The Congressional Budget Office released a report on Wednesday saying that “"Funding for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and other activities in the war on terrorism expanded significantly in 2007." From 2003 to 2005 war spending averaged about $93 billion, that figure rose to $127 billion in 2006, and $171 billion this past year. Bush has asked for $193 billion for 2008. "We're seeing the war costs continue to spiral upward. It is the additional troops plus additional costs per troop plus the over-reliance on private contractors, which also explodes the costs," said Kent Conrad, Senate Budget Committee Chairman."
There were over 196,000 contractor personnel working in Iraq and Afghanistan last September. U.S. troops number approximately 158,000 in Iraq and 27,000 in Afghanistan.
The office added that the Senate has written checks for $691 billion since September 11, 2001 to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. About $440 billion of that was used in Iraq. Since Bush took office in 2001 the national debt has climbed to over $9 trillion. With $11 billion per month being spent on the war that number will continue to grow at an astonishing rate. The interest on the debt for this year alone will cost $234 billion. Over the next decade, the interest will total $2.7 trillion.
Conrad defined the spending as “another negative trend among many negative trends.”
Defending the costs of the war, Republicans assert that it has helped to prevent new attacks in the U.S.
If anything, the War in Iraq has cost the United States its image and reputation along with inciting hatred and anti-Americanism – not to mention the $9 trillion and countless lives. It is all too easy to read the numbers and shrug it off, but when we’re talking about trillions of dollars, it is past time to start paying attention. These numbers are so large it is difficult to really understand how much is on the line.
One trillion seconds is equal to 31,688 years.
Beginning on the day Jesus was born, if you were to lose one million dollars each and every day, it would take you until 2737 to lose one trillion dollars.
It takes ALL of the taxes paid by all of the individuals west of the Mississippi River to pay the interest on the national debt for just one year.
These figures are for a solitary trillion, multiply that by nine and you’re starting to grasp what our leaders throw around so innocently. Figures in the trillions have never before been used as they are today. Few people can truly grasp the concept of one trillion, and yet here we are, over $9,000,000,000,000 in debt. That’s twelve zeros in case you were wondering.
The situation is spiraling out of control. We are in greater debt than anyone throughout history could have ever even imagined. The effects of recession hang ominously in our future and the U.S dollar continues to plummet in value. Something must be done to regain some sense of fiscal responsibility and economic stability lest the situation slide completely from our grasp.
