War often seems far removed from our daily lives. But the staggering price tag of global conflicts has major implications for all of us.Take the over $113 billion that the U.S. has poured into Ukraine in the past year. That number may be abstract, but it represents real trade-offs. Trade-offs that impact you and me.Let’s break it down.With $113 billion, we could have provided over 1.5 million low-income housing units here in the U.S. Or covered four years of college tuition for every high school senior graduating in 2023. Or fully transformed our energy grid to renewable sources.You get the idea. That’s some serious cash.Of course, there are always debates around government spending. But when we’re allocating hundreds of billions of dollars, it’s worth taking a hard look at the opportunity cost.

The Roots of the Conflict

To understand why we’re spending so heavily on Ukraine, we have to rewind to 2014. That’s when Russia rocked the world by annexing Crimea, kicking off nearly a decade of escalating tensions in the region.Fast forward to 2022, and Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The bloody conflict…