August 29, 2007 08:45 AM
Homeland Security Expert Asks: What could we do with $456,278,478,000?
National Security budget priorities. Chart from The National Priorities Project.
David Stephenson's Homeland Security Blog:
It’s hard to get an accurate estimate because the [cost of occupying Iraq] mounts so rapidly every minute. Can’t help wondering how much farther along the [Gulf Coast] rebuilding would be, how much more could be spent to improve public education, insure the 43 million Americans without health insurance, ad nauseum. Great legacy you’re leaving, George.
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[Edited for format-Sitemonitor]
Well, you could make 500,000 people into millionaires.
Rebuilding homes for poor folks isn't high on the shrub co. corporate welfare Inc.'s list of things to do. Pouring billions into their war profiteering buddies pockets IS though.
I'm busy frustrating myself with 'the google', trying to find reference to a kids' school project that was emailed to me some time ago...basically all the things we would be able to take care of in this country if our military budget were actually being spent....you know...HERE. I'll keep looking, but no luck so far....
Whoa! The comments are fu*ked or something.
Anyway, a country that spends that much money on the military appears to be super paranoid
or just a big assed bully.
Hell of a lot of money has been spent needlessly and I think we should sue the administration
for their lack of financial responsibility using our money.
How about securing our borders for a start!
I could buy 1,546,706,705 ounces of pot, which is almost enough to last me the rest of my life.
Kiki, are you a national socialist? A comment like that sure makes you sound like one.
Oh, by the way, in case you all missed it:
THIS IS A CORPORATE-FASCIST STATE.
Thanks for all you do.
Cons only want to spend money on perpetual war and deporting people that aren't white
I would call this "The Obfuscation Administration". Their sole purpose is to build exactly what Dwight Eisenhower warned about, a Military Industrial Complex.
Don't expect them to do anything different while they are driving, they have tunnel-vision.
Bush is an obstinate, spoiled child of privilege who will never admit to his mistakes or wrongdoings. Hell, he didn't even think it was necessary to finish
his military obligation (daddy can get me off).
Iraq is now shaping up to be the opening act for Iran, and nothing more.
Where's the accountability? It's disgusting that Pelosi and Reid have determined that 'George W. Bush isn't worth impeaching' ... because 'he's on his way out'.
Clearly, they haven't been paying attention. He's not stopping. Our Constitution is still being savaged, the war drums are being played louder than ever, and - somehow -
they're taking comfort in the delusion that a man who stole two elections is 'done' with his perfidy.
And why is it that Nouri al-Maliki needs to be replaced if we can't clean our own house, hmm?
Nothing like Soviet-style economics to build a great nation.
Coming soon: bread lines, soup kitchens for all, and economic collapse (except of course for the rich and/or famous.)
So no worries for W and kin. Or for the dictator (besides W) who will emerge from that brood to rule us like Hitler.
Kiki @ 6:
You mean by subcontracting the import/export control at every port to a company in the United Arab Emerites?
Delete that first comment please. It screws with line wrap.
[Fixed. Before I even saw your comment]
As the film Why We Fight pointed out, every state in the country employs people who are connected to the military and to building bigger and more destructive bombs. The last Congress wishes to do is to give the appearance that it wishes to shut down factories for its constituents, thus costing them jobs. Both Democrats and Republicans are beholden to the military-industrial complex while allowing militarism to be one of the three primary components of power in this country. The other two, as C. Wright Mills wrote about in his classic The Power Elite, written in 1956 but still very much relevant today, are the political and economic factions that rule this country.
This is really revelant....and 47 million without insurance, 9 million are children...and Poverty as high as it has ever been...
and the REAL Katrina Numbers invisible- homeless and unemployed...but anyone looking at the Gulf Coast, and NOLA and the Bridge in Minnesota...can see that our country is falling apart..by the minute...and that we have already spent(wasted) too much in Iraq..and it was money that we really don't have...and never did.
Makes me real happy to go to work every day to pay that tab. I guess we are all accessories after the fact now.
And the best part of George III acting like an active alcoholic sailor on his first liberty after 6 months at sea, our kids and their kids get to pay for making Bush/Cheney cronies even richer.
But it's all Clinton's fault.
