Cortez

We are demanding more to loan you the United States money because you are now getting so militarily adventurous and it is so insanely costly to do so.

$200 billion and counting the request right now on the war.

That's real money, okay?

That's the budget of major states for an entire year in the United States.

So this is it's about New York State to be specific.

So this is a serious financial issue.

And what I know, I think the onus is on the people who are pro prolonged war, who are pro intervention, whether it's in the Black Sea or the Persian Gulf.

Why should we be so intricately involved across the oceans in places that I would argue are not strategically important to the United States?

They're important to other people, maybe important to our allies, but not important to the United States.

And that it's worth borrowing the money and that it's worth risking

A fiscal nightmare scenario.

You know, right now as we speak, 10-year yield is up to 4.3%.

It's sustaining well above 4% now since the war started.

It's almost touched 4.5%.

What I would stipulate, Steve, as a guy who traded bonds for 25 years, if that 10-year yield gets anywhere near 5%, we've got a massive problem on our hands and a prolonged war will put it there.

Because already our biggest expense, even bigger than defense, at least in normal times, now the war might change this, but in normal times, even bigger than defense is interest on our debt.

So the reality is we have to be grownups here.

We can't do everything we want because we don't have the money.

So if this is worth doing for a prolonged period of time, and if this is worth

boots on the ground, not only do we have to make the case, not only do the war folks, pro-war folks have to make the case why it's strategically important, but also is it worth borrowing this much money to pay for?