{"id":8387,"date":"2018-04-17T11:20:06","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T18:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=8387"},"modified":"2018-04-17T11:20:06","modified_gmt":"2018-04-17T18:20:06","slug":"how-much-do-tomahawk-cruise-missiles-cost-a-receipt-for-trumps-syria-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/04\/17\/how-much-do-tomahawk-cruise-missiles-cost-a-receipt-for-trumps-syria-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Do Tomahawk Cruise Missiles Cost? (A Receipt for Trump\u2019s Syria Attack)"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 17, 2018 (JohnLaurits.com)<\/p>\n

\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Last Saturday, as most are surely aware, the prime ministers of France and the UK assisted failed meatpacking-entrepreneur Donald Trump in violating all the most important international laws\u00a0by attacking Syria in Damascus and Homs. For whatever reason, the US-led coalition thought it was a good idea to get revenge against Syria for an alleged gas-attack by blowing up any hypothetical evidence that might have proven the Syrian government was behind said gas-attack. The truth, it seems, was part of the price we pay for \u2014 well, no one can really be sure (since the evidence blew up) but dammit our freedom is safe and that\u2019s what counts. The other part of the price is mostly really expensive bombs.<\/p>\n

What Is the Price of Attacking Syria?<\/em><\/h2>\n

\"For<\/a>\u200bAltogether, the Brits chipped in 8\u00a0stormshadow<\/em>\u00a0missiles, the French (not to be outdone) threw down 9 stormshadows plus 3\u00a0Missiles de Croisi\u00e8re Navals<\/em>, and the US furnished 66\u00a0Tomahawk cruise missiles<\/em>\u00a0and 19\u00a0JASSM-ER<\/em>\u00a0(joint air to surface standoff missiles \u2013 extended range). The total price for all 105 bombs\u00a0was a measly $177 million. And to get an idea of how staggeringly large $177 million is, think of it this way \u2013 if you filled\u00a0every seat in the Fenway Park stadium<\/em>, $177 million would be enough to hand out\u00a0about $5000 cash to every person<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

$1,048,030 X 8\u00a0Stormshadow<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0missiles = $8,384,240
\n$1,048,030 X 9 Stormshadow missiles = $9,432,270
\n$3,300,000\u00a0 X 3\u00a0Missiles de Croisi\u00e8re Navals<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0= $9,900,000
\n$1,869,000 X 66\u00a0Tomahawk cruise missiles<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0= $123,354,000
\n$1,359,000 X 19\u00a0JASSM-ER<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0= $25,821,000
\n$8,384,240 +\u00a0$9,432,270 +\u00a0$9,900,000 +\u00a0$123,354,000 +\u00a0$25,821,000 =
\n$176,891,510 or about $177 million<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How Much Does a Tomahawk Cruise Missile Cost<\/em>?<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7<\/a><\/p>\n

A look at the\u00a0US Department of Defense\u2019s 2017 budget request<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0shows that each Tomahawk cruise missile costs a mere $1.869 million.\u00a0According to its maker Raytheon<\/strong><\/a>, this hellish metal vulture \u201ccan circle for hours, shift course instantly on command and beam a picture of its target to controllers halfway around the world before striking with pinpoint accuracy.\u201d Each time the US fires off one of these bad boys, imagine\u00a060 full-time, living-wage jobs<\/em>\u00a0ripping through the air above a group of frightened Arab children\u2026<\/p>\n

2,087 hours per-year \u00d7 $15 wage = $31,305
\n$1,869,000 \u00f7 $31,305 =\u00a059.7029 or about 60 full-time jobs per tomahawk cruise missile<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or, as an alternative, one might imagine a building in Damascus being leveled by a year\u2019s worth of food for 1,242 of the poorest US-Americans.<\/p>\n

Avg. Yearly SNAP Benefits<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(food-stamps) received: $1,504.8
\n$1,869,000 \u00f7\u00a0$1,504.8 =\u00a01,242.0255 or about 1,242 hungry US-Americans<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"How<\/a><\/p>\n

How Much Does the JASSM-ER Cost?<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

While Lockheed-Martin\u2019s\u00a0joint air to surface standoff missile<\/em>\u00a0or JASSM may lack the Tomahawk\u2019s added cultural-appropriation, they still get the job done (if that job is killing people)\u00a0at a bargain price<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0of $1.359 million.\u00a0As Lockheed-Martin\u2019s website<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0says \u2014 \u201cwith superior performance and affordable price, JASSM offers the best value of any weapon in its class.\u201d Using the same units of measurement above, each JASSM-ER is about enough to create 43 US-American jobs or to provide food for a year for 903 hungry people.<\/p>\n

Total Cost of Trump\u2019s Illegal Attack on Damascus<\/em><\/h2>\n

Adding the total cost for 19 JASSM-ER (\u201cextended range\u201d) to the 66 Tomahawk missiles Trump launched during his little terror-attack on Syria last weekend brings the total cost for US missiles to\u2026.<\/p>\n

$25,821,000 + $123,354,000 =\u00a0$149,175,000<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2026about $149.2 million!\u00a0Yay<\/em>. For perspective, $149.2 million is equal to the yearly incomes of about 2,640\u00a0US-American household<\/strong><\/a>s at the median.\u00a0In a world that made sense, this $149.2 million might have funded coverage for 45,647 people as part of a universal healthcare program or employed 4,765 workers as part of a\u00a0self-managed federal job guarantee<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Median Household Income:\u00a0$56,516
\n$149,175,000\u00a0\u00f7 $56,516 =\u00a02639.5180 or about 2,640 US household-incomes<\/p>\n

Avg. Per-Person\u00a0Healthcare Spending in OECD Countries<\/strong><\/a>:\u00a0$3,268
\n$149,175,000\u00a0\u00f7\u00a0$3,268 =\u00a04,5647.1848 or about\u00a045,647 people with healthcare<\/p>\n

2,087 hours \u00d7 $15 wage = $31,305
\n$149,175,000 \u00f7 $31,305 = 4,765.21322 or about 4,765 full-time, living wage jobs created<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But all of this math is just a fun thought experiment.\u00a0Public spending could \u2014\u00a0in theory<\/em>, of course \u2014 create more jobs or ensure that people have access to healthcare or food but then\u00a0Raytheon\u2019s stock prices<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0would never have increased by 3.2% over the weekend. And besides, using public funds to promote the general welfare or public safety and happiness would be\u00a0socialism.<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Where would that leave the shareholders? Think about it.<\/p>\n

In solidarity,
\nJohn Laurits<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 17, 2018 (JohnLaurits.com) Last Saturday, as most are surely aware, the prime ministers of France and the UK assisted failed meatpacking-entrepreneur Donald Trump in violating all the most important international laws\u00a0by attacking Syria in Damascus and Homs. For whatever reason, the US-led coalition thought it was a good idea… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8388,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8387\/revisions\/8388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}