Check out this link from the NPP site above.
Blue Buddha @ 13:
I certainly feel better knowing that we have thousands of troops in 80 different countries protecting "THOSE" borders
yet we have no resources for troops on our own border to protect us from the silent immigrant invasion.
If the war on terror were REAL, that'd be the very FIRST "F**King thing you would do.
With that kinda dough, I could finally buy a house.
But prices are falling all the time, lately.
Bit NOLA:
Geez, you sound like me.
Bit NOLA:
Geez, you sound like me.
homeland security doesn't need anymore money. everything is fine.
for example, look what a great job we're doing protecting the air-travelling public.
We bought the war, like everything else, on credit. we can defalut and have the government bail u out. No...wait....Nevermind
That $456,278,478,000 is going right to their swiss accounts.
This war is and always has been about making themselves rich.
Every decision, every tactic, troop level, disbanding of the Iraqi army, etc is about maximum profit.
This was was designed to take American taxpayers dollars and distribute them to the politicians and war machine.
This is not a war against terrorism, it is the robbing of America.
This war will only end when We The People are bankrupted.
1 BILLION DOLLARS A DAY! 1 BILLION DOLLARS A DAY! That is what I would preceed any discussion with about government spending. Why are conservatives so hell bent opposed to investing in our OWN COUNTRY... rebuild the infrastructure, provide health care, make college more accessable through loans and grants? When someone says you can't have national health care because it would cost too much and the government would fuck it up anyway, then you say, OK, so you don't have a problem spending 1 BILLION DOLLARS A DAY in a foregn country?!?! And on top of that, you trust the government NOW to spend that money?!!?!?
WTF with the non word wrap?
Two points:
Take a look at this chart. It puts the spending on militarism in the context of the overall federal budget.
Pie Chart
Half the federal budget is spent on militarism.
The amount of spending on militarism doesn't change much from one administration to the next.
Here's some historical data from the CBO (PDF).
You'll be hard pressed to figure out which party was in control if you just scan the numbers and ignore which year is which.
The bottom line is that the US is hooked on militarism and there is no politician interested in changing this.
I love one-liners!
All that money spent on the US military and they couldn't even stop unarmed civilian planes from crashing into their home base of operations.
That is some seriously misspent money.
-GSD
Speaking of which, where's my damn hurricanes this year!?!
I need more to bitch about!
Thank you so much for fixing the comments.
Trying to drag the screen across and read at the same time was painful :)
John, if a hurricane is headed for my house again, you may surely have it. I have no desire for another hurricane ever.
Three in two years is far more than enough.
why in the hell would you mention only children being uninsured? Bankruptcies in this country are caused mainly by medical problems that the un or underinsured are victims of. If you don't realize it, this is what is going to destroy us all, for they are eliminating the middle class to create a large group of dependent peons
how many of these children are uninsured because their parents had to declare bankruptcy? Please, if you aren't in favor of universal health care for all, say so. It appears that is what you are saying, and I hope I am wrong about my interpretation
universal care is the one thing that will make the human garbage that represents us take notice and start listening to us
this is irresponsible now, prove me wrong
This was of aggression/crime against humanity is going to cost $2-3 Trillion, after everything is included. That would have been enough to not only rebuild NOLA, but also move our entire energy infrastructure to green and renewable energy. The only use for coal and oil would be in plastics raw feed stocks. And even there, all necessary materials could be derived from bio-materials. Or, universal healthcare for the longterm.
Bush and the neocons are the very face of evil incarnate.
Will that kind of money get me a "John Edwards" hair-do?
Lucid, it might get you a Mitt Romney haird-do, or a Fred Thompson make-up job and Gucci shoes.
-GSD
Let's see: over a trillion dollars have been spent in the War on (Some) Drugs, long before anyone was concerned about
"Eye-rack" breaking the bank. As a result, we have 2.x million people in prison, most of them Black and Hispanic (natural allies of the
Dems, you'd think?) and politically nullified by felony convictions (thus leading to the 2000 debacle which landed us in
the Iraq mess) , civil liberties savaged (the drug laws served as the basis for the so-called PATRIOT Act), etc. It's like
the Dems took the pistols from the hands of the Republicans and then pointed them at their own
feet and pulled the triggers. Why harm one's self at your enemy's behest??
