What We Could Have Spent The Iraq War Funding On

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — When the Sunday morning political pundits began talking last year about the tab for the war in Iraq hitting $1 trillion, Rob Simpson sprang from his sofa in indignation.

"Why aren't people outraged about this? Why aren't we hearing about it?" Simpson said. And then it came to him: "Nobody knows what a trillion dollars is."

The amount _ $1,000,000,000,000 _ was just too big to comprehend.

So Simpson, 51, decided to embark "on an unusual but intriguing research project" to put the dollars and cents of the war into perspective. He hired some assistants and spent 12 months immersed in economic data and crunching numbers.

The result: a slim but heavily annotated paperback released, "What We Could Have Done With the Money: 50 Ways to Spend the Trillion Dollars We've Spent on Iraq."

Simpson is no geopolitical, macro-economic, inside-the-Beltway expert. He's an armchair analyst and creative director for an advertising agency, a former radio announcer and music critic in Ontario and a one-time voiceover actor.

His alternative spending choices reflect his curiosity and wit.

He calculates $1 trillion could pave the entire U.S. interstate highway system with gold _ 23.5-karat gold leaf. It could buy every person on the planet an iPod. It could give every high school student in the United States a free college education. It could pay off every American's credit card. It could buy a Buick for every senior citizen still driving in the United States.

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"As I started exploring, I was really taken aback by some of the things that can be done, both the absurd and the practical," Simpson said.

America could the double the 663,000 cops on the beat for 32 years. It could buy 16.6 million Habitat for Humanity houses, enough for 43 million Americans.

Now imagine investing that $1 trillion in the stock market _ perhaps a riskier proposition today than when Simpson finished the book _ to make it grow and last longer. He used an accepted long-term return on investment of 9 percent annually, with compounding interest.

The investment approach could pay for 1.9 million additional teachers for America's classrooms, retrain 4 million workers a year or lay a foundation for paying Social Security benefits in 65 years to every child born in the United States, beginning today.

It's too recent to make Simpson's list, but that $1 trillion could also have paid for the Bush administration's financial bailout plan, with $300 billion to spare. It might not be enough, however, to pay for the war in Iraq. Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz has recently upped his estimate of the war's cost to $3 trillion.

Simpson created a Web site companion to his book that lets you go virtual shopping with a $1 trillion credit card. Choices range from buying sports franchises to theme parks, from helping disabled veterans to polar bears.

Click on Air Force One, the president's $325 million airplane. The program asks: "Quantity?"

"At one point we couldn't find anybody who actually stuck with it long enough to spend $1 trillion," Simpson said. "It will wear you out."

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On the Net:

http://www.whatwecouldhavedonewiththemoney.com/

Comments

[Hare]

This is what funny business is. They never have money for improving education, helping the poor, affordable healthcare for all, housing the homeless, fixing roads bridges and other infrastructure etc. Improving cities built playgrounds, but they sure find money for wars and then they say they must cut nickels and dimes social programs remaining until...ka put goes the weasel and then they find money for Wall Street cats. I thought there is no money that is why is funny business.

[Hare]

This is what funny business is. They never have money for improving education, helping the poor, affordable healthcare for all, housing the homeless, infracstructure of roads bridges etc. Improving cities built playgrounds, but they sure found money for wars and then they say they must cut nicles and dimes social programs remaining until...kaputs goes the weasel and then they found money for fat wall street cats. I thought there is no money.

[jcdf]

Or we could have used the money to develop the new green technologies so we don't need to go to war for oil. Imagine that?

[neuron]

Can't you see
it all makes perfect sense
expressed in dollars and cents
pounds shillings and pence
Can't you see
it all makes perfect sense.

Roger Waters

[gracieloufreebush]

That money or even a small percentage of it would never have been used to benefit the American people. The Republicans congress and administration would have claimed that there is no money for those kinds of programs. But, if the money was to be used for big business, the military, or the rich then the Republicans would be asking them "how much do you want?"

[Stilts9]

USA could have produced 89,000 WMD warheads that it didn't find in Iraq.

