What does the recent wars cost you, USA? Be ready for outrage

I had no idea how much money/benefits my community/state/city has lost.

How many teachers salaries were cut for war spending? How much in healthcare? Music and Art studies for our children?

The list goes on: Affordable housing units. Job Training. Government Jobs. Medical research. Environmental research.

You should be outraged.

I know I am. We point alot of fingers at our leaders for squandering money. But of all the money spent/wasted, I think our recent wars take the cake. We are in a recession, we are struggling. But money has been provided for other purposes beyond the well-being of our country.

Lets look at some figures. Pure math:

Cost of War in Iraq & Afghanistan
$969,714,973,421

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f0c771b07bb1.png[/atsimg]

Now, for you personally: Use the calculator and post your results.

Click here to use the calculator.
Simply put in your area, and state.

Here are my stats:

Taxpayers in Georgia will pay $26.2 billion for total Iraq & Afghanistan war spending since 2001. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

6,658,263 People with Health Care for One Year OR
665,351 Public Safety Officers for One year OR
430,392 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year OR
5,272,609 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
4,715,898 Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550 OR
216,571 Affordable Housing Units OR
14,811,320 Children with Health Care for One Year OR
3,691,570 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR
447,788 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
20,417,138 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year

Thats crazy. Simply amazing.

That personally offends me. I will say this: If we cannot start getting together globally, accepting one another and accepting peace, we are due for extinction. I dont usually preach neo-hippie values, but this is cold hard truth. The advances that could be made in the place of violence could be astronomical. We could have real renwable resource. We could be healthy. The millions without jobs could have employment, doing something they enjoy. Our economy could be back on track.

We could be the nation that leads the way to advancement, and we could be recognized as the greatest and most influential nation on the planet.

But money isnt the only cost of war, as some of us know personally. I leave you with this final bit of math:

Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In US War And Occupation Of Iraq "1,366,350"

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In U.S. War And Occupation Of Iraq 4,700

Number Of International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan : 1,687

And These numbers continue to grow.

Yes but remember our slogan Freedom Isn't Free, and look the other way when another black budget project is approved!

www.peterrussell.com...

Here is a video which also shows the monetary costs of the war. After they come home, many soldiers are traumatized or crippled. These people and their families often have to pay a very high price for the rest of their lives. But the biggest price pay of cause the Iraqi and Afghan people.

One Day = $720 Million

Here are links to a few more statistics about the Iraq war:
usliberals.about.com...
usliberals.about.com.../XJ&zTi=1&sdn=usliberals&cdn=newsissues&tm=73&f=11&tt=2&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.brookings.edu/iraqindex

reply to post by Signals


I see that the abortions and death counters go pretty fast...but the birth and population growth counters go faster.

The military dollars spent on the counter is a figure that I cant even imagine.

Is there even that much money on the planet, Signals?
I mean..really?

reply to post by InertiaZero


$229,750,xxx,xxx - yeah there is!

War is THE biggest business there is! And the most profitable!

reply to post by InertiaZero


no there is not that much money at the moment in u.s reserves nor will there be in the next 30 years,..

sometime one has to stop and ponder if it all was worth it in the end....

we are the policeman of the world...it's obvious...we have been in some conflict or war continously for decades...why would any american government elected, stop our wars?...this was a silly pipe dream thought up in the 60's, and some still protest the war(s), what a useless waste of time and energy, for people who think they have some type of power to stop the U.S. from going into a war.....by the way, the easter bunny is hiding your treats as we speak.

reply to post by InertiaZero

I had no idea how much money/benefits my community/state/city has lost.

How many teachers salaries were cut for war spending? How much in healthcare? Music and Art studies for our children?

The list goes on: Affordable housing units. Job Training. Government Jobs. Medical research. Environmental research.

You should be outraged.

Zero.

Everything is borrowed money including the 5-7 trillion(non-war) government has spent since 2001.

Yes, we should be outraged, but not just because of the war alone. Spending as a whole is out of control.

reply to post by jam321


So we can borrow money for destruction and war and world policing...but not to help out our own people. Cool.

I worded my statement wrong though, I meant to point out the money used for war, regardless of where it comes from, and what it could be used for.

The calculator represents state taxes, not money borrowed.

[edit on 11-3-2010 by InertiaZero]

america serves the wealthy and corporate. the actions of our country speak louder than any words. the american dream is something you have when you sleep. save your emotional energy for you and your family, instead of something you cannot change.

reply to post by InertiaZero


I see your point about the war. I have no qualm about it. But I am against spending money we don't have period.

IMO, people expect too much from government in the first place. At what point should people stop depending on government and start relying on themselves? I understand that some people really do need help from time to time. However, this dependency upon government is out of control and costing us big time.

I just think we would just be better off if government lives within its means and not try to help everyone in an effort to get votes.

Of course, we both know that isn't going to happen anytime soon.





on your thread.

reply to post by InertiaZero

I agree with everything you said, except the premise that government should spend on any of those things. How about let us keep our money and we can spend it on whats important to us.

reply to post by InertiaZero

This is from my area..
Taxpayers in Spokane, Washington will pay $556 million for total Iraq and Afghanistan war spending since 2001. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
88,204 People with Health Care for One Year OR
10,335 Public Safety Officers for One year OR
8,957 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year OR
92,901 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
100,182 Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550 OR
3,072 Affordable Housing Units OR
224,251 Children with Health Care for One Year OR
62,677 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR
9,093 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
495,310 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Yea

reply to post by baddmove


Thats crazy.

I wonder which area will pay out the most? Texas?