Iraq, the Mother of All Budget Busters--Must Read

[TexasLawyer]

Read it, e-mail it to friends and family, make copies for bulletin boards, and distribute as a flyer. The Iraq war truly is an economic black hole-- a disastrous war of choice that is seriously weakening this country and robbing us of our future.

Read the whole article. It will make you cry, but it conveys the reality that must dawn on everyone in this country.

Wake up, Americans. You're being hosed-- by your own president and his corrupt and vindictive band of cronies.


ASIA TIMES
Jan 14, 2006

Iraq, the Mother of All Budget Busters
By David Isenberg

"If Bush had come to the American people
with a request to spend several hundred
billion dollars and several thousand American
lives in order to bring democracy to Iraq,
he would have been laughed out of court."

- noted political scientist Francis Fukuyama

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HA14Ak01.html

It turns out the eventual cost of the war in Iraq will not be several hundred billion, but according to a new study at least a thousand
billion dollars - US$1 trillion, in other words. This figure dwarfs any previous estimate by orders of magnitude. Given the projected cost of $1 trillion to $2 trillion, one might imagine that American taxpayers are now rolling on the floor in hysterical laughter while gasping for air.

To get an idea of the economic black hole the Iraq war could become, it is useful to remember some of the past estimates given by the administration of President George W Bush. Recall, for example, when then-White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey suggested in 2002, six months before the war, that the mission could cost $100 billion to $200 billion, Bush fired him because his estimate was up to three times the $70 billion the administration estimated.

Conservative columnist Paul Craig Robert wrote after the latest estimate: "Americans need to ask themselves if the White House is in competent hands when a $70 billion war becomes a $2 trillion war. Bush sold his war by understating its cost by a factor of 28.57. Any financial officer anywhere in the world whose project was 2,857% over budget would instantly be fired for utter incompetence." The latest study was done by US economist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, who teaches at Columbia University, and Linda Bilmes of Harvard University.

<snip>

The report also reveals that caring for wounded military personnel is going to be a far bigger and more expensive job than previously thought. The study notes that the Veterans Benefits Administration had originally projected that 23,553 veterans returning from Iraq would seek medical care last year, but in June it revised this number to 103,000. It also is now responsible for providing care to an estimated 90,000 National Guard personnel, who previously were not eligible for its services. To meet these unforeseen demands, the administration appealed to Congress for an emergency $1.5 billion in funding for fiscal 2005. It is likely to face a shortfall of $2.6 billion in 2006.

<snip>

David Isenberg, a senior analyst with the Washington-based British American Security Information Council (BASIC), has a wide background in arms control and national security issues. The views expressed are his own.

[cliss]

1. Thanks, Tex.

I have been hammering away at this issue for years. I think maybe 10% of all my 5,000+ posts here at the DU have been about this.

The cost of this war is going to bankrupt us. It already has. NONE of the money for this war has been paid for with current funds. EVERY PENNY has been borrowed from the future.

Look at China. They are thinking about dumping the dollar (they have about $800 billion in assets). They see us as A BAD CREDIT RISK. We might default on our goddamed debts.

[TexasLawyer]

3. It's ALL Borrowed Money

Yes! And that is something that a lot of Americans have failed to focus on. Of course our US media has been SO good at educating the citizenry on this issue!:sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:

From the Asia Times article--

Stiglitz and Bilmes agree with Kosiak. They note: "Given that at the onset of the war, the (US) was already running a deficit, and no new taxes have been levied, it is not unreasonable to assume, for purposes of budgeting, that all of the funding for the war to date has been borrowed, adding to the already-existing federal budget deficit. In the conservative scenario we assume that these funds are borrowed at 4% and repaid in full within five years. The moderate scenario assumes that the country continues to have a deficit over the next 20 years and therefore interest continues to accrue."

[HeatherDawn]

2. Baby Boomers are screwed

The baby boomers are really in for a hard time as the government slashes everything to pay for this war. The article was very informative although I can't tell if the Afganistan war costs or DOD money are included.

[az chela]

4. THIS IS OUR TAX MONEY

We need to quit paying taxes til they bring the troops home.This is the money for health care for retirement for secruity and it is all being pissed away on an illegal war.We have to stand up and say ENOUGH

[OneBlueSky]

5. it's intentional . . . they're trying to starve domestic programs . . .

like Social Security and Medicare out of existance . . . a year or two from now we'll be hearing that we just can't afford them anymore due to our "national defense" commitments in the Middle East and elsewhere . . .