I was just wondering how expansive the category of “other things that the US is not doing, or could do” could be and still be relevant. A better example than attacking Iran might be “buying more fighter planes” or some other retention of Afghan war resources within the Pentagon.

Or to switch the topic one could say that the opportunity cost of the current US health reform proposals is increasing the USAID budget or for that matter a single-payer health system. These might indeed be better uses of the resources but if they are politically unrealistic I’m not sure I would accept them as good argument against the current proposals.

In any case, the cost benefit analysis also takes into account lives here, so even if the money saved by leaving Afghanistan were not well-spent, the lives saved (both combatants from a number of countries and civilians) on balance would count for a lot.

This is sparked by watching Krugman debate Bjorn Lomberg on Fareed Zakaria. Lomberg said something like “sure climate change is a problem that needs to be addressed, but look at all the other problems that need to be addressed, e.g. global poverty.”

Krugman’s response was basically that that was BS because it wasn’t like the morning after Mitch McConnell defeated a climate bill he was going to propose using the resources saved to increase development aid to Africa.

Actually, I’m too busy to look into this now myself. But then it’s not my full time job to write articles on the subject. Or yours.

The other thing Walzer doesn’t bother to do is a bit of basic math when he’s weighing costs and benefits. After doing this hand waving to show how totally fair minded he is about the whole question of costs and benefits, he just moves on to the next question. But wait! He could have mentioned how much the current surge in Afghanistan is going to cost (like, in terms of money), and compared it to the costs of other things that the US is not doing, or could do. A genuinely honest look—even a quick one—at costs and benefits here would include a number of two.

It’s a fact free zone! Hey, we’re doing moral philosophy! We can just bracket empirical questions and move on!