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What has the Iraq War cost this Generation?


monsoon

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They could have used the trillion dollars to have completely built out a high speed rail network throughout the USA. Instead of building bombs we could have employed tens of thousands on building and operating this transit system. It would provide a nice alternative to the very fuel inefficient airlines and congested highways and could have helped to revive many center cities that would have been connected by this system.

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We could have torn down all the old, decaying, drug infested housing projects in our inner cities and created a new standard of living for people in public housing. Imagine the neighborhoods that could have been reborn and the numerous children who could be proud of where they lived and may actually been able to break the cycle of previous generations who came out of our failed "housing project experiments."

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There are alot of things a trillion dollars could do if this repulsive war had never materialized. It could have gone into putting back bone into "No Child Left behind." A.K.A fixing our broken schools. A trillion dollars could have given us an effective health care system that is accessible for all. Maybe it could have upgraded an ageing electrical grid? How about a nationawide Mass Transit System or finding ways to be an oil-free society. Even though I could go on for the rest of my life on what a trillion dollars could do money is just money no matter how much it is. I think a more pressing question would be: As a society what has this pointless dead end war cost us in terms of future scientists, scholars, leaders, the elements needed to perpetuate our society as one that thrives and prospers all lost because we have a king of fools and court of jestures that is our government neglecting everything that makes this country what it is for the sake of climbing the political latter?

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A trillion dollars? Man that makes me mad!! :angry: Here are some of the things on my mind:

1. I hate to sound like a conservative, but maybe we could have spent some of that money on our debt, which has spiraled out of control since the Reagan Administration.

2. We could have helped with border security as well as giving extra funds to our police departments (because apparently crime has risen in the past few years and the police say it's because they're being stretched too thin by Homeland Security).

3. We could have strenthened the levees in New Orleans.

4. Found a way to insure all Americans have access to good healthcare (maybe not universal insurance, but at least a nationwide policy that people could buy into for a small amount of money).

5. Without the Iraqi war, perhaps we could save the thousands in Darfur who are being butchered to death, since apparently no one on this earth seems to care about the area.

6. We could have found Osama.

7. We could come up with some way to enable all of our citizens to a good education (there is no reason why we should rank so low in education)

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A trillion dollars? Man that makes me mad!! :angry: Here are some of the things on my mind:

1. I hate to sound like a conservative, but maybe we could have spent some of that money on our debt, which has spiraled out of control since the Reagan Administration.

2. We could have helped with border security as well as giving extra funds to our police departments (because apparently crime has risen in the past few years and the police say it's because they're being stretched too thin by Homeland Security).

3. We could have strenthened the levees in New Orleans.

4. Found a way to insure all Americans have access to good healthcare (maybe not universal insurance, but at least a nationwide policy that people could buy into for a small amount of money).

5. Without the Iraqi war, perhaps we could save the thousands in Darfur who are being butchered to death, since apparently no one on this earth seems to care about the area.

6. We could have found Osama.

7. We could come up with some way to enable all of our citizens to a good education (there is no reason why we should rank so low in education)

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Deficit spending can be blaimed on our incompetent government. But I won't let the ordinary Joe off scott free as many of today's people don't have the patiences to save up of anything and put themselves in finacial ruination just to have things now. But we'll discuss that issue in other topic.

Since most of that trillion dollars will have been borrowed in the form of deficits, paying off the deficit isn't realistic. (You shouldn't pay credit cards with credit cards).

Americans are good at spending more money on things than anyone else in the world and getting mediocre results... and then strutting around like we're still the best. Get over your ego. We're not the best. Until people realize that, we'll continue to be second class and stagnate in the world while wasting trillions of dollars on blundered wars over a 19th century energy source.

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Directly, it hasn't cost us a trillion dollars because the vast majority of that is borrowed.

Indirectly, we'll be seeing the effects of that in our devalued currency and our national debt 50 years from now. You know, dumping the problems of today on the younger generation. Again.

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But we are seeing cutbacks to help fund this war. For instance, our university has seen many cutbacks in funding that it desperately needs to become a "top 20" institution - as mandated by our state government - by 2020. Without this money, we cannot achieve this goal and ultimately, the education of many will decrease.

With all the cutbacks, we are seeing decreases in transit improvements. Light rail projects are being put on hold. Bus rapid transit lines are being shelved. And so on.

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I just hope the US doesn't get to the point the Soviet Union was at when it collapsed. It wasn't just the pressure Ronald Reagan put on the USSR or internal political problems going on inside the Soviet Union that braught them down. One important cause of the USSR's collasps was the fact that the Communists ran the whole Russian nation into the ground financially in much the same way our government has been doing to the US for the last 20-30 years. To me, that leaves the US with two choices. Stop the deficit spending and balance the budget now or suffer the fate of the USSR within the next 30-40 years.

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^^^tamias6 I agree 100%. In fact not more than an hour ago my partner and I discussed this very thing. It wasn't just Reagan or the Pope or Thatcher, or the outlandish arms race that brought down the Soviet Union.

Those people and things contributed, yes, but as you said, it was primarily the fact that the Communist Politburo had completely and absolutely run the Soviet economy into the ground.

And I also agree with you that unless something is done to end this maddness known as trillion dollar deficits, the States is heading in the same direction. And all by the republicans who are "so good with the economy".

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^What blows me away is the fact that El Presidente wants to permenantly increase the size of the Army and Marines. Two things will come of this. One, we're going to get into more trouble by stiring the pot in Iran to get more young people shot dead by extremists or blown to bits by suicide bombers before Bush's term as President runs out and two, he will barrow more trillions to pay for it all. Hmmm... Is 2.35 a gallon at the pumps worth all of this B.S.?

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The fact that this country has been driven into the ground only 5 years and 11 months is AMAZING. However, this doesn't surprise me at all because I saw this coming as soon as "the election" of George Walker Bush was declared in December 2000 by the Supreme Judiciary. The guy is a moron, plain and simple, and Dick Cheney and the fellow puppeteers are the real reason why we are in this predictament. What can we do to fix this $1 trillion + worth waste of revenue, resouces, and young people (IMO, you can't put a number amount on a human life)? Honestly, at this point, I don't really know because more people in this country should have had more common sense and held these people accountable for every infraction they have committed towards destroying the fabric of this country.

Blame can most definitely be placed on a VAST MAJORITY in this country part. In part due to many refusing to vote because they thought their vote doesn't count. The other part of the blame on those for voting for these ***holes in office because these people represented "moral and family values". REALITY CHECK: These folks (mostly dudes) are bigger liars, cheats, and whores than the common nighttime streetwalker and his/her pimp.

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^As with most elections, the voters were duped into voting for Bush and GOP meat heads by the most steadfast and reliable sales pitch found in the political candidate's toolbox. That my fine feathered UP friends is Family Values, Education, Social Security, and Health Care. So the lesson of they day is don't fall for any pitches candidates may spew out of there noise tubes because politicians will say anything and make empty promises just to get your vote.

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