AFSC Dissects the Astronomical Cost of War
How could the $720 million the U.S. is currently spending on the Iraq war each day be put to better use? Well, how about paying for the health care costs of 423,529 children? Or giving 34,904 college students four-year scholarships, or providing 6,482 families with homes?
How could the $720 million the U.S. is spending on the Iraq war each day be put to better use? Well, how about paying for the health care costs of 423,529 children? Or giving 34,904 college students four-year scholarships, or providing 6,482 families with homes?
These mind-blowing figures were crunched by the Quaker church-affiliated American Friends Service Committee as part of its “Wage Peace Campaign,” which the AFSC says is intended “to highlight the economic cost of the war and demand that Congress shift war funding to support human needs here and real solutions in Iraq.”
Dig, Root, GrowThe Washington Post:
The war is costing $720 million a day or $500,000 a minute, according to the group’s analysis of the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard public finance lecturer Linda J. Bilmes.
The estimates made by the group, which opposes the conflict, include not only the immediate costs of war but also ongoing factors such as long-term health care for veterans, interest on debt and replacement of military hardware.
“The wounded are coming home, and many of them have severe brain and spinal injuries, which will require round-the-clock care for the rest of their lives,” said Michael McConnell, Great Lakes regional director of the AFSC, a peace group affiliated with the Quaker church.
The $720 million figure breaks down into $280 million a day from Iraq war supplementary funding bills passed by Congress, plus $440 million daily in incurred, but unpaid, long-term costs.
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A new study shows that the cost of health insurance for many Americans rose sharply this year compared to previous years, exceeding average increases in workers' wages and giving employers even more hesitation about hiring new people. (more)
Newly published numbers from the Department of Health and Human Services show that American workers in 2010 paid average premiums of $4,940 for employer-provided health insurance to cover just themselves. (more)
It's difficult to fully comprehend the total price tag of the Iraq war, but Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has made some staggering calculations, coming up with a whopping $3.5 trillion -- including "hidden costs" such as interest on the money we're borrowing, and long-term health care for vets.
This week Truthdig salutes Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes for uncovering the true cost of the war in Iraq. Last year Nobel Prize-winning economist Stiglitz and Harvard budget expert Bilmes estimated the total price tag for Bush's misadventure in Mesopotamia at $2.267 trillion -- a tad higher than the $350 billion to $500 billion so often discussed.
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