Taxpayers in Albuquerque, New Mexico will pay $383.9 million for the cost of the Iraq War through 2007. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
113,120 People with Health Care OR
600,489 Homes with Renewable Electricity OR
10,193 Public Safety Officers OR
7,857 Music and Arts Teachers OR
97,985 Scholarships for University Students OR
47 New Elementary Schools OR
3,917 Affordable Housing Units OR
150,241 Children with Health Care OR
54,841 Head Start Places for Children OR
8,201 Elementary School Teachers OR
7,524 Port Container Inspectors
You may check out your town here.
Remember: Iraq posed no immediate threat to the United States; it had no weapons of mass destruction; it had a (very repressive and brutal, absolutely) secular regime that wanted nothing to do with al Qaeda; it had no connection with 9/11/2001 (the hijackers were mostly Saudi); the White House lied and distorted to gin up this war; this was a preemptive war, something universally condemned by both international law and traditional just war theories; this overthrow of Saddam and establishment of permanent US bases was part of the plan of PNAC (Project for a New American Century) well before 9/11 and Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al. were part of this "think tank"; the invasion and occupation of Iraq has enriched companies like Halliburton, Bechtel, etc. in no-bid contracts while Iraq still does not have constant and reliable water and electricity after all this time; there was no plan at the time of invasion for providing order and security once we got there nor for withdrawal. Just sayin'.
--the BB
6 comments:
Taxpayers in Seattle, Washington, will pay $989.1 million (let's just round that up to an even billion, 'kay?) for the cost of the Iraq War through 2007. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
148,814 People with Health Care OR
881,111 Homes with Renewable Electricity OR
18,994 Public Safety Officers OR
17,183 Music and Arts Teachers OR
176,309 Scholarships for University Students OR
104 New Elementary Schools OR
5,465 Affordable Housing Units OR
378,347 Children with Health Care OR
109,706 Head Start Places for Children OR
17,131 Elementary School Teachers OR
13,425 Port Container Inspectors
wow
So very sad. What a waste.
A real life story: my son had started a small business, but because of his rancorous divorce and custody battle, his blood pressure went up, and a private health insurance policy became too costly. He is now without health insurance. Today, he was offered a pretty good job, which he will have to take in order to get health insurance. How many entrepreneurs are prevented from starting a small business because of the cost of private health insurance?
This is horrific. I linked to your post today Paul.
And Episcopollyanna's addition is even more depressing, but we must have these points of comparison.
Health insurance is my largest expense right now and I only have it because I am a priest of the Diocese of California. It costs an arm and a leg and I still have copays. I think I spent almost $10,000 in medical expenses a couple of years ago. And I'm ambulatory and in reasonable health.
There is no good reason we cannot join other industrial nations in providing universal health care. Lost of bad reasons, but no good one.
Thanks for this Paul... it's so sad to think of what we've lost. And, factor in the other costs and it just becomes unbearable.
I've just taken a "real" job for the health insurance. My private insurance, which is really only catastrophic coverage and still leaves me essentially a private payer, has just gone over the moon. It just costs too much... and for basically, nothing. But, how am I going to continue running an otherwise profitable and quite full-time business AND work full time for health care?
So, the real cost of my newfound "employment,"I use this term loosely, is that I will probably give up my business, I've already stopped two volunteering gigs, and... well, I'm just not happy about it. Fortunately, I'll have good enough health insurance to be able to afford a bottle of Paxil every month.
Yea America.
Oh, Lindy. It is such a dilemma. (I am assuming here that Rowan doesn't need Paxil, but I used it for years myself.) Good luck with it. Health coverage is so critical. Very best wishes.
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