The $3 Trillion Shopping Spree
THAT WAS FUN. Just got done spending $3 trillion. Try it yourself - it's a lot harder than you might think. Honestly, it would have been a whole lot easier just to follow the president's example and blow it all on one illegal occupation of Iraq.
$3 trillion is the projected cost of the Iraq War according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard lecturer Linda Bilmes. That's a whole lot of zeros, but what does it really amount to? How many homes would it buy for Americans who've fallen victim to the subprime meltdown? How many debts would it pay off for developing nations? For that matter, how many of those new Mac Air laptops would it buy me? As it turns out, one whole hell of a lot of all of those things combined.
Try it yourself: http://3trillion.org
What a colossal waste of money. What a tragedy of lost opportunities. Where is all this money going? KBR, Halliburton and the other war profiteers have made out like bandits in Iraq, while taxpayers and their own workers get screwed. KBR enjoys contracts worth $16 billion, and still avoids paying Medicare and Social Security taxes by hiring workers through shell companies in the Cayman Islands.
In the Bush Administration's defense, of course, they had no idea it would cost this much when they embarked on their insane crusade (in fact, they still don't) Along with cheering Iraqis, arsenals of WMDs, and leprechauns and unicorns, the White House expected to be presenting the American people with a much, much smaller bill for its services. Back in 2003, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld (remember him?) was fond of quoting the projected cost at $50 billion.
You may recall that about six years ago, Bush's own chief economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, was pushed out of the White House for suggesting that the war could cost up to a trifling $200 billion - still $2.8 trillion off the mark. "Baloney" was how Rumsfeld characterized Lindsey's estimate, before quoting the $50 billion figure.
With Rumsfeld gone, one would hope to see a little more honest accounting out of the Defense Department. So what does The Pentagon have to say about Stiglitz's sobering calculation? That number "seems way out of the ballpark to me," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.
Could $3 trillion cover the cost of a worthwhile accountant at the DoD? Apparently that's the only thing it can't afford.
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That dollar figure frankly just is too high to comprehend for many people. It's one thing to hear that a CEO or celebrity or rare painting is worth a massive amount of money, because we're so disconnected from those things that it only generates a sense of awe (and perhaps jealousy) to know their worth. However, the devastation from the Iraq occupation and war in the Middle East -- not only in monetary terms, but also in lives lost -- approaches us on such a personal level that it's impossible to fathom, so instead we distance ourselves from it (much like a painful memory). It's sad we have to put in perspective the toll of the Iraq War essentially by "dumbing it down" to a consumer level: "Yes, but how many PlayStations does it equal?" Hopefully more people will visit 3trillion.
The greed has gotten to a place where it is just "sick". How much does one need for creature comforts or even to live a life of dignity? Things have gotten completely out of hand. All you have to do is read the "life section" of any newspaper or, if you are bored enough, watch the "home-improvement channels". It is sad.
Some people are getting so "rich" and others are hurting so bad. This is not the way Amercia is supposed to be.
Cool...bes
Considering Lockheed over-billed the Pentagon $265 million and the Pentagon never noticed UNTIL the actual contractor told them about the error...I would agree that the boys at the Pentagon could use a little bean counting help...
Looking at another report by the Joint Economic Committee, which estimates a $3.5 trillion cost through 2017 for the Afghan and Iraq wars (not including the "Bomb, Bomb Iran" McCain ditty)...
The war will cost the average U.S. family $46,400.
Per person, the total cost, given these estimates, would be $11,627, or $830 per year....
Keep on Rockin' in the Free World!
Well I can afford to pretty much feed and house just about everybody and make sure everyone has water that won't kill them. That sounds like a pretty good way to spend the money.
Now if only we could convince Mayor Daley to turn Chicago green with solar and wind!
That's just plain silly, people NEED water and food! What fun is that? AHHHHHH . . .
Cost of a firecracker to blow up a frog: One dollar
Cost of conducting an evil war to make your friends rich: 3 trilion dollars
Cost of destabilizing the world and destroying souls: Priceless
You can't fix a knife wound without pulling out the knife. And breaking something doesn't give you the power to also fix it. That's why you're not supposed to do (or allow) stupid things to be done. It was irresponsibility that put us in Iraq and it's irresponsibility that keeps us there.
