News & Articles

“The hardest part of a limited two-week military action is the first several years. Just ask Putin.” 

“Just remember that it took $3.5 trillion and 20 years to replace the Taliban with the Taliban.”

“So far President Trump has spent over $10,000,000,000 replacing the Ayatollah Khamenei with the Ayatollah Khamenei” (his son).

These memes from Facebook bluntly remind us that wars escalate, last longer than expected, cost more than predicted and our country’s use of military force has a long history of failure. There is no reason to believe the war with Iran will be any different.

The monetary costs of this war have already escalated to more than $25 billion (with $200 billion more requested) and we are only six weeks into the bombing. But this is only one cost. There are many other less obvious, and less immediate, costs to be paid.

There are the human costs. As of April 6, 2026, an estimated 3,500 people have been killed and 28,000 injured across the region. According to Al Jazeera, Iran has had 2,076 killed (including 240 women and 212 children) and 26,500 injured (at least 4,000 women and 1,621 children).

Lebanon has the next highest casualties with 1,461 killed and 4,430 injured. One million have been displaced.

I don’t mean to be insensitive, but given some 15,000 Iranian targets supposedly hit, and $25 billion expended, the number of “bad guys” killed seems pathetically low (even assuming most of the killed and wounded were “bad guys” which they probably were not).  At $12.5 million per Iranian death or $1.7 million per target the dollar cost is unsustainably high.

Obviously war – especially an air war – is a very inefficient tool of foreign policy from a cost-benefit perspective.

But the bipartisan “leadership” of our country is dominated by militaristic thinking. They believe military violence is necessary for advancing our “national interests” regardless of the costs.

The biggest cost of this war will be the loss of America’s reputation and credibility as a world leader.
Many past illegal, unnecessary, hypocritical military actions have weakened our global standing. But this war has shredded any remaining belief that the United States can be trusted.

We have become a rogue nation with no respect for the sovereignty of other nations, no regard for international law and no concern for the impact of our selfish militarism on other nations or the people of the world.

The big winner of this war will be China.

The contrast between our belligerent pursuit of military dominance and economic national interests with China’s “soft-power” model of economic engagement without military bullying is winning many “hearts and minds” around the world.

While the U.S. wastes its leadership potential, political capital, goodwill, resources and trillions of dollars on war, China is building the cooperative relationships that will make it the dominant power in the 21st century.

The disruption of oil and gas supplies will further boost China’s influence and economic power. The U.S dollar as the global currency of trade is being weakened. The increasing demand for renewable energy will be good for China. They are the world’s largest supplier of solar panels, a major manufacturer of electric vehicles, a major source for rare earth minerals. They are also working to create alternatives to the U.S-controlled global financial and economic institutions (which we frequently use to sanction other countries).

This war is increasing the price of fuel. People still driving the big gas guzzlers will pay most dearly but all of us – even those who wisely invested in an electric car – will feel the pain.

Almost every consumer product moves by truck. All food and consumer goods will be going up in price. Even short-term price increases have long-term impacts on the 50% of us living hand to mouth.
Fuel price increases ripple through the economy and will increase business failures and loss of jobs. Economists are predicting job losses of 10,000-25,000 per month in the coming year. Many businesses have small profit margins and cannot survive cost increases, loss of customers or supply chain disruptions.

We forget the price of oil is set by the global market. These markets are complicated and influenced (like stocks and bonds) by price speculation. The U.S. currently being the world’s leading oil producer doesn’t insulate us from these market forces or the impact of this war.

Then there is what economists call opportunity costs. Part of the cost of any purchase is the value of the the things you had an opportunity to buy but didn’t. This is about wise money management. There is a cost to our country’s huge spending on war and preparation for war. That cost is all the other public goods – health care, education, public infrastructure, science research, etc. – that were foregone or underfunded. These important, often critical, public goods are the difference between vibrant thriving societies and failed states or collapsing empires.

People think military spending and war are good for the economy. But this is not true. It may be good for places with military bases or defense industries and the merchants of death. But overall war is a bad investment.

By its very nature military spending is wasteful and consumes resources better used for other purposes. Many economic studies have shown other public spending produces more multiplier effect, and long term return investment, than military spending.

Another major economic cost is the exploding national debt. Currently it is $39 trillion or 122% of GDP. Our endless wars and constantly increasing military spending are the primary reason for federal budget deficits.

All the post 9/11 wars were financed with borrowing. By 2022 the annual interest on the debt topped $1 trillion and was, for the first time, higher than total spending on national security.

Wars create problems and costs for civil society. All wars have increase executive power at the expense of democracy and our civil liberties. All wars bring home increased violence and social problems like drug addiction, alcoholism PTSD, spousal abuse, suicides and harm to the families of veterans.

This war is not going to be worth the costs. All the cliches and lies about protecting America, promoting democracy or preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction will not change this fact. We have seen this movie before and it did not end happily ever after.