CNN: American public is paying $200,000 per MINUTE to keep troops in Iraq

[Amerigo Vespucci]

CNN: Price of Iraq war 10 times pre-war predictions
David Edwards and Greg Wasserstrom
Published: Friday November 2, 2007



http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CNN_Price_of_Iraq_war_10_1102.html

When President Bush's emergency supplemental funding request is granted by Congress in the coming weeks, the cost of the Iraq War will reach ten times its original projected cost of $50-60 billion, CNN reports.

At what will soon be a total tab of $576 billion, the Iraq war is second in cost only to World War II. According to CNN's report, every minute troops are deployed in Iraq, the American public pays $200,000 to keep them there. Since the money is not allocated by Congress as part of the regular budget, there is little oversight of how it is spent and Billions of dollars remain unaccounted for in Iraq as the costs continue to mount.

"There's even funding that the Congressional Research Service and the Congressional Budget Office identify that they don't have any idea where the funding went," Says Travis Sharp of the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Center. "They don't know if it went for weapons systems, they don't know if it was operating costs in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Additionally, the current conflict is the first in American history not to be paid for in real time. President Roosevelt raised funds for the Second World War by selling war bonds and Americans paid higher taxes throughout the Vietnam era. The Bush administration, however, is well known for its propensity to cut taxes and increase spending. "Americans have not paid higher taxes to pay for this war, in fact we've had a tax cut, nor have we seen a reduction in domestic spending" Says Robert Hormats of Goldman Sachs, author of The Price of Liberty, a new book examining the history of American military funding. "We've in effected shifted the cost of this war to future generations."

[Mojambo]

1. 200 grand a minute! No wonder I have to buy the generic brand cereal!

Well I'll tell you one thing... Tonight I dine on genuine Cocoa Puffs!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

2. Taking back America, one bowl at a time...

:rofl:

:toast:

[rodeodance]

3. gawd, I so hate to get a glimspe of that smirkface when I am NOT expecting it!!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

4. I hear ya, but that storry begged for a smirk photo...

...and they're never more than a few clicks away. That boy smirks FREQUENTLY.

:evilgrin:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. That's what I like to remind people of

The typical person's annual income tax bill pays for less than one second of the Iraq occupation.

[killbotfactory]

6. They should give it to me

I can spend it better than they can.

[zulchzulu]

7. $4000 a second

That's a lot of pretzels...

[Stargazer99]

8. David Broder had an editoral in the Seattle Times

Whining about entitlement programs. That we must get rid of them as they are destroying the economy. It makes me wonder what does he think the Iraq war is costing us in human life and money. I'm sure Broder could survive quite well if he never received a penny of social security, but that doesn't mean everyone is in the same spot of wealth. I guess according to Republican values only war has a value the rest of us can go to hell. It seems to me like the controlling wealthy are the problem just like in France during the French Reveloution. I'd like to yank every paid health plan of every political representative...you'd see how fast that problem would be solved.

[Mojambo]

9. Bill Maher said it best the other night...

"If America's richest one percent are now so rich that even a five star hotel isn't good enough, it's time to bring back the guillotine..."

Indeed.

[ulysses]

10. let's see...$200k might have paid for

four decently-paid teachers...decent food for who knows how many hungry Americans...housing support...the list goes on. Don't expect much in the way of social spending for the next couple of generations. We won't be able to afford it, which I know was part of the point of the war.