Coming in Hot

At the present rate, the war would add about a half a trillion to the US deficit this year. If it goes on as long as the war in Afghanistan, it will add $10 trillion to the debt.

Source: Congressional Budget Office

Friday, March 20th, 2026

Bill Bonner, from Youghal, Ireland

‘It’s amazing how much damage we can do...’

—Donald Trump, proudly

Many US households are beset by an almost constant disagreement. It goes something like this:

“Well, at least he stopped those illegal aliens from coming over to rob and rape us.”

“The crime rate for immigrants — even illegal immigrants — was always lower than it was for native born Americans. And you’re talking about killing people? Who’s killing people now, in the Middle East? Huh?”

“Not enough of them. They’re bad people. They want to kill us all; finally, we’ve got a president willing to do something about it.”

“And we should thank him, too, for bringing jobs back to America.”

“What jobs? Job growth is slower than under Biden.”

On and on, the argument continues...like a never-ending loop in a lunatic’s mind...rehearsing injustices, humiliations, and disappointments.

But while it goes on...the primary trends are ignored. Comes the National Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget with bad news:

Surpassing $39 trillion in gross debt is an embarrassing milestone that both parties have helped build over decades, and neither seems particularly interested in addressing it before we hit $40 trillion.

No matter what metric one chooses to examine our fiscal trajectory, we are clearly headed in the wrong direction. Gross debt is now $39 trillion; debt held by the public recently surpassed $31 trillion for the first time; deficits are approaching $2 trillion; and deficits as a share of the economy are twice as large as the 3% goal many economists and bipartisan policymakers believe we ought to be targeting.

Markets are paying close attention to our fiscal situation, and every time we hit a new milestone, we risk spooking them.

A nation this deep in the hole ought to be struggling to get out. Instead, the US brings in the earth movers. Too much debt? Too much military spending? Add more.

In this regard, the attack on Iran seems almost too perfect to be true.

At the present rate, the war would add about a half a trillion to the US deficit this year. If it goes on as long as the war in Afghanistan, it will add $10 trillion to the debt. But that’s just a tally of the immediate expenses — bombs, fuel, missiles, etc. But the longer the attack goes on...and the broader the fighting becomes...the more ‘second- and third-order’ damage we do.

This week, CNBC anchor Rick Santelli declared that producer prices were ‘coming in hot.’ The PPI showed a 0.7 percent increase for February, twice the expected number.

This too, along with bombed-out buildings and decomposing bodies, is part of the ‘damage’ that a war can do. But there’s more...

Unprovoked wars also alienate allies. Megatron:

CNN claims that since the start of the US war against Iran, the country’s popularity worldwide has fallen by 79%. The only country more unpopular than the United States is Israel.

And they also drive other nations to ‘gun up’ to protect themselves. Everybody wastes more money on defense because they feel threatened. The ‘rules based’ system of international relations has been replaced with a ‘might makes right’ ethos that favors the most powerful nations at the expense of lesser ones.

And it gets worse. In a campaign that was supposed to have something to do with eliminating terrorism, suddenly terror is back in style. Now, you can liquidate foreigners and feel good about it. Trump:

“They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so!”

Oh those playful gods...setting traps for the most powerful among us. No human could come up with something so elegant, so poetically dumbass. In a conventional fight, America’s ships, planes, bombs and tanks would win every time.

But the Trump/Netanyahu duo gave away the advantage. They’ve made assassination acceptable. And now even the most woebegone shithole fanatic, with a mail-order pistol, can gun down a patriot.

Stay tuned...

Regards,

Bill Bonner