We know what’s coming and we are prepared.
🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷 Pentagon Says Iran War Cost $25 Billion. An Economist Says Try Trillions.
The Defense Department’s $25 billion price tag for Operation Epic Fury covers only missiles fired, planes flown, and equipment lost — and little else, University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers argues in a New York Times op-ed published Sunday.
The fuller accounting, he writes, runs into the hundreds of billions, and possibly trillions:
▪️ Geopolitical risk: Fed economists estimate heightened risk of this scale costs roughly $200 billion and leaves a million fewer Americans employed within a year
▪️ Interest rates: With rate cuts now off the table, the Fed’s likely response could cost another $200 billion in lost economic output
▪️ Stock market: Wolfers estimates the war has wiped roughly $3 trillion off S&P 500 valuations. Oil prices could be elevated through 2028.
▪️ Growth: Goldman Sachs projects U.S. GDP growth will be 0.5 percentage points lower — around $400 billion in lost income over two years
▪️ Defense spending: The administration’s 2027 defense budget request is $1.5 trillion — a 40% increase, or roughly $4,000 per American household
Budget Director Russell Vought, asked by Congress for a war cost figure in April, said: “I don’t have a ballpark for you.”
America’s bees and beekeepers are losing a valuable ally just when they need its help most.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to soon close the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, a 6,500-acre agricultural research station in Maryland that is home to the nation’s premier bee research and disease diagnosis hub, the Beltsville Bee Research Lab.
The closure comes at a critical moment for bees. In winter 2025, many beekeepers lost over half their operations as pesticide-resistant varroa mites spread, bringing deadly viruses. The losses have led to low honey production, and soaring fuel costs have made shipping bees cross-country for agricultural pollination increasingly expensive, further stressing the industry.
