3 ms·

I don't want to waste money bombing Iran either, but the total cost of the operation has been $37.5 billion. Meanwhile, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security

by rayiner 3mo ago

I don't want to waste money bombing Iran either, but the total cost of the operation has been $37.5 billion. Meanwhile, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security each grew around $100 billion in the last year.

toomuchtodo 3mo ago
Direct costs are ~$113B as of June 16th, 2026 (per the Pentagon's briefing to Congress, counter stopped on that date): https://iran-cost-ticker.com/ https://iran-cost-ticker.com/ Iran War Cost Tracker - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47237080 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47237080 - March 2026 (446 comments) Pentagon Tells Congress First Week of Iran War Cost More Than $11.3 Billion - https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/world/middleeast/iran-war-costs-pentagon.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/world/middleeast/iran-war... | https://archive.today/Q4oDX https://archive.today/Q4oDX - March 11th, 2026 Consumer energy excess cost burden is ~$76B as of this comment (indirect regressive consumer tax): https://iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu/ https://iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu/ > Meanwhile, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security each grew around $100 billion in the last year. While we should be efficient with these programs, that's what government is for, and what I pay US federal taxes for: to take care of my fellow citizens. Not to bomb innocent people with overpriced military industrial complex hardware on the other side of the world for illegitimate reasons (F-35 program costs now exceed $2T, for example). https://usafacts.org/government-spending/ https://usafacts.org/government-spending/ Pentagon Fails Eighth Audit, Eyes 2028 Turnaround - https://www.military.com/feature/2025/12/24/pentagon-fails-eighth-audit-eyes-2028-turnaround.html https://www.military.com/feature/2025/12/24/pentagon-fails-e... - December 24th, 2025 Annual net interest on debt is ~$900B/year, as of this comment; we could replace Medicare and Medicaid with Medicare for All for ~$2T/year, which would contribute to constraining healthcare spending increases: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48666290 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48666290. It is an active choice to continue to operate the entire system inefficiently; we could make other, better choices. The inefficiency and debt growth is a result of operating the system for entrenched interests to profit off of the dysfunction.
- rayiner 3mo ago
  [flagged]
  - itsdesmond 3mo ago
    They uh… they were open. They were open before we started bombing. We bomb because we bombed. As a consequence of us murdering we are murdering. > "American" is a label for a group of consumers living within a defined border, who want to get their oil and foreign goods shipped to that location. Holy shit.
  - deleted 3mo ago
    [deleted]
- halJordan 3mo ago
  A common conceit in these arguments is that you have sole ownership to "what a government is for." Which implicitly denies the opposite argument without addressing it, and attempts to legitimize your own. But social service outlays are absolutely, incontrovertibly a huge & increasing reason for the deficit. All the doge/ Trump/project 2025 cuts have paled in the face of the absolute juggernaut that is domestic spending. And then you realize that state govts spend as much money as the federal govt, while having absolutely no defense budget at all. For you to deny that social spending is problem (especially for what it does buy) totally denigrates you and your position.
  - Jcowell 3mo ago
    What does it buy
    - rayiner 3mo ago
      Much less for the money than in western europe--even when limiting the analysis to systems like schools and transit that are publicly operated in both places.
      - 3mo ago
malvim 3mo ago
Except these programs keep your people alive and healthy and able to work and consume and live. The other money just kills people. And it’s also not just about this “operation” (aggression war). It’s about the whole military budget. Come on, now.
- rayiner 3mo ago
  > It’s about the whole military budget. I also thought that the military budget was too big... in 1998. But in 2026, Europe is raising defense spending targets to 3.5% of GDP, which is more than what the U.S. spends: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyz4nq91wpo https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyz4nq91wpo It turns out that, if the U.S. isn't willing to guarantee your security, you have to spend 3-5% of GDP on defense (just like Europe used to do before 1990). As the U.S. loses hegemony and we move to a multi-polar world, everyone's military budgets will go up.
TimorousBestie 3mo ago
[RETRACTED]
- rayiner 3mo ago
  You have me confused with someone else. This was me 3 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47986799 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47986799 > If American foreign policy was rational, we wouldn’t have been involved in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and now Iran. Not to mention Somalia, Kosovo, and Libya, and countless minor skirmishes. We’ve been throwing kids into the meat grinder for 75 years, and lighting dollars on fire, for no good reason. There’s no reason for us to light money on fire having bases all over the world, when we have two huge oceans to protect us.
  - TimorousBestie 3mo ago
    Fair enough, I retract my earlier comment. That's not an inconsistent position to hold. My apologies.
    - rayiner 3mo ago
      Thank you.

