The US goes to War

[KaraBulut]

Fortune Magazine has a very pessimistic article on their website about the negative economic impacts of the Iran mess. They are estimating that the impacts on the oil market alone would have a negative impact on the US economy to tune of between $65 billion to $210 billion.

Trump’s strikes on Iran could cost American economy as much as $210 billion, top budget expert says | Fortune

“One problem I have with cost-of-war calculations is that they really do ignore the counterfactual,” Kent Smetters of the Penn Wharton Budget Model told Fortune.

fortune.com

Trump’s strikes on Iran could cost American economy as much as $210 billion, top budget expert says

As the United States enters day four of Operation Epic Fury—its sweeping military campaign against Iran, launched in partnership with Israel—the financial toll on American taxpayers is beginning to come into focus for budget watchers on the Beltway and in academia. According to Kent Smetters, director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM) and one of the nation’s foremost fiscal analysts, the total economic cost of the strikes could reach as high as $210 billion.

Smetters, whose model is widely used in Washington, D.C., to analyze the fiscal and macroeconomic effects of federal policy, has Beltway policy chops including a stint as an economist at the Congressional Budget Office and as deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the U.S. Treasury. He has advised Congress on dynamic scoring, and consults with policymakers from both parties on major tax and spending legislation. Smetters has described PWBM as a “sandbox” for legislators to workshop economic policy ideas.

The smallest number he gave to Fortune when asked about the cost of Epic Fury to taxpayers was $40 billion, for the smallest estimate of the direct budgetary cost, in a range that goes up to $95 billion. He said PWBM assumes more upside risk in the Epic Fury scenario, so a $65 billion direct hit to taxpayers is the likely cost for direct military operations as well as the replacement of equipment, munitions, and other supplies. “If the war lasts more than two months, then this number goes up,” he added.

One of the liberal think tanks has started crunching the numbers. Congress didn't approve Trump's Iran folly, so there's no money allocated for it. The Congress - after the fact - is going to have to do a supplemental bill to authorize the money that Trump already spent. Trump's burn rate is about $1 billion per day, so he's already about $5 billion in the hole.

The stupidity began a couple of weeks ago when Trump- who had moved military assets from the middle east to the Caribbean for his last folly in Venezuela- ordered the same assets back to the middle east at an estimated cost of $630 million dollars.

The Trump Administration’s Reckless War in Iran Has Already Cost More Than $5 Billion

The Trump administration has launched a reckless war of choice in the Middle East, which has already imposed an estimated cost of more than $5 billion on the American taxpayer.

www.americanprogress.org

The war also comes at a significant financial cost to the American taxpayer. In a March 2 press conference, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine provided a glimpse into the nature of operations thus far in Operation Epic Fury. Caine described the deployment of more than 100 aircraft, the use of Tomahawk missiles, and attacks on more than 1,000 targets in just the first day of operations. Utilizing Brown University’s “Costs of War” project cost estimates of previous operations in the region—including Operation Midnight Hammer against Iran last June and engaging the Houthis in Yemen—it is likely that the operations Caine described alone would cost more than $4 billion.

But these are not the only costs. Elaine McCusker, a former Pentagon official in the first Trump administration, estimated the costs of repositioning forces in the Middle East to be around $630 million even prior to the start of hostilities. On March 2, Kuwaiti forces accidentally shot down three F-15 fighter jets in a friendly-fire incident. As these aircraft can cost as much as $117 million, this translates to an estimated total loss of $351 million. Added to the operations Caine described, a conservative estimate for the initial costs of Operation Epic Fury is more than $5 billion as of March 2—and the campaign is just getting started.

The same think tank points out that a single Tomahawk missile costs about $2.2 million which is enough to cover the cost of 775 children on Medicaid for 12 months... or it would pay for school lunches for 3,600 children in public schools.

 

[cityboy-stl]

We'll see how this plays out. They will just be shifting the responsibility to Iran's leader being the agent of the anti-christ which I am sure will go down a treat among the nihilist cultists.

