# ONE BILLION DOLLARS

An episode of [Paul Krugman Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1877144831), 5 Mar 2026, 4:25.

Audio: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/189996925/58310e93d2b731b9480401c23d95f18c.mp3

A reaction to the latest news on how much this war is costing. Get full access to Paul Krugman at paulkrugman.substack.com/subscribe

## Transcript

[0:01] SPEAKER_00: Hello, I am Dr. Evil, and my message for today is $1 billion.
[0:06] SPEAKER_00: OK,
[0:08] SPEAKER_00: actually,
[0:08] SPEAKER_00: I'm Paul Krugman,
[0:09] and I'm showing my age because the first Austin Powers movie
[0:13] came out almost 30
[0:14] SPEAKER_00: years ago.
[0:16] SPEAKER_00: The running joke for people who are younger was that Dr.
[0:21] SPEAKER_00: Evil,
[0:21] SPEAKER_00: having transitioned somehow from the past,
[0:24] SPEAKER_00: it keeps on saying $1 million as if it's a lot of money,
[0:26] SPEAKER_00: which in the modern world it really is not.
[0:29] $1 billion is the estimated daily cost according to some
[0:34] sources of the war in Iran.
[0:38] SPEAKER_00: And $1 billion a day actually is a lot of money,
[0:41] SPEAKER_00: not relative to the overall federal budget,
[0:44] SPEAKER_00: but relative to normal costs,
[0:48] SPEAKER_00: not just of peacetime programs,
[0:50] SPEAKER_00: but even of military programs.
[0:54] SPEAKER_00: The billion dollars a day, how long will this go on?
[0:57] The Reuters is reporting that the Trump administration is
[1:01] planning to ask Congress
[1:02] for a $50 billion appropriation to pay for the costs and for
[1:07] replacing the materiel
[1:09] SPEAKER_00: used up in the war.
[1:10] So we're talking about what is now starting to be a reasonably
[1:15] substantial number,
[1:16] SPEAKER_00: even in budgetary terms.
[1:18] SPEAKER_00: And certainly if you compare it,
[1:20] SPEAKER_00: so I've been comparing it with social programs,
[1:22] SPEAKER_00: food stamps,
[1:23] SPEAKER_00: health care.
[1:25] SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of people that we could cover in that way.
[1:27] SPEAKER_00: But another comparison is a different foreign policy venture.
[1:32] SPEAKER_00: which is the defense of Ukraine,
[1:34] SPEAKER_00: which,
[1:34] SPEAKER_00: you know,
[1:35] SPEAKER_00: until Trump came along,
[1:36] SPEAKER_00: it clearly wants Putin to win.
[1:38] SPEAKER_00: But previously,
[1:39] securing Ukraine was something that the United States correctly
[1:43] believed it had a
[1:43] SPEAKER_00: strong interest in.
[1:46] SPEAKER_00: How much have we spent on Ukraine?
[1:48] Trump and company love to talk about all the money we wasted
[1:51] and how stupid it was.
[1:53] SPEAKER_00: But actually, the United States gave, there are a couple of different
[1:58] estimates which are a little bit different from each other but
[2:02] roughly speaking we
[2:03] spent 150 billion dollars aiding Ukraine during the three years
[2:07] we actually were
[2:07] aiding Ukraine which is about 50 billion a year which says that
[2:11] this conflict in
[2:14] SPEAKER_00: Iran
[2:16] apparently is set to cost as much as a full year of supporting
[2:21] Ukraine against
[2:23] SPEAKER_00: Russia,
[2:23] SPEAKER_00: which on the eve of conflict was regarded as a major military power.
[2:28] SPEAKER_00: So why was Ukraine defending Ukraine so cheap?
[2:33] SPEAKER_00: And why is attacking Iran so expensive?
[2:38] Well,
[2:39] part of the answer is that they obviously didn't think this
[2:43] through.
[2:43] SPEAKER_00: No planning.
[2:45] But the most important stories here are that in the case of the
[2:49] defense of Ukraine,
[2:51] SPEAKER_00: America had allies.
[2:53] SPEAKER_00: First and foremost, of course, the Ukrainians themselves.
[2:56] SPEAKER_00: who have been able to wage war.
[3:00] They have not been American-style extremely reluctant to suffer
[3:05] casualties.
[3:06] SPEAKER_00: They've tried to hold them down, but they've had no choice.
[3:10] SPEAKER_00: Survival's at stake,
[3:11] SPEAKER_00: and so there's a lot of Ukrainian lives have been thrown away,
[3:14] SPEAKER_00: which actually not thrown away,
[3:16] SPEAKER_00: but expended,
[3:17] SPEAKER_00: which does reduce the amount of weaponry that is needed.
[3:22] SPEAKER_00: Also...
[3:24] Europe at this point has contributed substantially more to
[3:28] Ukraine than the United States has.
[3:30] SPEAKER_00: So between our European allies,
[3:33] SPEAKER_00: or erstwhile allies,
[3:34] SPEAKER_00: and our Ukrainian allies,
[3:37] SPEAKER_00: or erstwhile allies,
[3:39] SPEAKER_00: the United States,
[3:40] SPEAKER_00: or the Ukrainians,
[3:41] SPEAKER_00: with aid from,
[3:42] SPEAKER_00: among others,
[3:43] SPEAKER_00: the United States,
[3:44] SPEAKER_00: have been able to fight a significant military power,
[3:47] SPEAKER_00: a much bigger power than Iran,
[3:49] SPEAKER_00: to a standstill for a cost per year
[3:53] that is no more apparently than what this venture that Trump
[3:58] has launched is likely to cost.
[4:02] SPEAKER_00: This is an amazing waste of resources, and it's telling you both that
[4:09] SPEAKER_00: Crazy stuff.
[4:09] SPEAKER_00: I mean, to do all of this without any real plan, any real endgame.
[4:13] But also,
[4:14] gosh,
[4:15] having allies,
[4:16] having people who trust you and whom you can trust is a big
[4:19] deal.
[4:20] SPEAKER_00: We're going to miss the fact that we used to be that kind of country.
[4:23] SPEAKER_00: Take care.

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