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Leftists and black activists were also against the Vietnam War. The arguments were far less about the monetary value in that case, though.
by ebiester 3y ago
Leftists and black activists were also against the Vietnam War.
The arguments were far less about the monetary value in that case, though.
- somenameforme 3y agoThis is true but, in general, I don't think it should be. One can moralize endlessly about war. Even in this thread you can see somebody arguing that the Vietnam war couldn't have been that bad because it was against communism, which he thinks should always be opposed. And one cannot say he's wrong - it's an opinion. By contrast a trillion dollars is a trillion dollars. And I think almost nobody could argue, in good faith, that near to any war is worth a trillion dollars. That's more than $7,500 per household in the US. That sort of money, for some sort of vague geopolitical ambition, is just beyond absurd. And the thing is, even when we initially claim that this war or that will "only" cost some billions of dollars, they all go this way. Iraq "according to every analyst" was supposed to cost about $80 billion and last 2 years. 4 years later, the Congressional Budget Office estimated its cost to be about $2.4 trillion. That value is also not adjusted for inflation. These wars all around the world are just such an unbelievably tremendous waste of money. They have this magic trick that even Houdini couldn't hold a candle to - they can take trillions of dollars and just make it all disappear, with absolutely nothing to show for it. Nobody could ever rationalize this into being a good thing. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident