As reported by Duncan Mansfield, a Knoxvillian named Rob Simpson was indignant when he heard that the cost of war in Iraq had hit $1 trillion. So he spent a year of his life putting that cost in perspective in a book called What We Could Have Done With the Money: 50 Ways To Spend the Trillion Dollars We’ve Spent on Iraq.
From the Mansfield piece: “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 America 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 America.”
The author’s web site also has a nifty “shopping spree” tool where you can buy things like Lear Jets, the New York Yankees, Picasso paintings, etc, in a vain attempt to reach $1T.
This is an idiotic argument. The defense budget was slashed during the Clinton years to below $300 billion per year or less than 3% of the US GDP as compared to 5-6% during the Reagan years. Despite the added costs of war, the percentage has been about 4%. Adding up the TOTAL defense expenditures, even those that would be expended in peace time to add up to $1 Trillion is a publicity stunt.
The cost of 9/11, one day in our history, has been estimated to be $843 Billion. The fact that our practive miltary actions and the sacrifices of our service men and women have prevented another 9/11 from happening is of what value?
So, everybody in the world can have an iPod or the Iraqi people can have freedom and stability in their country. Seems like we spent the money wisely.
Now, how about making a comparison between the $700 billion bail out of the market and what else that money could buy? How many pig troughs can that money buy for Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Franklin Raines, and friends?