News reports that ‘a pilot ejected safely’ from an F/A-18E launched from the USS Carl Vinson. The plane was ditched. What news didn’t report was that the unit cost for an F/A-18E is ~$66,900,000. So the question is simple: how many people died because the governmental/military priority was a warplane that’s rather difficult to land on an aircraft carrier in a ‘show of force’ action? Bear in mind that the unit cost is separate from the operational cost, which, over a number of years, rapidly proves similarly astronomical. What didn’t we spend on education, health care, infrastructure, environmental preservation… and the establishment of a survivable culture here at home? Answer: essentially everything.