Now, just think what we could have done with that money (universal healthcare, anyone?) ...but nobody was terribly
concerned then about about the waste. After all, it's to 'saaaaaaave the chil-drunnnnn!' Now everybody is
in penny-pinching mode...and the silence from those who proclaim themselves as being 'Progressive" regarding this past
and continuing waste is deafening.
You want to re-allocate money to things Americans need and want? Then quit feeding the voracious pig of the DrugWar.
citizen_pain @ 27:
This is a brilliant point. why is it the Super-Patriot crowd is for blowing up and rebuilding foreign countries, but not for making the good 'ole US of A smarter, healthier, stronger and happier? Who's the traitors now? The people that coddle the 2% in this country, then send what little money we do tax here to foreign countries in the form of non-refundable bombs and bullets? It's enough to make you sick.
Shadowgm @ 11:
I assume facts won't hinder them, just like last time:
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL2783058020070828
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSBLA04636620070830
anyone getting this on the ostrich liberal media in the US?
[Deleted. Off topic]
Curtilingus @ 7:
WoW! You can get an ounce for $30?!?!
Bit NOLA @ 12:
Maybe this is actually an encouraging sign? Because not being able to keep up with military expenditure is what finally did the old Soviet Union in. What a thing to have to go through, though, before we can get rid of the dictatorship, which, BTW, goes far beyond W and crew.
The Government Accounting Office says that with an additional 72 million baby boomers retiring soon, the government will not have enough to take care of any of them. A crisis is looming over the horizon.
Instead of living their retirement dreams, these baby boomers will have to sell their houses and cars just to have the minimum to see through retirement, if they are lucky.
Blue Rose @ 43:
My calc is off, I guess it's $300/oz which is truly 'high'. Damn shame.
It's a war economy, stupid. We have a "War"-mongering President.
GW Bush is following in the steps of his ancestors and improved on their way of doing business.
Prescott Bush got into trouble with the U.S. government by aiding the Nazi war machine.
GW Bush and the Bush mafia have eliminated that problem by becoming the government and creating the Nazi war machine.
Think out of the box for a minute. Money is an exchange mechanism. It isn't something real in its own right. The Fed needs money to dissapear because it is freaking out about inflation which was about 35% last year. The numbers they report are bogus. So they allocate 6 billion dollars for Katrina and then make it go away. If that money actually purchased cement/lumber/copper/asphalt et . . . then it would just drive the cost up for these goods and thus inflation.
So the game is to allocate the money, report as much but never purchase actual goods with it.
Hedge Funds were invented to make your money money go away leaving the rich man's club with all the loot.
Mr Ponzi would be amazed if he were still alive. To see the his creativity expanded to such lengths.
Compounding interest is the frosting on the insanity cake called fractional reserve banking.
Perfect picture of a Republican budget. But, hey! All you nutjob conservatives, just keep voting these loathesome creatures into office.
Simple answer. Use the Iraq war funds to build solar and wind farms.
Offset in fossil energy demand and foreign energy in particular would drop about 30% of total US demand.
Result. Less power in the hands of oil producing nations (include Mid east in general, Russia and Venezuela).
Also less pollution. So greener air and better strategic positioning.
The math is simple and Shrub's folly proves to be more expensive (opportunity costs) than even we can calculate.
Blue Rose @ 46:
There's an example of inflation for you. When I was a teen, it was dime bags. Or $10 / ounce...
Weaseldog @ 51:
err pound...
These expenditures are perfectly aligned with the priorities of the MIC. Where's the problem?
Um hey...
You progressive people wanna stop using the term "HomeLand" ???
Please??
It is pretty fucking sickening.
GSD @ 31:
Actually..
This money is chicken scratch compared to the money Uncle Rumsfeld came out and said the Pentagon ...'LOST' on 9/10/2001... Which was around 2,000,000,000,000 ... yeah TWO TRILLION.. Unaccounted for...
Seriously misspent ... or one insane party...
guns or butter, people!
it's guns or butter.
would you rather eat...
or rule the world...
Liberal AND Proud @ 47:
It can't be described any better than that.
It is about bringing this country to it's knees. It always has been.