by rayiner 3mo ago

toomuchtodo 3mo ago

Direct costs are ~$113B as of June 16th, 2026 (per the Pentagon's briefing to Congress, counter stopped on that date): https://iran-cost-ticker.com/ https://iran-cost-ticker.com/ Iran War Cost Tracker - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47237080 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47237080 - March 2026 (446 comments) Pentagon Tells Congress First Week of Iran War Cost More Than $11.3 Billion - https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/world/middleeast/iran-war-costs-pentagon.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/world/middleeast/iran-war... | https://archive.today/Q4oDX https://archive.today/Q4oDX - March 11th, 2026 Consumer energy excess cost burden is ~$76B as of this comment (indirect regressive consumer tax): https://iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu/ https://iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu/ > Meanwhile, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security each grew around $100 billion in the last year. While we should be efficient with these programs, that's what government is for, and what I pay US federal taxes for: to take care of my fellow citizens. Not to bomb innocent people with overpriced military industrial complex hardware on the other side of the world for illegitimate reasons (F-35 program costs now exceed $2T, for example). https://usafacts.org/government-spending/ https://usafacts.org/government-spending/ Pentagon Fails Eighth Audit, Eyes 2028 Turnaround - https://www.military.com/feature/2025/12/24/pentagon-fails-eighth-audit-eyes-2028-turnaround.html https://www.military.com/feature/2025/12/24/pentagon-fails-e... - December 24th, 2025 Annual net interest on debt is ~$900B/year, as of this comment; we could replace Medicare and Medicaid with Medicare for All for ~$2T/year, which would contribute to constraining healthcare spending increases: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48666290 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48666290. It is an active choice to continue to operate the entire system inefficiently; we could make other, better choices. The inefficiency and debt growth is a result of operating the system for entrenched interests to profit off of the dysfunction.

rayiner 3mo ago
[flagged]
- itsdesmond 3mo ago
  They uh… they were open. They were open before we started bombing. We bomb because we bombed. As a consequence of us murdering we are murdering. > "American" is a label for a group of consumers living within a defined border, who want to get their oil and foreign goods shipped to that location. Holy shit.
- deleted 3mo ago
  [deleted]
halJordan 3mo ago
A common conceit in these arguments is that you have sole ownership to "what a government is for." Which implicitly denies the opposite argument without addressing it, and attempts to legitimize your own. But social service outlays are absolutely, incontrovertibly a huge & increasing reason for the deficit. All the doge/ Trump/project 2025 cuts have paled in the face of the absolute juggernaut that is domestic spending. And then you realize that state govts spend as much money as the federal govt, while having absolutely no defense budget at all. For you to deny that social spending is problem (especially for what it does buy) totally denigrates you and your position.
- Jcowell 3mo ago
  What does it buy
  - rayiner 3mo ago
    Much less for the money than in western europe--even when limiting the analysis to systems like schools and transit that are publicly operated in both places.
    - 3mo ago

malvim 3mo ago

Except these programs keep your people alive and healthy and able to work and consume and live. The other money just kills people. And it’s also not just about this “operation” (aggression war). It’s about the whole military budget. Come on, now.

rayiner 3mo ago
> It’s about the whole military budget. I also thought that the military budget was too big... in 1998. But in 2026, Europe is raising defense spending targets to 3.5% of GDP, which is more than what the U.S. spends: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyz4nq91wpo https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyz4nq91wpo It turns out that, if the U.S. isn't willing to guarantee your security, you have to spend 3-5% of GDP on defense (just like Europe used to do before 1990). As the U.S. loses hegemony and we move to a multi-polar world, everyone's military budgets will go up.

TimorousBestie 3mo ago

[RETRACTED]

rayiner 3mo ago
You have me confused with someone else. This was me 3 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47986799 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47986799 > If American foreign policy was rational, we wouldn’t have been involved in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and now Iran. Not to mention Somalia, Kosovo, and Libya, and countless minor skirmishes. We’ve been throwing kids into the meat grinder for 75 years, and lighting dollars on fire, for no good reason. There’s no reason for us to light money on fire having bases all over the world, when we have two huge oceans to protect us.
- TimorousBestie 3mo ago
  Fair enough, I retract my earlier comment. That's not an inconsistent position to hold. My apologies.
  - rayiner 3mo ago
    Thank you.