Bombing other peoples' countries doesn't come cheap

The "allied" intervention in Libya may or may not serve the aspirations of Libyans. Presumably, since this is some kind of coalition effort, the United States taxpayer won't be on the hook for all the costs.

But those costs aren't small. Andrew Exum has an estimate for the first day.

A Tomahawk Missile cost $569,000 in FY99, so if my calculations are correct, they cost a little over $736,000 today assuming they are the same make and model. The United States fired 110 missiles yesterday, which adds up to a cost of around $81 million. That's twice the size of the annual budget of USIP, which the House of Representatives wants to de-fund, and is about 33 times the amount of money National Public Radio receives in grants each year from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which the House of Representatives also wants to de-fund in the name of austerity measures.

How long will it be before Republicans and some Dems start telling us we have to cut Social Security and Medicare to reduce the deficit that is being inflated by the Libyan adventure?

Just asking.