonM 6y ago
  The United States of America has a lot of remaining industrial capacity. All of the United States industrial capacity has not been off-shored. The United States of America has about 1/6th of the world's manufacturing output and the majority of the manufacturing output consumed within the United States is in fact produced within the United States.
  - akiselev 6y ago
    > The United States of America has about 1/6th of the world's manufacturing output and the majority of the manufacturing output consumed within the United States is in fact produced within the United States. Manufacturing output is measured using "manufacturing value added," which is the price the output is sold at minus the price of the input - raw materials, parts from other suppliers, tooling, etc. The United States has such a high "value add" because of cheap parts and raw materials sourced globally for overpriced products sold to the Armed Forces/DoD, the healthcare system, and a vast government/corporate bureaucracy with more money than sense. It's great to be high up in the value chain but claiming the wealthiest country has 1/6th of the world's manufacturing output because it has the most money to waste isn't accurate.
    - JamisonM 6y ago
      You should take a close look at what the US actually makes and then reconsider this opinion.
smoyer 6y ago
When I read the title, I was thinking of Henry Kissinger.
- parsimo2010 6y ago
  Kissinger is polarizing, but it’s hard to claim that he should be on a list of worst advisers. Half of the USA (well, half of those that know who he is) think he’s the greatest statesman who ever lived. He wasn’t perfect, but he probably kept the USA and Soviet Union from nuking each other, and Walmart might not exist without him because trade between the USA and China wouldn’t be the same without him.
  - whatshisface 6y ago
    Walmart was around long before China was the biggest US trade partner.
    - parsimo2010 6y ago
      Okay, Walmart might not exist as we know it because their main business model is to sell products at the lowest prices possible, which has caused most of their suppliers to manufacture in China. If it weren’t for Kissinger opening up relations with China then Walmart might not have become as huge as they are today or they would look very different.
      - whatshisface 6y ago
        In the universe without Kissinger, the lowest price would simply be a higher price... China didn't even invent low cost labor, it was Japan, Tiwan and Mexico, and if you go back far enough America itself, before them.
  - thundergolfer 6y ago
    > think he’s the greatest statesman who ever lived. But a significant amount of human rights lawyers maintain that he's a war criminal on a large-scale. When I've looked the facts myself, it seems undeniable that he's a war criminal. What are we to make of the praise for him from those half of Americans who know him? Would appreciate any links to what you think is the best case that Kissinger isn't a war criminal. The main defence provided in Kissinger's wikipedia is essentially "many other important people have done things just as bad as Kissinger", which is an offensively stupid defence.
pphysch 6y ago
Easily the Vietnam War over the Iraq War. The 70s were a turning point for the USA and much had to do with the enormous arrogance and carelessness of the SEA offensives.
BurningFrog 6y ago
At least the Vietnam war ended. The wars in this century seem eternal, despite also not reaching many goals.
georgeecollins 6y ago
You make a good point on the costs but the Iraq war did more to alienate the US's key allies. So much of the geopolitical strength of the US is from its web of alliances. So I would argue that Iraq did more to weaken the US.

rmrfstar 6y ago

There is no single advisor, but I'd vote for the group of economists who drank so much of their own Kool-Aid they believed that offshoring all of our industrial capacity was a good idea.

jointpdf 6y ago
But think of the utils that you’re leaving on the table by not fully exploiting comparative advantage. /s
- rmrfstar 6y ago
  Utility is actually a really useful framework, provided you've correctly specified your utility function. [1] "I've shipped my N95 production off-shore and there is a global pandemic" is the kind of thing economists leave out of their models. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann%E2%80%93Morgenstern_utility_theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann%E2%80%93Morgenster...
JamisonM 6y ago
The United States of America has a lot of remaining industrial capacity. All of the United States industrial capacity has not been off-shored. The United States of America has about 1/6th of the world's manufacturing output and the majority of the manufacturing output consumed within the United States is in fact produced within the United States.
- akiselev 6y ago
  > The United States of America has about 1/6th of the world's manufacturing output and the majority of the manufacturing output consumed within the United States is in fact produced within the United States. Manufacturing output is measured using "manufacturing value added," which is the price the output is sold at minus the price of the input - raw materials, parts from other suppliers, tooling, etc. The United States has such a high "value add" because of cheap parts and raw materials sourced globally for overpriced products sold to the Armed Forces/DoD, the healthcare system, and a vast government/corporate bureaucracy with more money than sense. It's great to be high up in the value chain but claiming the wealthiest country has 1/6th of the world's manufacturing output because it has the most money to waste isn't accurate.
  - JamisonM 6y ago
    You should take a close look at what the US actually makes and then reconsider this opinion.

smoyer 6y ago

When I read the title, I was thinking of Henry Kissinger.

parsimo2010 6y ago
Kissinger is polarizing, but it’s hard to claim that he should be on a list of worst advisers. Half of the USA (well, half of those that know who he is) think he’s the greatest statesman who ever lived. He wasn’t perfect, but he probably kept the USA and Soviet Union from nuking each other, and Walmart might not exist without him because trade between the USA and China wouldn’t be the same without him.
- whatshisface 6y ago
  Walmart was around long before China was the biggest US trade partner.
  - parsimo2010 6y ago
    Okay, Walmart might not exist as we know it because their main business model is to sell products at the lowest prices possible, which has caused most of their suppliers to manufacture in China. If it weren’t for Kissinger opening up relations with China then Walmart might not have become as huge as they are today or they would look very different.
    - whatshisface 6y ago
      In the universe without Kissinger, the lowest price would simply be a higher price... China didn't even invent low cost labor, it was Japan, Tiwan and Mexico, and if you go back far enough America itself, before them.
- thundergolfer 6y ago
  > think he’s the greatest statesman who ever lived. But a significant amount of human rights lawyers maintain that he's a war criminal on a large-scale. When I've looked the facts myself, it seems undeniable that he's a war criminal. What are we to make of the praise for him from those half of Americans who know him? Would appreciate any links to what you think is the best case that Kissinger isn't a war criminal. The main defence provided in Kissinger's wikipedia is essentially "many other important people have done things just as bad as Kissinger", which is an offensively stupid defence.

pphysch 6y ago

Easily the Vietnam War over the Iraq War. The 70s were a turning point for the USA and much had to do with the enormous arrogance and carelessness of the SEA offensives.

BurningFrog 6y ago

At least the Vietnam war ended. The wars in this century seem eternal, despite also not reaching many goals.

georgeecollins 6y ago

You make a good point on the costs but the Iraq war did more to alienate the US's key allies. So much of the geopolitical strength of the US is from its web of alliances. So I would argue that Iraq did more to weaken the US.