How much is 2.9 trillion dollars? Round it up to 3 to make it easier. $3,000,000,000,000.00. Twelve zeroes to the left of the decimal point. A trillion is a million million dollars. In Jim Loy's article, A Trilli
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgokeG6IorOiAOZxcdI-J4F9wFyf7Vu_ZcxISQNb-Sl7H-IGEln-MQwgUyzy_9X88_CPz65mNWymiZX0dp5Oh2WrIe5S84UgKoqciKNUUupQBw8wBZ423zj9sV3m5TrwAbBfWfH3Q/s320/images.jpg)
Of the immense sum, $145.2 billion goes to war, mostly for Iraq and Afghanistan (from October 1) with another $99.6 billion dollars for the remainder of the current fiscal year (to September 30). This is a humdinger of a total. $244.8 billion dollars spent on war for 12 months or $20,400,000,000.00 per month. As you turn a new calendar page, another $20.4 billion of taxpayer dollars goes goodbye. If we collectively decided enough was enough, could we save it and apply it to debt or redirect how the $245 billion dollars was spent?
Mr. David Leonhardt suggests a few ideas in his New York Times article "What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy", he writes:
"Treating heart disease and diabetes, would probably cost about $50 billion a year. The remaining 9/11 Commission recommendations — held up in Congress partly because of their cost — might cost somewhat less. Universal preschool would be $35 billion. In Afghanistan, $10 billion could make a real difference. At the National Cancer Institute, annual budget is about $6 billion." Earlier he mentions that more money could be contributed to the reconstruction of New Orleans.
The President's budget is part of a five year plan to have a balanced budget by 2012. He assumes we'll quit spending money in Iraq (hopefully he's right this time) and various o
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJygM9ZhkzuqwWgFqgkTepAS7_Yg9VWNWAbP8XMtnD9XNq5NNiya7wZzPkSTnqZOPRah8vTI222Iy9xTIIFD4Nw52JJTpXsAleBumK5gbTpBT1niIScV11-y5OyrvdwKkwiBBNRg/s320/images.jpg)
2 comments:
Oh, the whole thing makes me crazy. I just heard a report about the government sending 12 BILLION dollars in 100 dollar bills to Iraq... and basically losing (as in 'oops, I don't know where it is or what happened to it') 8.8 billion! And the people in charge are making excuses, saying, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that much money. Meanwhile so many here are struggling just to scrape by. Grrr. Okay, calm down and breathe, Elizabeth.... Anyway, good post.
Wouldn't it be grand if Government used a small fraction of that $2.9 trillion to give to Americans who have lost everything? Why give it to banks who will only use it to line the pockets of their executives? or like AIG, go on a spending binge at the St. Regis...
Post a Comment