US Suffers As Dollars Go to Iraq War
Washington has been deadlocked in a heated debate about the Iraq war for what seems like forever. Most Americans could probably tell you that 3,800 brave members of our military have been killed in the war, or that thousands more have come home with serious and debilitating injuries. Most Americans could probably tell you how long we’ve been at war (too long), or how many tours of duty their husbands, daughters, sons and neighbors have done.
I doubt, however, that most Americans could tell you how much this war is costing their families, how much money is being diverted from their children’s schools to pay for the war, or how much a disrupted Iraqi oil supply is hitting them at the pump.
The baseline budget numbers alone are mind-numbing: more than $490 billion in federal spending on the Iraq war so far — including interest on the war debt. That’s nearly 10 times the $50 billion the Bush administration originally estimated the war would cost. Yet President Bush has asked Congress to appropriate an additional $157 billion to the war just for next year.
The untold story — one every American needs to hear — is that the costs of this war go beyond these budget numbers. The Congressional Joint Economic Committee has determined that if the President’s 2008 funding request is approved, the full economic cost of the war — including the economic impact of deficit financing, the future care of our wounded veterans, and disruption in oil markets — will total $1.3 trillion just by the end of 2008.
That’s $16,500 for every family of four. And, if this war continues, that figure could jump to almost $37,000 for a family of four over the next decade.
The numbers may feel abstract, but the costs are real. The burden of war debt handed down to our children is real. The lost opportunities to invest here at home in jobs, productivity, roads, health care and education are real. And, the lives lost are real; of course, it’s impossible to put a price tag on human life, the ultimate cost that too many families have had to pay.
This year alone, the President has asked Congress to spend more on the Iraq war than the nation does annually on the entire American road and highway system. At a time when our levees and bridges are crumbling, we cannot afford to stop investing in our infrastructure.
The President has been squabbling with Congress about money for children’s health care, when about three months’ worth of Iraq war spending would have covered the entire five-year Children’s Health Insurance Program funding increase he recently vetoed. In fact, interest payments on the war debt in 2008 alone would fund the children’s health care program for over four years at the current funding level.
The President seems determined to keep his blinders on and push ahead with his failed Iraq war strategy. The administration is reportedly negotiating for an indefinite U.S. troop presence in Iraq.
In addition to the untold loss of life, a continuing U.S. military occupation of Iraq will cost the U.S. economy an additional $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion over the next decade, according to the JEC. That’s above and beyond what we’ve already spent on the war, and it’s money that will continue to be diverted from important national priorities.
Debate over the war is mired in rhetorical deadlock. Day-to-day conditions on the ground have provided much of the fodder for years of back-and-forth bickering.
A productive debate over the long-term economic impact of the war and its cost to future generations is long overdue. It’s no surprise, however, that this is a debate the Bush administration would rather hide from.
It can’t hide from the truth forever: we are all paying for the colossal costs of this war one way or another.
U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney is a Democrat who represents Nassau County. Her web site is at http://www.house.gov/maloney.
copyright 1996-2007, Capital Newspapers
Looks like Grover Norquist’s dream of a government decimated until it becomes responsible for military and police protection might come true if the Bush Budget Bash continues.
We from the poor and middle classes, while carrying the bulk of the tax burden, will then fulfill the Bush dream of “owning” our own health care, education, transit/transportation, snow plowing, and a million et ceteras that have traditionally made up the Common Good.
Maloney is being a bit disingenuous, to put it mildly. She should direct her analysis to her own leadership. Or possibly look at her own record of silence and cowardly votes vis a vis the invasions and occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan — and dare we mention in the US — Palestine.
Have a nice winter Holiday, Ms Maloney, as you work the corporate lobbying cocktail circuit along w/ your murderous leadership and your friends in the DLC.
Or, if you find these words harsh and are serious about what you write, you can go out and work among your party to hasten the impeachment of the President who you claim is solely responsible for these horrors.
The whole world is watching.
This comes from an insider. Someone who can influence the process. No wonder we are in such big fucking trouble. We’ve been in Iraq going on 4 years and she just now thinks that the cost of the war is hurting us? How can someone end the war when they don’t know the war. She says “The numbers may feel abstract, but the costs are real”, She is lying. In fact it is just the opposite. She has felt nothing from the war. The war hasn’t changed anything about her. She continues to be a “Good” American who will take their place alongside the “Good German” in the history books.
