Cost of war: Why we don't feel the financial pain

Source: Washington Post

Cost of war: Why we don't feel the financial pain

Iraq, Afghanistan haven't squeezed the average American's wallet




By Lori Montgomery


The global war on terror, as President Bush calls the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and related military operations, is about to become the second-most-expensive conflict in U.S. history, after World War II.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Congress has approved more than $609 billion for the wars, a figure likely to stand as lawmakers rework their latest spending bill in response to a Bush veto. Requests for $145 billion more await congressional action and would raise the cost in inflation-adjusted dollars beyond the cost of the wars in Korea and Vietnam.

But the United States is vastly richer than it was in those days, and the nation's wealth now dwarfs the price of war, economists said. Last year, spending in Iraq amounted to less than 1 percent of the total economy — about as much as Americans spent shopping online and less than half what they spent at Wal-Mart. Total defense spending is 4 percent of gross domestic product, the figure that measures the nation's economic output. In contrast, defense spending ate up 14 percent of GDP at the height of the Korean War and 9 percent during the Vietnam War.

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Like all debts, however, the bill for Iraq and Afghanistan will eventually come due. While it is unlikely to cause economic upheaval, such as the devastating inflation that followed the Vietnam War, economists foresee substantial increases in government spending to rebuild the nation's exhausted armed forces, care for its disabled veterans and cover rising interest payments.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18543885/

China does whatever it wishes in re to trade.
How often do you hear some Congressman or even our
Presidential Candidates saying Trade Policy Rules
must be inforced. China is the biggest offender.

Get real, China is our banker and we must tolerate
this. Our indebtedness to them renders us weak.

Some of this material raises questions. GE owns
MSNBC and gets billions from Government. Just
asking.

Had we not been Iraq could we have been in a better
position to assist in Katrina and now Kansas.

People who call in to C-Span complain how the
money spent in Iraq hurts families here at home.

innocent people is pretty much okay."

are losing their homes more and more...so sure there's no financial pain being felt...everything's peachy...

we charged it.

We racked up the Iraq War on our Credit Card. We pulled out the VISA CHINA and VISA JAPAN and charged the whole thing.

Problem is, we haven't made the Minimum Payment yet. And the balance is $500,000,000,000. Let's see when they get tired of it.

sooner or later, the bill is going to come due. Will it be in the importing of cheap chinese cars or airplanes? Will they laugh at us because they'll be the walmart of the world with low, low, low prices and the only ones with the goodies? I just don't understand how the current crop of 12 year olds is going to find a job that pays enough to make rent, let alone buy a car.

"Total defense spending is 4 percent of gross domestic product, the figure that measures the nation's economic output. In contrast, defense spending ate up 14 percent of GDP at the height of the Korean War and 9 percent during the Vietnam War."


There's quite a difference in GDP total $, between Korean War era and current era. I'd rather have 1% of 1 million instead of 100% of 100 dollars.

That's probably the big difference.

What happened to New Orleans shows that these wars are taking their toll. It's hard to believe that would have happened in peacetime.

When you buy something online, you generally get what you paid for. With the war, we are not getting quite what we are paying for. Unless of course you were paying for the slaughter of human beings and higher gas prices.

I suppose the Bushies will mutter something about "freedom isn't free" -- but from what I can see, there's a pretty big gap between freedom (and security, for that matter), and turning Iraq into a festering shambles. It's definitely not what was advertised on the "slam dunk" box.

Property taxes keep going up, to pay for local stuff like police, fire and roads, that the federal government doesn't fund as they have said they would, or used to.

Loans and grants for higher education aren't as available as they once were

Education in general (K-12) isn't worth crap anymore, as we now have underfunded "No Child Left Behind" requirements....teach the kids how to take tests, instead of teaching them what they need to know to get along in this world

Basic infrastructure expenditures are a little behind what is needed--think of the levees in New Orleans

Just try getting help if you're un- (or worse yet, under-) employed...what used to be considered a safety net for society is now more like a couple strings that someone forgot to knot together...pretty much non-existent

Need we continue the list???

feel from the war, isn't even worth mentioning, apparently.