You know, I think you might be on to something! Let me make a radical thought . . . Do you suppose all the Iraq people we haven't already killed, maimed, or driven out with security such as it is . . . MAYBE they are tired of our plan to HELP them? Somebody call KBR & Blackwater . . . We are moving over to Iran, right?
I'm staying sane in the hope, a president elected with money raised from the folks who they are working for, just might take a shot making better ethical choices, when doing things in all our names!
PLEASE!
Just the other day I was wondering what the paltry $6 million we spent on cruise missles to kill one man (and 16 innocent people... that's assuming the one was actually guilty) in Somalia could have done for those starving there... and if food and water would have increased our security more than having one militant running loose...
If I had 3 trillion to spend, I'd spend half to build a national integrated water system, anchored by solar powered desalination plants on the coasts.
With Americans from Georgia to California suffering shortages last year, and future droughts ever more likely due to global warming, it's hard to believe nobody's doing anything.
The other half would buy a heck of a lot of solar panels to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels.
Dear Mr. Cusack,
even if I cannot even come close to a realistic imagination of how and on what to spend $3 trillion, what I do have a pretty good sense of is the sheer salacity of that amount of money spent on the Iraq war. This might not help you, but again and again I'm happy that Germany - my home country - refused to join.
Even if Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes did an inclusive calculation integrating also approximations for probable future bills, I am convinced that they are not far away from the "real" amount. But sadly, I think, that your DoD knows it very well, too. They always do.
Sometimes it is my impression that your government is trying you, that it has forgotten what they're there for, that the last twenty years of being the only super power in the world took the ability for self-reflection and the consciousness of vulnerability. I like the North Americans but sometimes it's really hard to do so.
Dear Mr. Cusack, I have read somewhere that your new movie "War, Inc." is coming into the theaters in North America on May 23rd. I sincerely wish you and the movie the greatest possible success and I hope it is going to be shown in Europe as well. You know, we Europeans love intelligent, critical and satirical stuff :-)
And it is persons like you that keep my trust in the North American people.
Please do not lump Canadians in with Americans. Remember that our past Prime Minister also refused to attack Iraq, and Canada has sent ZERO people into Iraq to rape that country.
In reference to the 3 trillion spent, it is actually starting to pay dividends (assuming you think in the sick way that Cheney et al. do).
According the Dept of Energy's website, the amount of oil finding its way to the U.S. is starting to crank up. I should state this is the "official" amounts. Who knows how much "unofficial" oil finds it way into Exxon, Chevron, and other oil company tankers.
From the DoE website (forgive the formatting):
Crude Oil Imports
(Thousand Barrels per Day)
Country Feb-08 Jan-08 YTD 2008 Feb-07 YTD 2007
CANADA 1,920 1,944 1,933 1,840 1,848
SAUDI ARABIA 1,614 1,479 1,544 1,185 1,382
MEXICO 1,231 1,198 1,214 1,358 1,398
NIGERIA 982 1,163 1,075 1,061 1,085
VENEZUELA 945 1,135 1,043 1,115 1,031
IRAQ 780 543 658 325 433
So we are seeing a jump of 237,000 barrels month over month, and an increase of 455,000 barrels from a year ago in Iraq.
100,000 barrels at $110 a barrel = 11 million dollars/day .
Run the math yourselves. It won't be long before the oil companies are pulling $10 billion/year out of Iraq. That is just the stuff on the books. It was indeed a good economic decision to destroy Iraq, if you are an oil executive, or a thrall of theirs.
Hi madprophet,
I apologize for mixing Canadians with Americans. I am aware of the differences (I have spent some time living in Canada and I love you guys) and I didn't mean to offend you. What got into my head though is our current dispute about our shares of military investments in Afghanistan. This is another topic but let me say one thing. There is one good thing about the German history of the 20th century. Now we are extremely cautious and mostly quite uncomfortable when it comes to our obligations along with NATO operations to attack/invade or just show military presence in other countries. Afghanistan is causing our people extreme bellyache and were trying to salve our concience by keeping up our mission of "just" helping to build up a functioning civil infrastructure. And then, of course, there is always the financial argument, which in fact, weighs a lot over here.
