Each Tomahawk cruise missile costs 1 MILLION DOLLARS

[FarLeftFist]

The United States launched 100+ into Libya yesterday, but teachers are the deficit problem.....Riiiiiight.

[katnapped]

1. And unions....and Social Security...

Priorities, people! :sarcasm:

[itsrobert]

2. How much is the value of the lives they are saving?

I guess you value money over the people who are being slaughter by Qaddafi and his thugs?

[silver10]

3. These missiles are no where near exact.

But collateral damage must be fine with you.

[itsrobert]

6. So you don't care about the people being slaughtered?

I thought so.

[silver10]

13. so YOU don't care about people being slaughtered?

I thought so

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

57. You mean the 20,000 U.S. citizens who die each year because of no medical care?

If I have limited funds and the choice is to feed my family or the family next door, I'll choose my family every time.

[silver10]

60. +1

[Shagbark Hickory]

4. They aren't civilians. They are rebels in a civil war. It's not the same.

IF these were innocent civilians, I'd say bombs away. But these are rebel forces, some of which fought against the US in other conflicts in the region.

[thewiseguy]

10. You are repeating Ghaddafi's BS here...

Rebels in a civil war??? More like people who took arms to defend themselves against Ghaddafi and his thugs. Are you sure you have been following the news?

The civil war bs is from the Ghaddafi side. They want to pretend as if this is a civil war or that the country is divided.

[silver10]

17. yes, your news must be more reliable than our news

[itsrobert]

19. +1

n/t

[silver10]

21. -1

[Shagbark Hickory]

67. Well it came out of the former CIA director's mouth. I guess he's a turncoat.

[silver10]

15. +1

[reggie the dog]

37. the "rebels" are made up of civilians who were being chased down

rounded up and executed after ghadaffi had them labled as terrorists for having a protest. luckily some parts of the army broke with ghadaffi and helped defend the people and some of those people have picked up arms in order to defend themselves and their people. It is unorganized and most are just civilians with no army or combat experience trying to defend themselves from massacre. (sort of like the militias of the american revolution)

this is not a pre organized rebellion with a highly trained rebel army, this started as protests that were stomped out so violently that ghadaffi said they were all terrorists and that all terroists would be eliminated then began killing hundreds of people and disappearing hundreds more.

[silver10]

52. so, bombs will make it alllll better?

[meow mix]

65. ghadaffis forces about to overrun banghaz, were destroyed

so yes the bombs made it better

[reggie the dog]

31. they are mostly innocent civillians

the people had protests, ghadaffi called them terrorists and encouraged his police and army to massacre them so they fought back out of necessity to preserve their lives. luckily some genearals and soldiers went along with the protests and offered to help organize them into a resistance force that is in place to defend the people who protested from being wiped out by ghadaffi's troops. This story has been unwinding for weeks and has been all over aljazeera, the bbc, france inter france info, etc.

Who amongst them fought against the USA? Ghadaffi when he ordered a plane blown out of the sky over scotland en route to the USA did....

[Shagbark Hickory]

68. WEll if you thought innocents were dying before. Just wait until *we* get involved nt

[reggie the dog]

71. i hope not

france managed to blow up 4 or 5 tanks, plus some anti aircraft gunners, i have yet to see reports of bombs missing their targets but am waiting.

[FarLeftFist]

5. How much is the value of those they're killing? n/t

[Critters2]

9. Exactly. We are killing people, after all. nt

[wuushew]

55. The U.S. not being a country in default also has value.

More money can be spent on science and medicine. Discoveries and remedies that given time save many more lives than the heroics of fighting tyranny.

Should Bill Gates donate money to the Rebels or continue to research the destruction of malaria? War has a poor return on investment.

[Shagbark Hickory]

70. A very interesting way of looking at it indeed. How many lives could be saved it the million dollars

it costs to buy a missile went towards healthcare?

[FarLeftFist]

7. My point basically was...

I love how money magically appears to save others lives, but when it comes to OUR citizens the well has run dry. Do you know how many foreclosed homes that could have saved?! 200 million dollars!

EDIT: .......And counting.

