4 ms·

Given 50 million schoolkids in the US and a cost per meal per child of $4, the current number represents 10 meals. At 1 meal a day that would be 2 school weeks,

Given 50 million schoolkids in the US and a cost per meal per child of $4, the current number represents 10 meals. At 1 meal a day that would be 2 school weeks, at 2 meals a day that would be 1 school week.

sheikhnbake 7mo ago
2 school weeks of lunches for less than a week of war costs is a pretty good argument for school lunches. Especially as costs of this start to balloon the longer it goes on.
roughly 7mo ago
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.
- cvoss 7mo ago
  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.
  - roughly 7mo ago
    Then surely universal health care, strict anti-pollution measures, and worker safety efforts are next on the list, alongside access to healthy food and efforts to reduce the number of miles the average person needs to drive daily.
    - mhb 7mo ago
      Surely? It's far from clear that the benefits of these initiatives would be net positive.
      - roughly 7mo ago
        The poster above asserted maximizing ROI wasn't a goal - that, and I quote: > protecting its citizens is of extreme moral importance Given the number of our citizens that die from, eg, preventable diseases, that seems like a far, far higher moral call than a war against Iran.
  - ikrenji 7mo ago
    excuse me? the government's job is absolutely to maximize its ROI. I'm not paying taxes just for the money to be wasted
    - bdangubic 7mo ago
      ^ who is going to tell him…? :)
  - sheikhnbake 7mo ago
    It's less about maximizing ROI and more about proper stewardship of resources taken by or provided to the government.
  - throwaw12 7mo ago
    > protecting its citizens is of extreme moral importance If you are relating protecting citizens with current situation, NO country dares to attack US citizens in the US soil. US, at this time, doesn't need to protect its citizens, especially in the US, from attacks by other nations, 0, none. No threat.
    - karmakurtisaani 7mo ago
      On the contrary, by starting this war the government kmjust made terrorist attacks more likely. It's laughably naive to think this dumbfuck war has anything to do with Trump caring about regular Americans.
  - tstrimple 7mo ago
    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.
  - anigbrowl 7mo ago
    I suggest that the US is putting its citizens at considerably more risk than they were in last week.
- hedora 7mo ago
  Everyone except the president is suggesting this will turn into a regional forever war.
  - mothballed 7mo ago
    It already was a regional forever war. The US just decided to partake in the festivities.
  - baxtr 7mo ago
    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.
    - hedora 7mo ago
      I'd be curious to know what group thought that Ukraine would be taken in 2 weeks, but also thinks that the Iranian war will be a quagmire. Either they have a lot of information I'm missing, are complete idiots, or are being dishonest.
      - baxtr 7mo ago
        You’re missing my point. No one can know at this stage. It’s called fog of war. Those who pretend offer easy explanations because people crave easy answers. It’s not satisfying to say: "it’s very complex, we can’t know, here are the odds". But that’s the current state of affairs.
        hedora 7mo ago
        There's zero chance the US/Israel will win this war and stop 100% of their military actions in the next 8 weeks. 8 weeks is the absolute upper bound of the estimates from the officials of both countries. The officials are clearly lying.
    - karmakurtisaani 7mo ago
      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.
- s1artibartfast 7mo ago
  99% of school lunches have zero ROI. Parents can provide them just fine.
TFYS 7mo ago
Those meals would most likely help a lot of kids become healthy productive members of society. That money would be saved by the families of those kids and used in other parts of the economy. A lot of the cost would therefore be returned. The money spent of this war is producing only destruction.
beepbooptheory 7mo ago
When would it ever be 2 meals a day?
- BJones12 7mo ago
  With a school breakfast program and a school lunch program.
throwaw12 7mo ago
2 weeks of meal for every school kid in the US! Can you imagine the scale of this number? 3 days of war vs 2 week of meal for every school kid Now do the math for Afghan war, probably US could have easily cancelled 70% of loan for every college grad, or could've been built large rail network
- hedora 7mo ago
  The Sentinel ICBM project (already at 2x initial budget, and set to balloon further) will be the most expensive project since the interstate freeway system was built. https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/02/the-air-forces-new-icbm-is-nearly-ready-to-fly-but-theres-nowhere-to-put-them/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/02/the-air-forces-new-icb... So, an all-city high-speed rail network would certainly be achievable for a small fraction of the total US military budget.
  - ikrenji 7mo ago
    well yeah. the pentagon wastes 1 trilly per year. a lot of stuff can be paid for with that kind of money.
    - cogman10 7mo ago
      Like Medicare, Medicaid, and social security. The fact that all three are looking at cuts and reductions while this war is fully funded is the major problem with America.
- JKCalhoun 7mo ago
  That is the thing that is the most disappointing—that we could have had it so much better.
amelius 7mo ago
How many subsidized meals would it represent if you only account for the kids that need one?
- roughly 7mo ago
  Honestly, a lot of these programs become substantially more expensive when you add the bureaucracy and hoops required by means testing. The economics are easier if you just give kids food and skip sorting out whether they deserve it or not.