The Bankruptcy of America is what the extreme right wing has vowed and worked toward for some time now. It started will Reagan in 80' and carried on until Clinton. Can anyone imagine where the Debt would be if Bill Clinton hadn't been elected and the Republicans were in charge since 1980. In some ways Bill and the Democratic Admin. saved this Countries ass, and it looks like another Dem. will get the same chance in 08'.
This is a CLEAR illustration of just how IN BED WITH the military industrial complex this administration, specifically - this president, is. The military is a totalitarian sub-society with their own judicial system, with their own prisons, with their own police, and accountable to NOBODY but the president... and when you get a president who is dumber than dirt who feeds this monster with trumped up wars that ni turn spills unlimited funding (TAX DOLLARS) into it... it will take ALL IT CAN GET and grow itself even larger. It is little wonder that generals who have stood up against this president have been promptly removed.
Gotta love the pie charts!
According to the WaPo, if Bush gets his new $50 billion, the war in Iraq will cost more than 3 billion per week. The Bush administration is so horrendous on so many levels, it's easy to lose track of how they've raided the treasury in unprecedented fashion.
Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...Beware of the military industrial complex...
JRo @ 61:
...i think he's trying to tell us something...
you know, if rocks were as important to the government as gold, i wonder if we'd have enough rocks to throw at them, and i wonder how many i would have to throw to actually hit my target in the head enough to knock him out and replace him...
would anyone miss him if i sent in an imposter?
Think of the good that we could have done with such an investment.
Curtilingus @ 7:
I think you'd get more with the volume discount... If there is that much on the planet.
Will someone please post the break down of the military expenses? Specifically how much of that money is going to the "soldiers" and how much is going to private companies and private military corporations. I keep having this thought that all the money is going to the private corporations deliberately destroying the peoples Army (Navy, Airforce, etc) to build a military force that is ONLY loyal to the $$$ and it's CEO's.
In other words, Is Bush building an army that is loyal to him and the necons while deliberately destroying the forces that have vowed to protect the constitution and the American people?
If this was a movie, that's how the plot line would seem to me. (And a damn scary movie it is!)
Good luck all!
Homeland Security Expert Asks: What could we do with $456,278,478,000?
Er... One might start protecting our borders, our ports, our airspace... not iraq's.
We could buy out Crawford Texas and move it to Turkmenistan.
The first billion to go into education or health care could be Karen Hughes's budget of $1 billion, to be ambassador of American culture. All she's done so far is offend the Saudi elite (women) by telling them, "She can drive a car, but they can't." They told her they are happy and she doesn't understand. (I.e., go back to America you yankee-bimbo.)
I haven't seen much discussion of the possibility that bush & co / pentagon / war machine doesn't want a quick success.
Maybe that's because *gasp* that would be a conspiracy theory...sort of how people get squeamish about the fact that
the military failed to protect Washington 59 minutes after flight 11 struck the north tower. Who's budget saw huge
increases after that unconceivable failure?? Add it up!
Invade Canada. Warning: Canada has hockey sticks.
The National Priorities Project always has great information. If only our TVs would do a better job informing us of our government's budgetary priorities. Most people have no idea how much money we spend on "defense" (which, as this chart demonstrates, is mostly offense). And when the people are given the chance to allocate the budget in studies like this one, they spend way less on the military and way more on education, healthcare, reducing the debt, etc. So much more discussion and publicity is needed around these issues. Great post!
It was always obvious that most of the money was going to defense, hence Haliburton. But what gets me is everyone in the states keep voting for the same people. I can only say it is the American people's fault. The solution? Don't vote for the democrats or republicans. It is that simple. If someone like Ralph Nader were elected, do you think we would have all these problems? Do you think lobbying would be legal hence selling this country down the drain that our four fathers had build from shear courage?? Do you think there would be a war killing millions? Do you think that the victims of Katrina would be homeless after two years? Do you think there would be 47 millions uninsured? If he was elected either he would be assassinated like Kennedy was or you will see Cheney and Bush brought in for war crimes. Both the democrats and republicans are bought buy that elite that was mentioned above in a previous comment. You loose your power by voting for either one of them. Stop listening to the tv and radio. You are all being brainwashed by the media, and this government..
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