Toronto Star: How The Iraq War's $2 Trillion Cost To U.S. Could Have Been Spent

[Hissyspit]

http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/295870

How the Iraq war's $2 trillion cost to U.S. could have been spent

Jan 21, 2008 04:30 AM
Craig and Marc Kielburger

- snip -

"Would the American people have had a different attitude toward going to war had they known the total cost?" Bilmes and Stiglitz ask in their report. "We might have conducted the war in a manner different from the way we did."

It's hard to comprehend just how much money $2 trillion is. Even Bill Gates, one of the richest people in the world, would marvel at this amount. But, once you begin to look at what that money could buy, the worldwide impact of fighting this largely unpopular war becomes clear.

Consider that, according to sources like Columbia's Jeffrey Sachs, the Worldwatch Institute, and the United Nations, with that same money the world could:

• Eliminate extreme poverty around the world (cost $135 billion in the first year, rising to $195 billion by 2015.)
  
  
• Achieve universal literacy (cost $5 billion a year.)
  
  
• Immunize every child in the world against deadly diseases (cost $1.3 billion a year.)
  
  
• Ensure developing countries have enough money to fight the AIDS epidemic (cost $15 billion per year.)

In other words, for a cost of $156.3 billion this year alone – less than a tenth of the total Iraq war budget – we could lift entire countries out of poverty, teach every person in the world to read and write, significantly reduce child mortality, while making huge leaps in the battle against AIDS, saving millions of lives.

Then the remaining money could be put toward the $40 billion to $60 billion annually that the World Bank says is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, established by world leaders in 2000, to tackle everything from gender inequality to environmental sustainability.

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[onethatcares]

1. but, we have to fight them over there, so we don't have to fight them here

and the rest of that bullshit.

It's not just the cost of the war and what it could have been spent on here or worldwide. It's the fact that while all this money has been borrowed from future generations, those future generations don't have a whole lot in the way to look forward too jobwise in order to pay that debt.

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

The last 7 years have offended my every sensibility

[Bright Eyes]

3. A tragic k&r

:cry:

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. I agree.

:cry: AND :mad:

[SpiralHawk]

4. "Move along. There is nothing to see here (smirk). - republicon corporate US media toadies

"How embarassing to have those Hosers from the Great White North publishing the truth. The nerve. Oh well, we will ensure that US citizens get only the slightest whiff of this truth."

- republicon corporate US media borg

[dipsydoodle]

5. A truly horrific state of affairs

serving only the interests of defence contractors. K & R.

[B Calm]

6. We could have a $22.00 an hr border guard every 10 feet, on both borders,

24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the next 50 years.

[Fresh_Start]

7. ..

..

[Thothmes]

9. What we could have done

I disagree with the conclusion. First, if we had not launched two wars, we would not have borrowed 2 trillion dollars from the future to pay for any of those projects. Second, even if we did have 2 trillion laying around loose, I think that there are sufficient problems in this country that should be addressed first. There are ruined cities in the south that need to be rebuilt. A nationwide, universal health program needs to be established,
Thousands of miles of roads, bridges, tunnels, electrical grid systems, water systems and sewer systems are dire need of maintenance. The homeless situation of hundreds of thousands of Americans needs to be addressed. An educational system that is faltering must be addressed. The energy needs of the country need to be answered by something other than oil and coal. A Social Security program that demographics will eventually impair.

The unfortunate fact is we will not tax for or borrow the 2 trillion dollars needed to adequately address any of the these problems. I have seen a lot of
thought here on the DU,that if we could only repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, that we could pay for all of these items. In my opinion, the money from repealing the Bush tax cuts would only address a small fraction of the total cost necessary to solve those problems.

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

10. K&R

We could have taken care of millions of people who really, really needed it. Think of all of the homeless, hungry, and struggling people who needed a hand up in the last several years. And think of all of the average Americans who are now in deep financially, and on the verge of joining the ranks of the homeless, hungry, and struggling. And that's just here in the U.S. We could have done so much good around the world too, through diplomatic, environmental, and humanitarian initiatives. The Iraq War was money wasted, and lives lost, for no good reason.

[Ganja Ninja]

11. Imagine how many solar or wind power generator plants we ..

could have built with that money.