Hoa binh
“In fact, interest payments on the war debt in 2008 alone would fund the children’s health care program for over four years at the current funding level.”
Which means if we’re borrowing war money from the Chinese, their children will have our children’s health insurance. For this, the Chinese children are grateful to their president Bush.
Unfortunately, the Chinese children are too busy working 16 hour days for pennies to make toys for American children to break on Christmas day to be grateful for all we’ve done for them.
This is American corporations going into China and using the cheap labor and lack of environmental controls to save money on manufacturing costs.
And then the American people blame the Chinese for their problems. How convenient for when the US government decides to get out of their Chinese debt problem by attacking China.
Non-thinking Americans will go right along with that one and wave their plastic Chinese-made flags as they scream insults at the ones who “took their jobs”.
No, the jobs were taken by American corporations.
While the people who respond to articles on this web site align themselves into groups, and refuse to respect others, there is little hope for a joint response to the cabal that is pocketing all the money and truly running this country.
Our country is falling apart and slipping into ruins while we fund this war. Almost $500 billion piped into a war without victory overseas and a sure defeat right here in our own backyards. Ok Osama Bin Laden, you can claim your victory. You did what you really intended to do. And yes, I don’t blame you if you continue to LAUGH at president Bush in his cowboy outfit riding on his wooden horse. You had him pegged from the very beginning.
Now… are any of you war mongers man enough to stop this tragedy?
Don’t worry, be happy.
Government printing presses are running overtime. Bills coming due, what’s to worry. Just print some more worthless paper.
just a tragedy, a shame, a disgrace…what else can I say God help us!
It has been said that Zionists will never let the interests of their country of citizenship (here the US) get in the way of their nationalistic fervor for Israel. The Zionists in the US were hugely instrumental in bringing about this horrific misallocation of US tax money. As long as Israel hums along on its slow-strangulation genocide of Palestinian society, the Zionists here think the huge loss of US tax revenues to further building colonies in the West Bank and invading Near East nations “was worth it”. Americans naively think that nationalistic devotion and citizenship are the same…. that’s why they don’t catch on to the Israeli nationalism of many US citizens. Meanwhile, the fervor of US nationalists to use our money for health care and rebuilding New Orleans will continue to play second fiddle to the Israeli agenda unless, just unless, we vote into office persons who will bluntly say they are unwilling to “support financing Israel’s agenda”.
We have a president in name only. In reality, he and his cohorts are just a giant wrecking crew hiding behind the flag and fundamental religion. There is no compassion, conservatism, or Christianity in any of the way the nation has been bled for the benefit of a few greedy individuals and corporations. Their aim was not to improve or work with our system of government and social agencies, but it was to dismantle them as much as possible, leaving ordinary folk to barely exist while the rich and powerful took unfair advantage of them. The constant war-mongering puts enormous sums in the pockets of certain groups while the real needs of our country are ignored. This has been accomplished by an incessant drumbeat of fear that is put out and propagandized by the compliant media, leaving no chance for true information.
What people do not realize is that our clowns in office are not worried about the debt. Why? Because debt=money. Our money is created from debt.
When the Fed Buys US treasuries, they write a check to congress. That gets booked as an asset and liability. Where did they get the money to write the check?. Well, if they bought 10 billion in Treasuries, they created the 10 billion by writing it on their ledger. It is called Fiat money. The asset backing the creation of the money is the governments promise to pay back the loan.
Thats why we set up the Fed, to create money that is not worth anything, and call it legal tender so it has to be accepted for debts and must be used for taxes. Then we could have war without pain. And since 1913, we have had virtually perpetual war.
It has another benefit as well. When Congress cashes their check and pays their bills, the money gets deposited into the individual banks. This money is considered to be their reserves, and they can loan up to 10 times their reserves. So if they get 1 million in deposits, they can loan 10 million dollars more than they have.