They are the ones claiming they're doing this war to bring Jesus back. Shifting the blame to Iran's leader is not going to change the fact that we are the one's dropping the bombs. This is already spiraling out of control. They think they're on some mission, some crusade for Jesus based on their interpretation of Bible prophecy. I'm trying to point out they haven't thought it through, and they are doing what their own theology about that prophecy says it is what the antichrist does, if I was not clear. Just remember, if you follow the narrative of that prophecy through to what happens next, it involves nuclear weapons. They will not hesitate to nuke millions of people if they think they can force Jesus to come back by doing it. And they're delusional enough to think "Nukes for God" is the right thing.

There's little bible verse I've been using a lot lately. It is, when Jesus warned his disciples as they were going out into the world to preach his real message of "love they neighbor" and "do unto others"; John 16:2 "...the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God".

 

[rareboy]

No, you made yourself clear and who would disagree, but the religious right and the right wing generally function on the pivot.

ie'We Fuck kids? NO. You fuck kids.'

It is the way their brains are wired.

 

[cityboy-stl]

It went under the radar but did you happen to notice while we were all worried about Iran, yesterday Trump attacked Ecuador.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/03/us-military-operations-ecuador-00811272

It won't be long before he attacks Cuba.

 

[rareboy]

Fortune Magazine has a very pessimistic article on their website about the negative economic impacts of the Iran mess. They are estimating that the impacts on the oil market alone would have a negative impact on the US economy to tune of between $65 billion to $210 billion.

Trump’s strikes on Iran could cost American economy as much as $210 billion, top budget expert says | Fortune

“One problem I have with cost-of-war calculations is that they really do ignore the counterfactual,” Kent Smetters of the Penn Wharton Budget Model told Fortune.

fortune.com

One of the liberal think tanks has started crunching the numbers. Congress didn't approve Trump's Iran folly, so there's no money allocated for it. The Congress - after the fact - is going to have to do a supplemental bill to authorize the money that Trump already spent. Trump's burn rate is about $1 billion per day, so he's already about $5 billion in the hole.

The stupidity began a couple of weeks ago when Trump- who had moved military assets from the middle east to the Caribbean for his last folly in Venezuela- ordered the same assets back to the middle east at an estimated cost of $630 million dollars.

The Trump Administration’s Reckless War in Iran Has Already Cost More Than $5 Billion

The Trump administration has launched a reckless war of choice in the Middle East, which has already imposed an estimated cost of more than $5 billion on the American taxpayer.

www.americanprogress.org

The same think tank points out that a single Tomahawk missile costs about $2.2 million which is enough to cover the cost of 775 children on Medicaid for 12 months... or it would pay for school lunches for 3,600 children in public schools.

In the Us, there's always money for bombs. Just not much else.

 

[80KGold]

It went under the radar but did you happen to notice while we were all worried about Iran, yesterday Trump attacked Ecuador.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/03/us-military-operations-ecuador-00811272

It won't be long before he attacks Cuba.

Yup! Noticed that. I almost posted my thoughts here, but then I thought, “Aww shit, I may as well wait ’til later this week so that I can post a two-for-one.” I’m guessing he’ll have attacked Cuba by Saturday. Mexico is penciled in for next week.

 

[cityboy-stl]

War planning at Mar-a-Lago

 

[fallsguy]

 

[cityboy-stl]

We are definitely living in the upside-down when I am agreeing with Marjorie Taylor Greene. But thanks for speaking out!

 

[rareboy]

​

 

[rareboy]

The US needs a really good wake up call. Spain kind of did it this week by saying that US planes being used in an illegal war could not use the base there for forward operations. It is a reverbration from the battering ram that TrumpCo. have been using against NATO. It is likely almost insignificant in logistics, but it sure rattled Trump, who was immediately making threats.

But seriously US. What is the expectation here? Particularly in Europe. And this excerpt sums it up....eventually no one will come to fan the flames or put out the fire...

 

[KaraBulut]

We are definitely living in the upside-down when I am agreeing with Marjorie Taylor Greene. But thanks for speaking out!

Here's the image that she posted with her tweet. It's mass graves being dug.

MTG is still saying squirrel-shit level nutty stuff. My personal suspicion on her sudden rational thought is that either they changed her meds, or in her nightly Bible reading, she finally got to the Gospel of Matthew, where all the Christian stuff begins.