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I'll never understand until the day I die how any American can watch their tax dollars used to bomb the shit out of a country, and then their tax dollars used to rebuild that same country.....and see that as a win.
Oil down, markets up, keep believing the illusion and everything will surely be ok.....
Many people don't think. They feel.
When their in-group is going along with something, they go along with it, too. Feels good to them. It's a high.
That's it. That's the problem. It's a big part of why republicans vote against their real-life interests. They're more concerned with chasing the high of being part of the in-group. So, sure, Trump might lose a lot of money and influence and everything, but he's our tribe-mate!
It's stupid. Worse then children. Worse than dogs.
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
Now that I think of it, it makes perfect sense that they're always screaming "indoctrination" when left wing ideas like environmentalism or basic kindness are taught to children.... they don't think it's true, just the opposing "feeling" side of their own version of reality. No facts, just feelings. And those feelings go against what their tribe says.
You aren't seeing the opinions of the average American. The average American has no idea what is going on until they ask their coworker why the gas prices are so high. The average American has a coworker that is happy to inform them of the mainstream media narrative, basically telling them that all they can do is "vote". Occasionally getting a MAGA perspective depending on where they live.
But, they won't get pushed into organizing and, quite frankly, they don't have the time or money to even start.
The average American then thinks "hmmm, that doesn't sound right but I don't have time or energy to investigate that".
They move on with their day so long as they can stay above water by leveraging credit card debt and whatever amount of gig work they can fit in. On the rare days they have off work they will recover by either scrolling videos or going out with friends that are just as unknowledgeable about the world as they are. Maybe some of them get a short explanation of the gas prices from a video they watched.
The average American needs their working class conditions improved to give them time to educate themselves. "Wow, they pay for child care in New York City? Thats what socialism is?". This is our one last hope at educating the masses. I don't think electing 100 Mamdani's will change our system from within. But, it is however, the best way to educate and show the population what political power that favors the working class can do.
Either that or, the entire countries material conditions need to decline so drastically that the population is forced into action because they literally can't afford bread to eat. And that will result in higher degrees of fascism as the capitalist state defends itself; and "century of humiliation" levels of conditions will result in America after our empire lashes out to the rest of the world.
The average American has no idea what is going on until they ask their coworker why the gas prices are so high
At which point the average American tilts their head in confusion, seemingly unaware that the US is at war, then complains that everything is political nowadays
Or they get a spoonful of MAGA propaganda, as you mentioned
Propaganda, it works
"$300 billion dollars is less than $1000 per citizen. It's not an amount that would help anyone."
From the shit perspective of an economist that doesn't need $1,000 to catch up on bills.
Not to mention a family of 4, which would amount to $4000, which might be a 10% increase in income, not including the 30% that's already been taxed out of that $300b.
Don't forget the part where Trump backed out of the horrible deal Obama made with Iran that involved 1.6 billion dollars going to Iran.
Now it's 300 billion, extra taxes on fuel that benefit the Iranian regime, thousands of people murdered, and America's international standing even further eroded.
Art of the Deal!
Plus the purely immediate financial cost of the war itself which I've seen estimated at around 25 billion.
And I don't know how to estimate the human cost.
Human cost shouldn't be too tricky to guesstimate.
An average US person produces about $142k/year (85k in gdp, divided by 60 % of working age), killed with about 40 years of productive life left is about $5,6 million. Add to that the lowered productivity of the close relations due to grieving and change of circumstance, as well as societal loss of morale, and you're probably looking at a loss of production of just under $6 million/life. And fractions of that depending on disability for non dead casualties (e.g. PTSD or loss of limb might be 50% depending)
The Iranian equivalent is about $400k/life, or less as civilian casualties tend to be older than prime age soldiers.
Now calculating the US cost of loss of Iranian civilian lives would be more challenging (loss of standing, loss of morale, loss of legitimacy, and follow-on actions of instability and discontent).
I'm not sure you can really put a price on the loss of 175 school kids, plus all the other civilian deaths trumps bruised ego caused.
And that's not even counting the global losses incurred due to increased oil prices, reduced production, etc etc.
I mean, you evidently can, actuaries and the OBE do it all the time, and I even offered an example above.
Does it account for all of their existence - no, Is it useful to - only in a very narrow situation, is it possible - absolutely.
I'd argue the more horrible part is that some people do put a value to others' lives with even less thought than my example, which is why they're wont to bomb civilians for dubious gain.
It's easy to put a price, it's much harder to appreciate the value.
It's hard to keep repeating that $300bn isn't a gift but a repayment for belligerent bombing and murder. The US won't give Iran the money for fun, but will pay to repair the damage and compensate for losses.
Until the instant Donald Trump thinks reneging on the agreement will benefit him.
Tomorrow - got it.
Which wouldn't need to be paid if the moron hadn't embarked on a pointless war. Is anyone here mad about only the money? Highly doubt it.
Yes, and we spent probably even more than that in the first place to cause the damage we are now agreeing to pay for.
No matter how you look at it, the Trump administration blew hundreds of billions in taxpayer money of their own volition, to ultimately get Iran in a comparatively stronger position (note the agreement says the Straight will operate on Iran's terms, so... probably they get to levy a toll now). They don't agree to anything on any military draw down and only agreed to the same thing they agreed to with Obama...
All Trump had to do was to just do nothing after the deal under Obama and US objectives would have been closer to being met for free.
Don't forget, it's their money we've held.
A war nobody wanted
Correction, the people a narrow majority of USians elected to the highest offices did want that war. Some of them for decades. Because they’re in the pocket of Israel, that also wanted this war for decades.
Then those people soundly lost that war, and this is the fine you’re paying for that. Not just those people of course, but everyone.
If you wanna thank someone for it, punch the closest MAGA asshole and politely say ‘thank you’
“Most powerful man in the world”. Nationalistic egocentrism never fails to get a laugh out of me.
So, if you believe Elmo’s number, we gave them two DOGEs worth of money (if you believe the internal audits we gave them 50 to 300 DOGEs)
We're probably gonna have to rescind that "most powerful man" title
You owe them a lot more than that without the war at all!
Most powerful ? Did you mean: Most arrogant
My understanding is that the 300 billion to Iran came from private funding and not taxpayers.
Makes you wonder who's pulling the strings now, doesn't it?
FYI: it is not the US who pays 300 billion. It is the Gulf Coast Coalition.
Calling the GCC the Gulf Coast Coalition is just chef's kiss. JD is not a bright human being.
Lmao I actually didn’t know.
Vance said the “Gulf Coast Coalition” would be responsible for its funding, apparently referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Why, what does it mean? I mean apart from the gulf states having to pay ransom money for soemthing that they didn't start
Absolutely you can, when your leadership doesn't feel accountable to you in any way.
It's simply because the ruling billionaire class believes there are too many people in the world and they simply want most of us dead. They fully understand how little money it would cost. However, providing health care other things that people need are counter productive to their goals.
They will not give it to you. They will manipulate you by teasing it as a possibility.
No cdc, usaid, hhs, etc. Nothing that keeps you alive. They want you dead, they want pandemics to thin the herd. Wars are great, they make rich richer and kill poor people, really efficient.
Not yet. Have to perfect the robot worker first. They push too hard and people will push back, and they know this. Fortunately people are also good at infighting among themselves and losing focus, which is what they fuel a lot.
