Incidentally: "And yet, a few hundred million pales when compared to..."

you could raise taxes on the rich to keep the savings sought in these budget proposals, but that's like spitting in God's face.

Take for example the cruise missiles.
This is hardware that has already been bought, and will cost the same if it is used or if it is not used. There is no 'resale' or 'salvage' value for a cruise missile. You may think that it costs $XXX to replace it when expended in combat, but it is an item that would be replaced anyway within the next 5 years or so due to obsolescence, or it would need to upgraded and maintained at a certain cost anyway. If a missile is at 'end of life', there is a cost to dispose of it. So basically that missile is going to cost you about 75% of it's value weather you use it or not. It's still money down the drain.

Our daily peacetime military costs several times what the actions in Libya are estimated to cost. At over $350 Billion, the F-35 fighter program costs 100's of times what the Libyan intervention costs. One Space Shuttle launch to a useless ISS costs a couple Billion dollars.

Personnel costs are fixed, the Airmen and Marines get paid the same regardless (no overtime in the military). Losing an F-15 is virtually no cost, since it is at end-of-life and would be retired fairly soon, and we have plenty of spares just sitting there in mothballs from squadrons that have transitioned to different aircraft, such as the F-22.

So military costs for an action as that being taken in Libya are not easy to calculate, and are from a hardware perspective maybe 1/5th or less than the apparent cost. The real cost is in fuel to fly the sorties, transport the inventories, etc.

All military suppliers should be forced to be either not for profit or capped at say 5% over costs. After all, everyone needs to sacrifice right? When war makes profit, corporations will always want war.

On a side point, what's more disturbing: FOX's completely lack of concern over the cost of wars, or that the Pentagon is so over-funded, they can start a brand new war without needing to request extra funds? Ugh...