The cost of war is astounding — in terms of lives lost, tax dollars spent and increased suffering as social programs are cut to pay for war spending. Not only do families lose loved ones to war, life sustaining government programs like healthcare and food, education, and maybe even Social Security and Medicare, are cut to foot the soaring bill for an unprovoked war that doesn’t help average Americans. But, as we know, billionaires and giant corporations benefit immensely from war.
“I saw a trillion dollars wasted in Vietnam,” says U.S. Navy Veteran Bruce Fenton on the Veterans For Peace Facebook page. U.S. corporations profited significantly from the Vietnam War’s estimated $170 billion plus expenditures. (The Collector). The human cost was a staggering 58,220 U.S. soldiers dead plus 300,000 wounded, and approximately 1,100,000 Vietnamese soldiers and 2,000,000 civilians dead, plus 18 million wounded. (Britannica)
Dehumanizing propaganda was designed to make it more palatable for the public to have our troops kill people by the thousands, says Fenton. “They told us we’ve got to fight them over there or we will have to fight them over here. They told us they don’t value human life like we do and they hate us because we are free. These were all lies. I saw my fellow service members die. I saw friends lose part of their soul when they took lives. I saw people haunted by screams. I saw veterans kill themselves over the anguish of what they had seen and done . . . 22 veteran suicides a day for decades. This is why I have no tolerance for the same lies pushed by the same people for another iteration of the same stupidity. These wars of aggression do not serve our country.”
Now, in 2026, we find ourselves in an illegal, immoral war on Iran, a country that has never harmed our country. Yet, in the midst of February negotiations, Israeli-U.S. started bombing Iran. On the first day of the war, an Iranian girls’ school was bombed and 168 girls were killed. Missile fragments from Tomahawk Cruise missiles, (produced solely by Raytheon, the major U.S. defense corporation) were found at the scene. (Scopes). To date, some American soldiers have been killed, as well as 3,300 to 3,540 Iranians. An estimated 1,700 of Iranian deaths are civilians, and include children. “Sadly,” said Dr. Maryam Mirjafari, a pediatrician at Tehran’s Children’s ICU, Mofid Hospital, “we have seen many children, even infants under six months old. Some, unfortunately, never even made it to the ICU. When they arrived at the emergency department, they were already deceased.” (Dawn News English).
The economic cost of war
It is estimated that $1 to $2 billion a day in U.S. tax dollars are being spent on the Iran war. “The average taxpayer shelled out over $4,000 for war and weapons last year. Around half of the Pentagon’s sum went to private, for-profit military contractors—the top CEOs of which now make over $25 million a year on average. Put another way, you spent about 50 days working and paying taxes last year just to feed the war machine—and 23 days working to pay those Pentagon contractors and their millionaire CEOs.”
This year, war and defense expenditures are projected to be significantly higher than in 2025. This, at a time when around half of Americans are struggling to afford basic necessities like groceries and health care. “Last year, instead of investing in programs that help people make ends meet, the president and his friends in Congress passed a Big Ugly Bill that cut taxes for the wealthy, slashed health insurance and food assistance for millions of Americans, and added billions in new spending for war and mass deportations.” Common Dreams
Military spending is driving the economy and social programs we need into bankruptcy. Medicaid cuts to an already declining healthcare system will result in a projected 1,000 to 50,000 additional deaths annually. Cuts to the SNAP food program will increase hunger for millions. A 65-year-old legally blind woman told C-Span “she’s slowly starving to death.” She lost 28 pounds in a year because she can’t afford to eat with rising food prices and, now her SNAP benefits were cut to $12.50 a month. Meanwhile, across the country, rents soar, homelessness (now deemed a crime) is increasing, especially among families and seniors. As social programs to help people are cut, the common government justification is that there’s “no money, too much debt, or that the programs are unaffordable.” But there is plenty of money for war, to build tortuous detention centers like Alligator Alcatraz for immigrants and concentration-like camps for the unhoused.
Other economic affects of war include the projected massive cost of veteran’s care, says Linda Bilmes, lecturer on public policy at Harvard Kennedy School. “We now have roughly 55,000 US troops exposed to toxins, contaminants, and environmental hazards, such as burning fuel and chemical residues . . . if even one-third . . . claim benefits, then we are committing ourselves to tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in disability and medical care costs for this cohort alone.” Bilmes also warns that war will have a negative effect on our rising national deficit. “We are borrowing to finance this war at higher rates. Interest costs alone will add billions of dollars to the total cost of this war.”
And now, Trump’s Pentagon is seeking $150-200 Billion more tax dollars for war.
Who profits from war?
Wars are fought for markets and global domination. Wars make billions in profits, especially for giant defense and oil corporations. Since the 2026 war on Iran began, top U.S. defense companies like Lockheed Martin, RTX, and Northrop Grumman saw roughly $25-$30 billion in shareholder gains on the first day of Iran strikes alone. The top 100 oil and gas companies generated over $30 million in windfall profits every hour in the first month of the Iran war. ExxonMobil is projected to gain $11 billion in windfall profits; and added $118 Billion in shareholder value. Shell is expected to gain $6.8 billion, assuming oil prices stay high. Shell earned $34 billion in the month following the war’s start. (The Guardian).
Our Nation is at a Moral Crossroads
How are people responding?
Millions of us are seeing that no one is going to save us; we have to save ourselves.
Those millions, including many of our veterans and the thousands of new people standing up each day, are pushing back against militarism, here and globally, demanding negotiations, not bombs, an end to violence in our name, and telling Congress “not one more dime for war in Iran, and to get out of the Middle East.”
They’re demanding Congress stop sending money and weapons to Israel. At a recent town-hall meeting, a protester told U.S. Rep. DeGette (D-CO), “Shame on you! You just voted more money for Israel! Our name is on every bomb. You’re killing kids. Free Palestine.”
Young people are running for office or supporting new grassroots candidates who pledge to fight for no more wars, and to stop sending money and weapons to Israel. People demand funding for housing, healthcare, childcare, schools, a clean environment and more.
A massive anti-war movement is in the making.
A world without war is possible.
Sandra Reid is co-editor of the People’s Tribune.
