War Dollars, Care Dollars (and No Sense)

This article is part of the series, “Left Hook Economics: The Dollars & Sense Policy Forum.”
(Illustration by Nancy Folbre)

PERI’s Nancy Folbre compares the running tally of war dollars with the cost of relentless attacks on public care provision in the United States over the last year.

“As of March 16, the cost to the U.S. military of the combined U.S-Israeli attack on Iran has been estimated to be as high as $1 billion per day. … The so-called Big Beautiful Bill passed last summer cut Medicaid funding by a trillion dollars over the next 10 years, or $100 billion per year, and cut the taxes of the top 1% of earners by even more—$116 billion a year.”

“The cuts to Medicaid in one year alone are enough to finance 100 more days of bombing Iran or tax cuts for the rich—neither of which would benefit most Americans.”