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The US did not spend $1 trillion per year. We spent $1 trillion over 20 years. The cost per year since 2012 was about $50B.
by bpodgursky 5y ago
The US did not spend $1 trillion per year. We spent $1 trillion over 20 years. The cost per year since 2012 was about $50B.
- lotsofpulp 5y agohttps://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/figures/2021/Human%20and%20Budgetary%20Costs%20of%20Afghan%20War%2C%202001-2021.pdf https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/figures/2... > Since invading Afghanistan in 2001, the United States has spent $2.26 trillion on the war, which includes operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Note that this total does not include funds that the United States government is obligated to spend on lifetime care for American veterans of this war, nor does it include future interest payments on money borrowed to fund the war. And even if it is $50B per year, I do not see why the US should spend it unless it we should also be spending $50B per year in Somalia and Congo and wherever else is needed.
- bpodgursky 5y agoThe lead infographic explicitly includes interest payments. Either way, this is tangental to what I said, which is that we are spending $50B per year now, which is accurate: https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/09/12/the-annual-cost-of-the-war-in-afghanistan-since-2001-infographic/?sh=567e60191971 https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/09/12/the-an...
- lotsofpulp 5y agoThe distinction is future interest payments.
- bpodgursky 5y agoBy that definition, any federal spending at all has infinite cost, because the national debt is never going to get repaid — it just compounds forever.