Comments on: The Iraq invasion has cost more than one trillion dollars. How much is one trillion?

By: grumpypilgrim

grumpypilgrim — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:55:04 +0000

How much is one trillion dollars? That’s one thousand dollars for every minute since Jesus Christ was born.

By: MohammedLoya

MohammedLoya — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:09:20 +0000

this whole war is an excuse to gain oil and a useless waste of $. After Iraq re stablizied troops should have left, but then again if they left there was the posibility that things would return to normal. but the govt should be focused on global problems like hunger, famine, education, health. etc. but watever. i hope this earns a scholarship

By: grumpypilgrim

grumpypilgrim — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:09:33 +0000

Any way we cut it, the cost of Bush’s unnecessary invasion of Iraq is nearly incomprehensible, which is perhaps why so few Americans are calling for his impeachment.

BTW, another way to put Bush’s war spending into perspective is to observe that the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — the sum total of all the products and services produced in the entire country — was slightly more than $13 trillion in 2006, so, if Bush blows $600 billion in one year in Iraq, that’s about 5% of the entire U.S. economy. Thus, if the U.S. economy grows less than 5% per anum, the Iraq war basically negates the nation’s real economic growth…and that’s for each year he stays in Iraq.

The really sick statistic is that the GDP is calculated in such a way that war spending actually increases it, thus making Bush’s war look like a good thing for the economy, when in fact it’s a disaster and could even prove ruinous in the long run.

By: Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:44:25 +0000

The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are close to 20 million dollars per hour. http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/12/28/terror-20-million-per-hour/

By: Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:18:48 +0000

Bush has cost this country $32 TRILLION:

“The federal government’s fiscal exposures totaled approximately $53 trillion as of September 30, 2007, up more than $2 trillion from September 30, 2006, and an increase of more than $32 trillion from about $20 trillion as of September 30, 2000,” Walker said. “This translates into a current burden of about $175,000 per American or approximately $455,000 per American household.”

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/12/the-cost-of-bus.html

By: grumpypilgrim

grumpypilgrim — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 23:30:00 +0000

Here’s another comparison. The investment cost, over the next *decade*, to begin weaning America off oil is less than $200 billion, according to this website: http://www.oilendgame.com/Abstract.html. A trillion dollars could have made five such investments, presumably increasing the odds of success.

By: grumpypilgrim

grumpypilgrim — Sun, 27 May 2007 15:39:42 +0000

Here’s another example to put things into perspective. In this article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6693879.stm), the European Space Agency (Europe’s version of NASA) is balking at the “enormous cost” of an enhanced robotic mission to Mars. The enhanced mission, set to launch in 2013, would add an orbiter to the ground robot — something that would solve several logistical problems.

What is the “enormous cost” that they are balking at? Tens of millions of euros — less than what it costs the U.S. to stay in Iraq for one afternoon.

By: grumpypilgrim

grumpypilgrim — Sat, 05 May 2007 12:35:11 +0000

I keep thinking about Vicki’s sixth-grade daughter. Erich’s post points out that “the Treasury could have used the money to mail a check for more than $3,000 to every man, woman and child in the United States.” What he did not mention is that, instead, the Internal Revenue Service will be sending a bill for more than $3,000 to every man, woman and child in the United States — including one to Vicki’s sixth-grade daughter. She and her classmates will all be paying for Bush’s Iraq lie, perhaps for the rest of their lives.

This is one reason why I despise the fiscal irresponsibility of the Bush Administration and most of the Republican party (and a good share of the Democratic party, too). They always make a big show about giving tax cuts to voters (or benefits, in the case of Democrats), but what they never mention is that they are piling their resulting debt onto the backs of children who can’t vote.

Oh, and btw, Bush didn’t just saddle Vicki’s daughter (and everyone else in America) with a bill for more than $3,000; he more than doubled the national debt to $9 trillion, so we all will be getting a bill from the IRS for more than $27,000, of which more than $15,000 came from George W.

Of course, he didn’t mention that when he made a big show, during his 2000 campaign, about giving a $500 tax rebate to every taxpayer in America. “Vote for me, everyone, and I’ll put money in your pocket.” Yeah, $500 cash in your pocket and $15,000+ charged to your credit card…and another $15,000 charged to each of your childrens’ credit cards.

By: grumpypilgrim

grumpypilgrim — Fri, 04 May 2007 22:27:27 +0000

Ben’s right: 6 in every state. Sorry, I got a bit carried away….

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 04 May 2007 19:24:30 +0000

“more than 60 of them in every state in America.”

333/50 = 6.7

Anyway, it’s still a lot of paper. I think writing a check would be easier…
1,000,000,000 paid to the order of GWB.