Most people are familiar with the term opportunity cost in economics. It means that when you have committed your resources to one particular course of action, you lose the opportunity to make other choices. Those lost opportunities and the benefits that could be had by making another choice are part of the cost of your decision. Thanks to Jill at Write Like She Talks and Susan at Blue Ohioan for pointing me to a graphic description of the opportunity costs for the War in Iraq.
Check out this catalog of the opportunity cost for the War in Iraq. Yet if any of our politicians had suggested we spend $456 billion to do any of these worthwhile projects, our congressional representatives would have nixed the idea in a hurry claiming it was far too expensive.
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Hi Ceejay ... $456 billion sure can buy a lot but the only kind of government spending the Neocons are interested in is on the military/industrial complex.
The following link
COST OF WAR cites simlar figures and uses additional statistics from THE NATIONAL PRIORITIES PROJECT to illustrate what the war budget could be spent on domestically in the United States.
It puts total war spending currently at $23,970,000,000 and counting. Below is what could've been purchased for that price:
PRE-SCHOOL: Paid for 56,155,075 pupils to attend HEAD START for a year.
SCHOLARSHIPS: Provided 20,553,197 students with full four year tuitions at public universities.
TEACHERS: Hired 7,347,485 public school instructors for one year.
HEALTH: Insured 253,874,931 children for one year.
And the Republicans want to fool us into believing they can manage the budget and our nation's foreign priorities more responsibly. The only thing they're doing is wasting our Treasury on Pentagon private contractors who pay for their re-election campaigns.
We've seen the new WELFARE STATE and it doesn't include you. All I can say is don't get FOOLED AGAIN by either political party !
Peace,
Cosmic
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