[newworldman777]

But...but...but look what that trillion dollars purchased! We are now the master of our Mesopotamian Empire, dictating to those people just how they should live their lives and govern themselves. We have removed from power a dictator who had presented no imminent threat to America. We have conquered an oil-rich country that supposedly would finance the war, but so far has not even come close to doing so. We freed a populace that supposedly would greet us as liberators, but has killed thousands of our troops in the interim. We have inflicted substantial harm to our world reputation because of our aggressive illegal invasion of a sovereign country, which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and the displacement of millions of others. We have made the "war on terror" more dangerous then ever. Most importantly, we have enabled the Iraqis to elect their own leaders, so that, when they have a legimate election, the can "pull a Hamas" and elect an Anti-American and anti-Israel leader who will vow "Death to America! Death to Israel!"

Those neocons certainly are a smart bunch -- most certainly much smarter than the rest of us. In fact, they know everything, and we are most fortunate to have an equally smart bunch of voters who would vote them into power. Where would we be without them? What's a measly trillion dollars when you compare what it could have bought against what we actually achieved with it?

[ProudAmerican23]

Actually there was nothing illegal about the war in Iraq. Go read the ceasefire agreement from the first gulf war.

[deepfreezevideo]

Never mind the morality of the war or the absolute stupidity of the war.
IT WAS LEGAL!

[topkatnc]

Maybe we should ask for bailout too. We could all just stop paying our credit cards. What will they do put us all in jail ?

[topkatnc]

From day one of this mess I said that americans should have all credit cards marked paid in full for our money that was given to them. THE WORKING CLASS SHOULD GET SOMETHING FROM THIS !!

[TruepatriotinRI]

This is one of the saddest things I have ever read. All the lives, all the human potential, who knows what disease or social problems could have been cured with a trillion dollars. A trillion dollars spent internally would have made us a stronger and greater country than ever. Instead, it was spent to satiate the unbridled greed of the war profiteers!

[Hare]

What is sad is how half of Americans let themselves be fooled into operation Iraqui Freedom. weapons of mass destruction, Terrorists for if you are not with us, you are against us, freedom fries and homeland security a le 1984. For those that voted for Bush I hope you learned your lesson. Educate yourself read, research and don't follow blindly

[newworldman777]

The vast majority of those so-called "low-information voters" (another name for idiots) who voted for Bush are now going to vote for McCain. They want to see America continue to swagger around the globe like a big bully, pushing around others -- especially Islamic countries -- who have the audacity to criticize us, or disagree with us, or worship some "false god," such as Allah. When the election results are in, I will guarentee you that nearly 50% of the electorate, who desparately want four more miserable years of the same, will have cast their vote for McCain. These small-minded people have learned absolutely nothing. To me, that sad fact alone speaks volumes about our population. Very disturbing, to say the least.

[Blue in NH]

In 1961, out-going Republican president Eisenhower warned of the rise of a self -perpetuating military-industrial complex. History has proven him correct. Unchecked military spending led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and today threatens to bankrupt the US. Wars like the one in Iraq happen because the US administration has the military power to engage in such adventures and their industrial backers want a market for more arms. It's time to say ENOUGH!

[levi501]

Great point. I think instead of government spending $1 trillion on anything we'd be better off. Whether it's military or social programs don't you think our government spends too much? Wouldn't we be better off if more Americans kept their money?

Levi

[Blue in NH]

So you want to eliminate social programs like social security and medicare? Good luck selling that. And if the government doesn't build our infrastructure, who will. Personally, I think that the balance among federal, state, and local governments has become skewed in favor of the feds, but that doesn't alter the need for government--at all levels--to provide the services we the public demand.

[foxfan]

Interesting viewpoint. Sacrifice national security and give the money to those who have over extended themselves. Now that just might be socialism. However, I think investing the money in the education of our young would be an excellent alternative.

[Blue in NH]

In a very real way, excessive spending on the military is the greatest threat to our national security. And the Iraq war has made us much less safe.

[1984everyday]

What about the the cost of innocent lives!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeyUTsUIzJg

[Pupadup4oBama]

And it's amazing to me the supporters of McPalinBush think Obama is a socialist.
They think their money will go to "spreading the wealth" where do they think the money from the WAR is coming from (sorry, illegal occupation). It's on a credit card bill from CHINA!

[bearcck]

Gee, Johnny, how many earmarks would you have to veto to make up for $1 trillion dollars!

Next time Johnny gets cocky with our military....hand him or Cindy the bill....he may re-think his "I know how to win wars" position. I would appreciate if he knew how to win one war never mind two or three. If he knew how to win wars why didn't he stay in the Navy .....or did they vet him already years ago!