Price of U.S. wars: $4.4 trillion?

At a minimum, say the authors of the study, the final cost for these military engagements will be $3.7 trillion. But the report also points out that their estimates do not include at least $1 trillion more in interest payments and other costs that cannot yet be quantified. Indeed, the report criticized the U.S. Congress and the Pentagon for poor accounting.

The report puts the number of civilian deaths to date at approximately 137,000, and the total number of deaths attributable to military conflict in these countries, in uniform or out of uniform, to around 225,000. The study also suggests that the number of war refugees and displaced persons now number around 7.8 million.

sanders.senate.gov...

So...let me get this straight.

We are looking at (at least) 4.4 trillions dollars we have spent on these wars.
137,000 CIVILIANS DEAD...225,000 have died in or out of uniform.
7.8 million people displaced or refugees.

And what is our reward for this?

LET'S CUT SOCIAL SECURITY!!!!!!!!!!
Obama puts social security and medicare cuts on the table

Let's keep paying for this madness and screw over the elderly!!!



This country is an embarrassment.

Do you honestly think they would cut social security?

IMO, it's a trial balloon to see how people will react.

Could I be wrong? Sure, but I don't think politicians want to see millions of people in the streets.

Majority of people on social security are barely making it as it is.

reply to post by David9176


Existing Thread:

This sums it up quite clearly. Follow the link to msnbc...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Americanist


Sorry, did not see it. searched 4.4 trillion on ats...but will check it out.

To Jam:

Would you put it past them after what we've been witnessing?

reply to post by David9176


I don't put anything pass them.

I know they will thinker with social security. In one way or another they have to. However, I think that sometimes we are fed bull to get us all hype up where we forget the real problems.

Problems like war and economy.

If they are serious about fixing the debt then by GOD let's do it all at once. Here's afew they can start with.

1) Balance Budget
2) End all wars
3) Cut defense
4) Eliminate the redundancy in government. Get rid of many of those unnecessary agencies and let the states fund things such as education.

Originally posted by David9176

LET'S CUT SOCIAL SECURITY!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a liittle tid bit from AARP, ..

Congress Must Prevent Harmful Cuts to Social Security and Medicare

Instead of making harmful cuts to Social Security and Medicare, Congress should cut down on waste, fraud and inefficiency throughout the health care system and target other wasteful and inefficient spending, including spending through the tax code in the form of loopholes and other unnecessary subsidies.

Huh!

Imagine that!

Our "public officials", who WE elected, actually trying to keep OUR social security money safe for our future?

Obviously that's not gonna' happen!

What do WW2, Korea, VietNam have in common? Paid for by increased taxes, especially on those who had the wealth to do so!

In 1950 and 1951 Congress increased taxes by close to 4% of GDP to pay for the Korean War, even though the high World War II tax rates were still largely in effect. In 1968, a 10% surtax was imposed to pay for the Vietnam War, which raised revenue by about 1% of GDP. And there was conscription during both wars, which can be viewed as a kind of tax that was largely paid by the poor and middle class--young men from wealthy families largely escaped its effects through college deferments.

source

That was the way Republicans used to think, "a kind of tax that was largely paid by the poor and middle class".

What did Pres Bush do when we were attacked on 9-11?? He told the poor and middle class to go shopping, go further into debt, and, oh, by the way, send your men and women to die in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the wealth holders? Cut your taxes!! This time you won't have to pay for any wars!!

Even Papa Bush's Gulf War was paid for with a lot of help from other nations.

The cost of the war to the United States was calculated by the United States Congress to be $61.1 billion. About $52 billion of that amount was paid by different countries around the world: $36 billion by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf States; $16 billion by Germany and Japan (which sent no combat forces due to their constitutions). About 25% of Saudi Arabia's contribution was paid in the form of in-kind services to the troops, such as food and transportation.

source

In a dysfunctional family, certain topics are never talked about. In this dysfunctional nation, most leaders are NOT talking about the cost of these wars on our budget, our debt! Rather, these elected leaders are like bullies who are really wussies who prey on the most vulnerable!

The costs of these wars were not paid as in past wars. This time the debt will be borne by those who cannot afford it, and by those who buried their war dead. Yes, embarrassing and shameful!

Just as we did in all prior military engagements the government created funds for these endeavors through a war tax. This could be implemented in different ways. A rise in the income tax, corporate tax, etc… but the costs were always offset, or at least were attempted to be offset. Couple those tax increases with rationing at home of paper, clothing, food, and other goods we could easily see how these wars were funded and why Americans were hesitant to participate in them.

However this has not been the case with the wars and interventions throughout the 21st century so-far. Our government believes they can venture into endless conflicts, spend infinite amounts of money, and not enforce any sort of austerity at home. Why is that? Well since Richard Nixon removed our dollar from being fixed to gold they are allowed to print however much money is needed to fund their engagements.

That is the reason Nixon took us off a fixed rate to the gold standard, the markets were losing trust in the dollar since government could not adequately maintain its spending. The Vietnam War, introduction of Medicare/Medicaid and Food Stamp program, all of that required large scale spending and since we already had tax rates around 70% there was not much left for government to do. So they decided that by allowing the Federal Reserve to print money endlessly they could spend without restrictions… and that they did.

About the same time Nixon took our dollar off the gold standard manufacturing began to rapidly collapse, real wages for the middle class stagnated and have never improved, the debt has skyrocketed, and we have been in a never ending cycle of wars, recessions, and inflation.

But trust me when I say this, Republicans love power and they will not sacrifice power for abolishing or even cutting Social Security.

All I can think of is what else that could have been spent on. Hunger? Cured for disease and illness? The economy?