THE $2 TRILLION DOLLAR WAR

I found an article “The $2 Trillion Dollar War” published almost a year ago (12/15/6) on Rollingstone.com, written by Charles M. Young, and I had to include a few lines concerning the war in Iran… whoops… I mean Iraq….

It reminded me of something I forgot….”When America invaded Iraq in 2003, the Bush administration predicted that the war would turn a profit, paying for itself with increased oil revenues.”

Mr. Young has a conversation with Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize for economics who estimates the true cost of the war at $2.267 trillion. He explains how the money could have been spent…

“…One quarter of the war budget would have fixed Social Security for the next seventy-five years. George Bush says that Social Security is a major economic problem. IF you believe him – although there are many reasons not to believe him – the war is four times worse as an economic problem. With $2 trillion, we could have funded the entire world’s commitment to foreign aid to poor countries for the next twenty years.”

Just think of all the ways we could be spending that money, money we don’t have by the way.

- We could easily shore up the levy system around New Orleans
- We could pay the college tuition for all American children to attend a 4 year state university
- We could cover healthcare for every American
- We could be investing in alternative fuels so we aren’t dependent on middle east oil

The list is endless………