Posted on 01/11/2006 12:26:22 AM PST by BogusStory
Congress has appropriated $251bn for military operations, and the Congressional budget office has now estimated that under one plausible scenario the Iraq war will cost over $230bn more in the next 10 years.
According to Nobel prize winner Mr Stiglitz and Harvard budget expert Ms Bilmes, there are substantial future costs not included in the Congressional calculations. For instance, the latest Pentagon figures show that more than 16,000 military personnel have been wounded in Iraq. Due to improvements in body armour, there has been an unusually high number of soldiers who have survived major wounds such as brain damage, spinal injuries and amputations. The economists predict the cost of lifetime care for the thousands of troops who have suffered brain injuries alone could run to $35bn. Taking in increased defence spending as a result of the war, veterans' disability payments and demobilisation costs, the budgetary costs of the war alone could approach $1 trillion.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
So far, the math adds up to a half trillion over 10 years or so, including lifetime care for soldiers who are surviving thanks to improved armor. Author just has to account for another 1.5 trillion. Maybe he is projecting into to the year 2100? Or maybe he is bogus.
But the economists' costings went much further than the economic value of lives lost. They factored in items such as the higher oil prices which could partly be attributed to the war. They also calculated the effect if a proportion of the money spent on the Iraq war was allocated to other causes. These factors could add tens of billions of dollars.Or the could add up to minus hundreds of billions of dollars.
Like our president says about polls: Economists' predictions say what you want them to say.
/sarcasm off
I can play this game better:
Without the war, Saddam would control the UN causing massive international turmoil, funnel billions of dollars and weapons to terrorists and dictators, create havoc in South America; the Middle East would explode in factional wars three times in the next decade (costing hundreds of thousands of lives), and disrupting oil supplies. Western economies would strain against dramatically increased terrorism and uncertain energy markets.
Factoring in the cost of human lives, and future economic losses, the cost of the War in Iraq is:
-$3,000,000,000,000.
The point being:
Ask the learned economists what would be the cost without the war.
During one of their famous MAYDAY parades there was a group of russian economists leading the pack of the usual military hardware & soldiers.
One western diplomat turned to his soviet counterpart and asked "Why are those men leading off the parade? They are not soldiers are they not?"
The russian official laughed and said "Nyet comrade they are not, indeed they are our most brilliant economists!"
Confused, the western diplomat asked "I dont understand, how & what do those economists have to do with the MAYDAY parade?"
The russian official laughed again and said "Because they are the MOST DESTRUCTIVE FORCE in our entire Soviet Union!!!"
Just like evryone else we've helped?
On the other hand, we could just pull a Clinton and promise that Janet Reno will get right on it as a criminal investigation follow-up to 9/11. You see, then further pulling a Clinton, we'd just kick the can down the road a bit, continue our holiday from history, with the media gladly playing along and extolling Clinton as the wunderkid, and hey, we wouldn't have to worry about ANY costs or the massive death and destruction of the west for at least a few more years! Yeah, that'd work.
1/2 a trillion...boy, that's lots better.
I don't think the public is ready for a negative sign on their budget numbers. What we could do is tell them that we got a two for one bargain when we eliminated the threat that Iraq posed and defused the tensions in the middle east by eliminating the reason for us being there and hastening the day when we could leave.
That's good!
Is this statement for real? Iraq never ever had the potential to launch a nuclear weapon over NY or Chicago.
Iraq is paying for our liberty!!!!!
You joined up to post this ?..It has been posted at least twice before...and you want hits on your site?
At least say what you think
With that kind of wealth you can BUY whatever you want.
To suggest Saddam Hussein and the Ba'ath party were somehow "beyond" misusing Iraq's wealth is ridiculous on the face of it.
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