Another War to Aggravate the U.S. Budget Deficit

After only a few days of U.S. involvement in Libya, it has already cost our country $225 million in Tomahawk missiles alone. Plus another mere $30 million for an F-15 fighter plane that crashed. If the U.N. more or less ordered the "no-fly zone" that the U.S. is helping to enforce, why doesn't the U.N. pay for it?

And I don't know, offhand, how much--many, many millions a day, I believe--it costs to maintain the efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

As you probably know, the U.S. federal budget is running a big deficit. And, with Republicans in control of one of chambers of Congress (the House), it is apparently politically impossible to raise taxes.

When, as has happened previously in wartime, the costs of war cause the country to spend more than it takes in in taxes, basically the government finances the war by printing money. At the very least this causes inflation. At worst--if some economists are correct--this deficit spending can destroy our economy.

But I would not want anyone to think that my objections to a war are simply, or even mainly, economic. A war always means some amount of civilian casualties; and I hate for my country to become a militaristic one, going to war anywhere and everywhere at the drop of a hat. There is already (to my mind) too much of a belief that our soldiers are heroes who are defending our country. They may deserve credit for bravery, or for their patriotism and willingness to serve what they see as a good; but I'm going to go so far as to say that it's a rather dubious proposition that they are defending our country--although I am sure they believe they are.

Copyright (c) 2011 by Richard Stein