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. Oh, just stop it. U.S citizens don't deserve to have THEIR tax dollars spent

on them. Silly, silly person. :(

[FarLeftFist]

23. Seriously though,

My heart would be much warmer hearing about us saving people from corrupted banks than it ever will by bombing another country.

[in_cog_ni_to]

30. Wholeheartedly agree with you.

:hi: Seriously. ;)

[silver10]

53. +1

[in_cog_ni_to]

8. Well, we do have priorities ya know.

:eyes: We have more than enough money for any war at any time, but no money is ever available for the people who give them all that money to spend on wars.

[Runework]

11. $

What's the longest stretch of time the US has gone without being involved in a military endeavor? Anyone know?

War is big profit

[FarLeftFist]

26. We're always in a perpetual state of war

If we just all "sacrifice" and not go to war for 5 years, stay war-free, I'm sure America could keep "living beyond it's means".

[BobbyBoring]

51. Actually

We made it for 33 years between the end of the Civil War and the Spanish American War.
We made it 21 years between WW I and WW II the big one.

Then we discovered the value of the "Boogie Man". After WW II the big one, the rest of the earth was pretty much wiped out.
Europe, Russia, China, and Japan were left in a shambles and we were faced with a serious problem. There were no more enemies to fight. That's when we learned the value of fighting isms!

[peacetalksforall]

12. This is a multi-nation leader level coup on behalf of the Bilderberg Group and

all their hundreds of affiliated organizations - on behalf of multi-national businesses - paid for by mere citizens, not by the multi-nationals who will be the benefactors - replacing the weapons (if that is all that has to be done) benefits many companies.

The Bilderberg (Bomb Them From The Air) Group. The Bilderberg (Doesn't Believe In Negotiation) Group.

They are the bosses. Not just a social club.

We need to learn world hierarchy and stop fooling ourselves.

[reggie the dog]

38. multi national businesses are ALREADY in Libya.

Elf Total Fina gets lots of its oil from there. What are you talking about? This is not an Iraq in which oil interests were controlled by the state and a state run oil company. Iraq had socialized oil PRODUCTION AND SALE, Libya has contracts with private companies who pump the oil and the private companies get to keep the profits they generate, they just pay tax. Libya has had multinationals there since 2004 or 2006 when sanctions were lifted.

[peacetalksforall]

46. I know they are in there - but it is a coup to get more of the 'action' - no irrantional middle man

with special demands. They negotiated with him over a long period of time - starting in 2003 - for the agreement they have presently. Now is the time because they can ride the wave - they have an excuse to get rid of an eccentric leader and put one of their in their with a suit and tie.

[reggie the dog]

40. multi national corporations are already in Libya

Elf Total Fina gets lots of its oil from there. What are you talking about? This is not an Iraq in which oil interests were controlled by the state and a state run oil company. Iraq had socialized oil PRODUCTION AND SALE, Libya has contracts with private companies who pump the oil and the private companies get to keep the profits they generate, they just pay tax. Libya has had multinationals there since 2004 or 2006 when sanctions were lifted. They dont need this war to open Libya up to be raped by multi nationals, it already is.

[lob1]

16. Does anyone know what the Arab states are

contributing against Libya as far as troops and equipment?

[amandabeech]

29. Four jets from Qattar so far.

Arab league flying away from this in their private jets just as fast as possible.

[devilgrrl]

18. Cool beans if you're defence contractor

ever wonder why their budgets are never cut?

[FarLeftFist]

20. ALSO:

I'm FOR the ousting of Qaddafi, but why must America always be the world's mall security guard? The European Union is much closer and has alot more to lose i.e. Libyan missles CAN hit them, not US, can't they just take care of this?

[The Northerner]

22. Deficits don't matter...

[AsahinaKimi]

24. Imagine how many hungry people one could have fed...on just one of those.

Waste of imagination, I guess...considering how Republicans feel about the poor.

[outerSanctum]

50. Republicans and OUR Democrats!

WE'RE the ones doing the bombing!!!

WTF?!!!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

25. Geez, Far. They go stale if they sit unused for too long.

We HAVE to use them, otherwise they go to waste.

[FarLeftFist]

27. LOL.

Nothing worse than using missiles beyond their expiration date.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

32. yup. A direct cause of cavities, halitosis and athlete's

feet.