How can thye loan maoney they don’t have? Well, say you go and take out a 300K dollar mortgage. Once you sign the mortgage, the bank creates the money in the same way the Fed did, they write it into the ledger. The money you pay them on interest for the money your loan created for the bank is their profit. Good deal huh, charging interest on something you did not have until your customer created the money by promising to pay you back with interest for loaning them what you didn’t have. It’s called, Fractional Banking. Actually, this is not a loan, it is a sale. A “loan” of fiat money should not earn any interest, since it did not exist until it was asked for, and so it could not earn any money for the bank by loaning it, since they did not have it.
Now here is the beautiful thing about Fiat money. If all the loans were completely paid, there would not be any money, none. So our government does not mind to borrow money to fight wars and increase the debt, the bankers are happy, those companies who get paid for their services or weapons are happy, and there is plenty of money to be loaned to private companies or homeowners since for every dollar spent on the war, there are 10 times that available for other things.
The problem is, if there is too much money, you get inflation, and you need more of the worthless dollars to buy what you need. That’s a problem. What to do?.
One thing is to keep the critters from having too much of it. Just so long as they can pay the interest on their loans is enough. They do not actually want you to pay off the loan since the loan is an asset (if you pay off a 100 K loan balance, the bank can create 1 million less to loan out to other critters, or they have to replace the asset with gulp, something of value).
How do they do this since the critter wants to be rich too, and he won’t work to pay off the interest if he is getting poorer. One way is to tell him inflation is 3% when it is really 6%. That way the critter is happy with a 4% income increase, and 5% on his deposits, since he thinks he is doing better every year when he isn’t. In the back of the critters mind though is an idea that golly, it may be my imagination, but things seem to be more expensive than they were (because businesses know what is the real inflation). So the rich get richer, and the middle class gets wiped out (thye just do not know it yet).
The other way they keep the inflation down is don’t spend anymore on the critters benefits since if they do that, they might have to do things like cut down on the Halliburton contracts to keep inflation down. No matter that the critters pay 3 times more tax than corporations do.
Universal Health Insurance and Social Security or War? Sorry critters.
PS:
Ms. Maloney has also left out the minor reality that Iraqis, Iraq and the entire region suffer mightily — and have suffered for many generations — because of the brutal (albeit expensive) behavior of the US empire (especially via our “ally” Israel), and the French and British before us.
The empire business and global hegemony are indeed costly. But that’s another issue that we cannot honestly discuss. Neither Ms. Maloney’s constituency, nor the vast majority of the US public that pay the bills, understand this basic reality — or if they do, they don’t care to change it.
Her seat is safe. This piece is more rhetorical waste that avoids the most basic context and is wrapped in the tears of half truths and outright lies.
MiMiCcS — I’m constantly being amazed by your financial wisdom, and understanding (e.g. of history’s big pix) for how us lowly critters are perpetually digging ourselves into deeper holes.
What (other than stop digging) can you advise us to do with what little capital we can hold onto? Do you keep silver and/or gold coins (well ‘grounded’ capital)? International investments outside of wall-eyed-street shenanigans?
Please provide us critters a possible path to re-GAME our lives?
KERNEL: I agree (as do the facts) with you 100%, the only thing left out is the enormous role media plays in formulating and promulgating the various and sundry illusions that tether people to bad government and its “services.” I remember seeing one smiling imbecile Republican on Cpsan (Washington Journal), all aglow with the prospect of how many were able to buy houses under Bush. The travesty underway (sub-prime mortgage debacle) is just another example that the guy in office is evil, incarnate (and his handlers, too)… because in their own Bible, his followers were warned that the greatest sleight used by the dark side is illusion. The power to wield illusion, what a hand to play! And play have they! All the home owners, yep, paper money monopoly game coming unglued.
That brings me to the points raised by MiMiCcs… paper money as fiat money, all illusion. You know what Eastern mystics call the entire physical plane, all that WE take for real? Maya, the PLANE of illusion. And how.
The spiritual being within (which is living an illusionary existence in this physical plane of “reality”) acknowledges the same LIGHT within each of those who read this.
Which is BTW, the meaning of a very merry xmas greeting of Namaste
In comparison to the impending demise of the American middle-class , the poverty in the “failed” states of socialist Russia , Cuba…don’t seem so bad after all.
RONALD WHITE — So pathetically true. I to laughed when we out spent U$$R, and thought we had pulled the Berlin Wall down.
We really just relocated to AmeriKKKa, although it’s hard to see with 100% control of MSM and our economy being so FREE.
Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
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