But you are right, probably the Iraq war does pay off for some people and companies, so they just laugh about our struggles to keep straight.
Thanks a lot for your comment and again, my apologies for mixing the North Americans!
Actually, you'd be surprised what the DoD doesn't know (or maybe you wouldn't..
Chances are, nobody with enough brainpower to comprehend the true costs is allowed near the top of the chain.
Hi egal :-) (Do you know that "egal" in German means "don't care" or "whatever"?) But back to matters, I have a really hard time trying to comprehend that the U.S. DoD has not known or couldn't estimate the true costs! This is not going into my head! And often, when the "true facts" get uncovered, they always say, they hadn't known when in fact there are millions of evidences demonstrating that they had. But I agree with you that the chances are high that nobody with enough brainpower to comprehend the costs would have been allowed to bother them. But then again I ask, how is this possible? This is shattering my world view and even if I know - as a social psychologist - what people are capable of I still need to keep up my trust in humankind and in democracy and in the fact that there are always people with power to bring such desastrous decisions to a halt.
Thanks for replying! I really appreciate it.
Anne
I'm not really sure this is a war, so much as an open ended police action, babysitting the Sunni and Shia from obliterating each other and keeping Iran from overtaking Iraq.
Yes, guns are involved, high tech weaponry and thousands upon thousands of soldiers, like Viet Nam, but there's no definition for victory, save for success as George Bush tells us. We've won when we've won.
Won what? Joseph Hellers remains are spinning a whirlwind in his grave. Delivered democracy to people who are tribal in nature, elitist when it comes to their preferred brand of Islam, and who never in a million years would acknowledge the single most important foundational tenet our forefathers posited as self evidenciary when creating this republic, the notion that all men are created equal.
And the problem is we've approached this country, as we approached Viet Nam, hoping to convince the Iraqi people of their shared human commonality, by siding with some factions, paying off others, treating them like second class citizens and running roughshod over their nation. What more ringing endorsement exists for democracy than that?
It's a philosophical problem, not a militaristic one. The price tag on the militaristic solution will continue to escalate until we address the real problem in Iraq.
BTW my solution, take about $1500 in American dollars to the nearest Bagdad Kinkos, and print a bunch of copies with single question and two possible answers for the Iraqi's to check.
Do you think all Iraqi's are created equal.
_____ yes _______no
If most check no, let's leave.
I went with clean drinking water, medicinal marajuana and evidence based cost effective medicine for everybody and still had enough cash left for a Bert's Bees Head to Toe Starter Kit and Astroglide for all. Huzzah.
"Leader Of Al Qaida In Iraq Arrested By Iraqi Army"
mission accomplished? can we go home now? 100 more years?
lets party! yellowcake will be served in aluminum tubes.....
like whoah!
d
Thanks for the web link and terrific perspective, John, although many people on the site have already made my same choices or spent the $3 TRILLION better than I could. I especially liked the spending of one 'Tim', and would love the results also.
I'm very anxiously awaiting the release of "WAR, Inc." later this month and plan to see it early and more than once. Thank you for your dedication of bringing some enlightenment to the citizens in OUR country, and well deserved condemnation to the criminal leadership that's betrayed us. Your widespread efforts are greatly appreciated by many, as I'm sure will be the tragicomedy of your movie, "WAR, Inc".
Mr. Cusack, let me ask you this, does our conduct in Iraq create a duty, on behalf of the U.S., to provide humanitarian and rebuilding relief? I think if you look at our country’s history, you’ll see we have a bad habit of neglecting, or more accurately never considering, the public health opportunity cost of war. We get out when everyone yells loudly and in unison. Then, we keep the people pacified by not reporting what happens after we leave. We’re back to that whole scenario of what happens in the world while everyone is screaming “here kitty kitty” and how can it be changed? There’s no penance, no lesson to remind everyone that war is not a preemptive strike. It’s a catalyst for disease (even diseases we don’t see in this country anymore) and extreme poverty. And this time, it’s our fault.
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