Monday, August 22, 2005

War in Iraq Costs $11,300 per Household in US

Wanna know how much this war is costing us US taxpayers? It is more than we are being told: 1) Basic running costs of the current conflicts are $6 billion a month - a figure that reflects the Pentagon's unprecedented reliance on expensive private contractors. 2) In order to keep our soldiers serving in the military, high cost inducements for recruits and for military personnel serving 2nd & 3rd deployments, extra pay for reservists and members of the Nat'l Guard. 3) The bill for repairing and replacing military hardware is $20 billion a yr. 4) More than $2 billion a year in additional foreign aid to Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey and others to reward their cooperation in Iraq & Afghanistan. But the biggest long-term costs are disability and health payments for returning troops, which will be incurred even if hostilities were to stop tomorrow. Why? B/c the US currently pays more than $2 billion in disability claims per yr for 159,000 vets of the 91 Gulf War, even though that conflict lasted only 5 wks, w/ 148 dead & 467 wounded. Even if we assume that the 525,000 US troops who have so far served in Iraq & Afghanistan will require treatment only on the same scale as their predecessors from the Gulf War, these payments are likely to run at $7 billion a yr for the next 45 yrs. If the US military presence in the region lasts another 5 yrs, the total cost for the war could stretch to more than $1.3 trillion, or $11,300 for every household in the US. Nice, and keep this in mind: Each $5 increase in the price of oil reduces our nat'l income by about $17 billion a yr. Oh well, we'll just keep shoving all of this cost into that neverending hole known as the Nat'l Deficit.
Posted by Tina :: 12:13 AM :: 0 Comments:

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