$1,000,000,000,000.00
As of today, that's how much we've spent just in direct costs so far on the stupid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
One trillion dollars, gone. And we're just getting warmed up...there are trillions more in future direct and indirect costs coming.
These two wars mutilated our economy. There's no other way to say it. We've taken a huge amount of wealth and done things with it that damaged the economy. People are out of work and hurting today because we chose to launch two wars that aren't worth the cost.
The most glaring example of this dynamic is the use of hundreds of billions of taxpayer money to invade and occupy Iraq, which led to higher oil prices, which hit taxpayers again in their pocketbooks.
Many other examples exist: We pay to train American kids to kill in Afghanistan. We pay to ship them overseas where they die or get injured. We pay for medical care for the survivors. Their families lose both the wounded's income and often lose additional income when loved ones reduce work hours to stay home and care for the wounded.
The list of these vicious cycles goes on and on. In all cases, our government actually charges us for the privilege of having an even harder time making it in this tough economy.
Actually, it's worse than that. The government charges us for the privilege of having a tough economy in the first place.
According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research's (CEPR) Dean Baker:
"In standard economic models, defense spending is a direct drain on the economy, reducing efficiency, slowing growth and costing jobs. ...[S]tandard economic models...project that the increase in defense spending since 2000 will cost the economy close to two million jobs in the long run."
Baker's point in his article was that groups that scream about potential "job loss" from government "interference" never put that "loss" in any context. Government spending does stimulate economic activity during a downturn. The question is, how stimulative is one type of spending versus another? So let's make sure we're playing fair and put this in some perspective in terms of job creation.
It turns out that, excluding tax cuts for consumption, war spending is the least stimulative type of government spending.
So if you take $1 billion in taxpayer dollars and spend it on war versus on building energy efficient homes and other infrastructure, the opportunity cost for that spending is 4,249 potential jobs. Spending it on war versus mass transit costs you 11,240 potential jobs.
Now consider that $1 trillion is one thousand billion. Because we're spending so many billions--now trillions--of dollars on these two wars, we're losing hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of potential jobs.
PERI concludes that:
...[B]y addressing social needs in the areas of health care, education, education, mass transit, home weatherization and infrastructure repairs, we would also create more jobs and, depending on the specifics of how such a reallocation is pursued, both an overall higher level of compensation for working people in the U.S. and a better average quality of jobs.
These lost potential jobs aren't even the whole picture. We also lose the fruits of spending that money in more productive ways, which, according to the National Priorities Project, include:
But hey, at least these wars are working out well for BP, right?
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No one is watching D of D. You should. http://www.defense.gov/Contracts
No one is watching the flood of contracts at D o D.
Mission Essential Personnel, Columbus, Ohio, was awarded on May 7 a $679,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity with cost-plus-award fee contract. This contract action seeks the continuation of linguist/translation services which provide our forces with the ability to communicate effectively with the local populace, gather information for force protection, and interact with foreign military units in Afghanistan. Work is to be performed in Afghanistan (86.202 percent); Bahrain (0.926 percent); Djibouti (0.102 percent); Germany (2.081 percent); HOA (1.230 percent); Italy (0.92 percent); Kenya (0.174 percent); Kirgizia (0.042 percent); Qatar (0.163 percent); Redstone Arsenal, Ala. (0.002 percent); Camp Pendleton, Calif. (1.235 percent); Los Angeles, Calif. (0.002); Atlanta, Ga. (0.002 percent); Fort Gordon, Ga., (4.743 percent); Hunter Army Airfield, Ga. (0.504 percent); Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii (0.401 percent); Camp Lejeune, N.C. (0.501 percent); Fort Bragg, N.C. (0.127 percent); Nashville, Tenn. (0.001 percent); Fort Hood, Texas. (0.343 percent); San Antonio, Texas. (0.0104 percent); Arlington, Va. (0.027 percent); Fort Belvoir, Va. (0.144 percent); and Quantico, Va., (0.017 percent
They may be losing their home to foreclosure, unable to afford medical care and soon to be starving, but, by golly, at least we won't be killed by terrorists . . .
http://www.tatersandgators.com
The civilian jobs lost were from the financial debacle, not fro military spending.
Put your anger and disgust where it truly belongs. Deregulation of the financial markets.
Tonnes of heavy machinery were smuggled out to Iran and Jordan; millions of barrels of oil were siphoned off to the Revolutionary Guard in Iran via the southern oil fields and the Shatt Al Arab waterway. This left Iraq's infrastructure in shambles.
Remember, Powell told Bush, if you break it, you pay for it. Iraq is broken and will continue to be so.
The most glaring example of this dynamic is the use of hundreds of billions of taxpayer money to invade and occupy Iraq, which killed anywhere between 160,000 and 1.4 million Iraqis who had nothing to do with the 9/11, Al-Qaeda or WMDs. The invasion devastated Iraq's resurfacing economy, which had been crippled by 13 years of sanctions. It also buried what was left of the most advanced medical health care system in the Middle East and North Africa. Hundreds of Iraqi scientists, professors, teachers, and deans of universities were assassinated in the vacuum created after Bremer's disbanding of the Iraqi army. Since 1940, successive Iraqi governments had sent these people to the west to gain advanced degrees in neurology, medicine, agriculture, remote sensing, electrical and mechanical engineering and so on.
All of this has also burdened the US economy in several ways, most notable of which is the introduction of "civilian" contractors to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure. With nothing really rebuilt, they overcharged the US government, which in turn burns the American taxpayer.
I agree that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are "mutilating" the US economy, but to overlook the impact of these wars on the very countries involved is dishonest.
My clarification?
Get precise with our words.
There are no "wars."
No "war" has ever been declared by Congress in either Iraq or Afghanistan. IF we employed the correct words, i.e., "military invasion to find WMDs in Iraq," then our ears would hear the absurdity. While "cumbersome," precise language offers awareness and clarity and questions.
However, the uber-patriotic-inducing, testosterone-fueled, attention-getting word, "war," works just as King George and Prince Dick desired. Now if only our President today would educate by not using the word and state the reason why.
Ironically, words and precise language are our currency too. Thank you, Mr. Crowe, for your words on this topic.
Bravo!
Ahhh, how convenient. Too bad there is no way to make the costs of waging "war" on 1 1/2 billion people go away.
This is a huge waste for us. Clearly, our military wants to be able to control the world, except maybe for actual areas of high risk, like Russia or China. This has turned out to mean that the actual country we live in, the USA, must continually have the average quality of life spiraling downhill.
We can always blame this on the unions. Less unions, more Massey!! No unions, more BP!!! Keep them campaign contributions coming!
where are the JOBS Promised from TARP and the Stimulus Act AND TWO Jobs BILLS?
787 Billion Tart
700 Billion Stimulus Act
200 Billion 2 Jobs Bills
in one year?
Yeah, the 'war' drained the economy
add in PIPP, TALF, AIG, BM, Maiden I,II,III Unemployment extensions, Car Credit, ear marks
and Health Care
Yeah, the 'war'...
"Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword"
America certianly lives by the sword...