sheikhnbake 7mo ago

2 school weeks of lunches for less than a week of war costs is a pretty good argument for school lunches. Especially as costs of this start to balloon the longer it goes on.

roughly 7mo ago

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.

cvoss 7mo ago
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.
- roughly 7mo ago
  Then surely universal health care, strict anti-pollution measures, and worker safety efforts are next on the list, alongside access to healthy food and efforts to reduce the number of miles the average person needs to drive daily.
  - mhb 7mo ago
    Surely? It's far from clear that the benefits of these initiatives would be net positive.
    - roughly 7mo ago
      The poster above asserted maximizing ROI wasn't a goal - that, and I quote: > protecting its citizens is of extreme moral importance Given the number of our citizens that die from, eg, preventable diseases, that seems like a far, far higher moral call than a war against Iran.
- ikrenji 7mo ago
  excuse me? the government's job is absolutely to maximize its ROI. I'm not paying taxes just for the money to be wasted
  - bdangubic 7mo ago
    ^ who is going to tell him…? :)
- sheikhnbake 7mo ago
  It's less about maximizing ROI and more about proper stewardship of resources taken by or provided to the government.
- throwaw12 7mo ago
  > protecting its citizens is of extreme moral importance If you are relating protecting citizens with current situation, NO country dares to attack US citizens in the US soil. US, at this time, doesn't need to protect its citizens, especially in the US, from attacks by other nations, 0, none. No threat.
  - karmakurtisaani 7mo ago
    On the contrary, by starting this war the government kmjust made terrorist attacks more likely. It's laughably naive to think this dumbfuck war has anything to do with Trump caring about regular Americans.
- tstrimple 7mo ago
  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.
- anigbrowl 7mo ago
  I suggest that the US is putting its citizens at considerably more risk than they were in last week.
hedora 7mo ago
Everyone except the president is suggesting this will turn into a regional forever war.
- mothballed 7mo ago
  It already was a regional forever war. The US just decided to partake in the festivities.
- baxtr 7mo ago
  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.
  - hedora 7mo ago
    I'd be curious to know what group thought that Ukraine would be taken in 2 weeks, but also thinks that the Iranian war will be a quagmire. Either they have a lot of information I'm missing, are complete idiots, or are being dishonest.
    - baxtr 7mo ago
      You’re missing my point. No one can know at this stage. It’s called fog of war. Those who pretend offer easy explanations because people crave easy answers. It’s not satisfying to say: "it’s very complex, we can’t know, here are the odds". But that’s the current state of affairs.
      - hedora 7mo ago
        There's zero chance the US/Israel will win this war and stop 100% of their military actions in the next 8 weeks. 8 weeks is the absolute upper bound of the estimates from the officials of both countries. The officials are clearly lying.
  - karmakurtisaani 7mo ago
    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.
s1artibartfast 7mo ago
99% of school lunches have zero ROI. Parents can provide them just fine.

TFYS 7mo ago

Those meals would most likely help a lot of kids become healthy productive members of society. That money would be saved by the families of those kids and used in other parts of the economy. A lot of the cost would therefore be returned. The money spent of this war is producing only destruction.

beepbooptheory 7mo ago

When would it ever be 2 meals a day?

BJones12 7mo ago
With a school breakfast program and a school lunch program.

throwaw12 7mo ago

2 weeks of meal for every school kid in the US! Can you imagine the scale of this number? 3 days of war vs 2 week of meal for every school kid Now do the math for Afghan war, probably US could have easily cancelled 70% of loan for every college grad, or could've been built large rail network

hedora 7mo ago
The Sentinel ICBM project (already at 2x initial budget, and set to balloon further) will be the most expensive project since the interstate freeway system was built. https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/02/the-air-forces-new-icbm-is-nearly-ready-to-fly-but-theres-nowhere-to-put-them/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/02/the-air-forces-new-icb... So, an all-city high-speed rail network would certainly be achievable for a small fraction of the total US military budget.
- ikrenji 7mo ago
  well yeah. the pentagon wastes 1 trilly per year. a lot of stuff can be paid for with that kind of money.
  - cogman10 7mo ago
    Like Medicare, Medicaid, and social security. The fact that all three are looking at cuts and reductions while this war is fully funded is the major problem with America.
JKCalhoun 7mo ago
That is the thing that is the most disappointing—that we could have had it so much better.

amelius 7mo ago

How many subsidized meals would it represent if you only account for the kids that need one?

roughly 7mo ago
Honestly, a lot of these programs become substantially more expensive when you add the bureaucracy and hoops required by means testing. The economics are easier if you just give kids food and skip sorting out whether they deserve it or not.