[Critters2]

33. Yep. Their expiration dates were fast approaching.

What else could we do? :shrug:

[bhikkhu]

28. and mass graves in foreign countries cost us nothing

It takes a bit of mental compartmentalization, admittedly, but its not about the money in Libya. I've followed the whole thing pretty closely myself (not on the US news, of course) and its pretty clear that the options were to stand by while Benghazi was reduced to rubble, or to do what we are doing.

I think the UN resolution and the international response is about the best thing that could happen - the least-harm response to avert a nearly certain bloodbath.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

34. It is America's only export these days...death amchines

[Starry Messenger]

35. There's always money for war.

Making the world safe for capitalism is our number one job as a nation. Any purpose other than that is just wasteful fat to trim. We aren't broke, we're just being disciplined to accept the "new normal".

[undeterred]

36. Yesterday it was $600,000.

[Catherina]

39. They cost between $US600,000 and $US1.2 million each depending on the model and load

$US600,000 and $US1.2 million each, can carry a 450-kilogram warhead and additional bomblets.

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/tomahawk-cruise-missiles-used-for-libya-assaultq/story-e6frfkui-1226024934986

[Turborama]

41. I thought I saw that, too. Must be nice to just round numbers up like that to elaborate & fabricate

Without having to worry about recourse.

[in_cog_ni_to]

44. No one's rounding up numbers to elaborate and fabricate. Some missiles

cost more than others. I've heard 2 talking military heads give 2 different prices already. $600,000 and $756,000. Some missiles cost MORE than that, so $1 Million is NOT fabrication.

[Turborama]

49. "Each Tomahawk cruise missile costs 1 MILLION DOLLARS"

No qualifiers in it like the ones in your reply.

I'm sure they're grateful for the recourse you gave.

[progressoid]

43. $569,000 in 1999.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk_(missile)#Description

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

58. The latest model has a spiffy paint scheme and leather seats n/t

[girl gone mad]

45. Maybe it will be $2M tomorrow, as fast as our dollar is crashing.

Just saying.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

47. there have been upgrades, and price increases

because of the upgrades.

more accuracy, more efficient engine, more explosives.

[Spider Jerusalem]

42. Already bought and paid for, along with thousands more in arsenals.

And the salaries of public school teachers are paid at the state or local level and aren't part of the federal budget, at all.

[daleo]

56. It's all the same taxpayer. n/t

[Spider Jerusalem]

61. Not the same deficit.

And as such is a conflation of unrelated issues. State and local budgets ≠ Federal budget.

[daleo]

66. A higher federal deficit means less tax room for state and local government

That means it is difficult to collect sufficient taxes for schools at the state level, as taxpayers are already under greater financial strain by paying for military adventures at the federal level.

There is an obvious linkage here, even if it is indirect.

[L. Coyote]

48. Each Tomahawk cruise missile costs about a dozen teachers (and the interest costs ...)

Lest we forget, this is deficit spending and the children who don't get educated have to pay the bill someday.

[FrenchieCat]

54. Tomahawk missiles were already purchased......

and part of our arsenal.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

59. ...and will have to be replaced

Probably at a much higher per-unit cost.

[Shiver]

74. Also, one could argue that not using them would be throwing money away...

:hide:

[jberryhill]

62. How much does one pilot cost?

[Posteritatis]

69. And you're never using just one anyway

Short of a B-2, and we won't get into the price tags for those things, putting a twenty thousand dollar bomb onto a target by plane usually involves a dozen or so other aircraft as a minimum supporting that mission. For putting that kind of tonnage of missiles onto a variety of targets the costs of the Tomahawks is hugely less than using conventional airstrikes.

[Swede]

63. A-Rod could buy 25 of those,with one years salary.

nt

[Liberal In Texas]

64. At least they're made in the USA.

...or are they? Bet there's a lot of parts made in Asia.

[BOHICA12]

72. States don't but Cruise Missles and Feds don't pay

teacher salaries ..... apples and oranges.

[tammywammy]

73. Unit Cost: Approximately $569,000 (FY99 $)

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=2200&tid=1300&ct=2

Also, those are federal dollars and they've already been spent. Has nothing to do with state's funding of education.