Imagine if we were at war and our troops were on the front lines with a "worthy" adversary. Said enemy has a stronghold outside a very large city of ours predominately filled with those aged 75+. Initial estimates, which will later be revised lower, put deaths at 1-2% and casualties as high as 6% regardless of what we do.
We have a choice:
- Starve the enemy by shutting down the entire economy. We starve ourselves too, but the enemy dies... Until enemy reinforcements come.
Give the troops who signed up for the task the equipment and supplies needed to do their jobs and let them go to work.
It's rare in battle when destroying your own empire to fight an enemy is seen as a logically sound idea.