We're not being asked by the administration. How many young men will have to die? How many young men are we willing to sacrifice?
How much debt will our surviving children need to cover in years to come? Forbes is keeping track of those fiscal numbers. Within days of the assaults on Iran, the costs were staggering: $300 million for three F-15E jets downed by “friendly” fire. $630 million to transport troops, ships and aircraft to the region in advance of the attacks. More than 50,000 troops deployed to the region. $13 million a day just for two aircraft carriers stationed nearby. $43.8 million for 1,250 Kamikaze drones. $2 million each for Tomahawk missiles. $12.8 million each for anti-ballistic missile interceptors.
Forbes estimates that Trump’s military strikes in Iran have already cost American taxpayers over $1 billion, “with a price tag that could approach $100 billion, depending on how long it can stretch on.” The total economic cost of the conflict “could trigger an economic loss for the U.S. of between $50 billion and $210 billion.”
As plague hysteria begins spreading across headlines around the world, there is one detail almost nobody is talking about: governments and military biodefense programs have already poured major resources into developing dozens of plague vaccines.
More than 21 plague-vaccine candidates are under development, spanning mRNA, self-amplifying RNA, recombinant protein, viral-vector, live-attenuated and other technologies.
--- Nicholas Hulscher