Do you think the $500,000,000,000 we have spent in Iraq would have been better used elsewhere?

Answer 1

I wouldn't have spent the $500,000,000,000 dollars in the first place. Its money that we don't have.

Patrick, you are right. The money does go to U.S. citizen owned companies. However, this does nothing to help the U.S. economy. You're paying that money to wealthy company executives, who not only retain large amounts of that capital for themselves, they also outsource the majority of their labor cheaply to non-U.S. citizens. The money that doesnt go to the rich executives, goes to laborers in other countries.

Essentially you are draining revenue from the state to fuel other countries' labor forces, to invade and rebuild a country that should not have been invaded in the first place.

And to make things worse: the money we spend doesn't even belong to us. We borrow the majority of it from China. So, technically, we're borrowing money that gets directly transferred into pockets of non-U.S. residents and filthy rich executives; and, in turn, we must pay interest on those debts as american taxpayers. Meanwhile, the non-U.S. people who received the money do not have to pay taxes, and the wealthy executives receive extensive tax cuts due to Bush's tax policies. So, how does that help the economy, patrick? Revenue generated by the state is transferred to other countries, decreasing the value of the american dollar relative to the rest of the world, and increasing the gap between the rich and the poor at home in the U.S.

Any Keynesian (demand-side) economist would tell you that what would have been more beneficial to the economy, is if that revenue were spent on public projects within U.S. borders, like improving infrastructure, and the health care industry. The money spent would actually be retained by U.S. residents, distributed in a fair and equitable way, and this would not only stimulate the economic growth of the U.S., but also greatly increase the quality of life for American citizens.

Oh yes, and lest we forget, how about some actually constructive foreign aid? We could have spent that money improving the quality of life for our allies in India and other developing democratic nations, or aided the suffering millions in Darfur and Somalia, and other places in Africa.

Or scientific research. Research cures for aids, alzheimer's, all different forms of cancer. Or how about space exploration?

Talk about the millions of beneficial alternatives to an unneccessary war. And you dont have to lie about them to get people to support them either! Plus, think of all the lives--all the human beings;children, adults, brothers, sister, parents, lovers--who would still be alive today, and happy with those that they love.

Answer 2

contained in the previous 4 a million/2 years, we've no longer even spent $0.5 trillion on Iraq and Afghanistan mixed entire. no longer "trillions". using actual data and figures is often seen the most excellent way of framing an argument. And the expenditures of the warfare are not any more what's responsible for the more beneficial nationwide debt. it truly is by more beneficial spending, which replaced into many times seen too little spending via the Democrats. The Democrats wanted added funding for No toddler Left in the back of. The Democrats theory the Medicare prescription coverage replaced into no longer adequate. ultimately, there's a record stated as "The structure of the USA of u . s . a .". It lists each and each of the enumerated powers of the federal authorities. providing public practise isn't one in each of those enumerated powers. And in accordance to the tenth modification, to paraphrase, if it ain't enumerated, they ain't meant to do it. Capisce?

Answer 3

bush 1 wouldnt go into Iraq after the first gulf war because they feared exactly what is happening right now. With saddam gone it created a power vaccum, and all of the crazies came pouring in to fill that void.look, the sad part is that we are wasting some of the best and brightest that we have for a bunch of people that would'nt pee on us if we were on fire. Bush screwed up, and unfortunately, we will all be paying the price, in dollar's but more importantly in our troops blood,for a long time for that screw up. god bless the troops. semper fi.

Answer 4

Well, you can only use a fraction of this money to secure the border and put some effective X-ray machines at the airport, enhance the efficiency and efficacy of CIA work, and keep the firefighters and policemen on their jobs..... so much you can do to protect the country peacefully.

Now... the whole Iraq is a mess. US should use the money to take care of its refugee (not just 70,000) and compensate every family that has suffered from the invasion.

Answer 5

The money spent for the war in Iraq was due to the INCREASE of spending, approved by Congress. If we weren't there, there's the possibility that any funding increase for any program wouldn't be nowhere as high. So it's hard to really answer this question.

Answer 6

Well the estimated final cost of the war is expected to be 1 trillion to 1.5 trillion.This includes the other debts to China.For one thing,it would fund NASA for 21 years,Another use is that it would be enough to bring every poor person in the U.S up to Middle class.It an be used to find new methods of cleaner more efficient fuel.It would be able to create thousands of solar panels and nulear power plants.And this is 500 billion dollars.Imagine the whole cost?

Answer 7

What we have learned is that a few cheap nuclear weapons would have settled the arguments if the problem is bad enough to solve. It was a mistake for us to support democracy. We gave those 12 million people false hope and now we are leaving just like we did in Vietnam....but this time...the problem will not stay in the region.

Answer 8

Get a life Best - of .......

whadda ya mean

what ... you mean like spend it on katrina types

or education
or the homeless
or single mothers and their families
or whaaaatt...........huh ????

whats a measly $500,000,000,000....

( see now you've gone and done it .. i gotta take a rest from hitting the zero button so many times - thanks a lot !!! )

that's a pittance for what we have gotten in return ..

now every one in the rest of the world is

SHOCKED AND AWED

at american superiority and cleverness ...

wasn't that alone worth it ?? - right ??

and and and ....what about gasoline prices .... you just and wait a see ..... it'll be going down down down soooon ....

and and and ... what about all our heroic troops that have come true for us .. like tillman .. and lynch and ...
oh sure there'll be some bad apples like that abu GRAVE bunch ( see they didn't listen to what/how rusnawayfeld and the torturer gonzalez and the bunch of generals told them to do it ) (and against the geneva convention too ? )

and some of our marines got to have some fun with whole families .. and handicapped . disabled persons too and and and ...

and what about our friends at haliburton .. aha got you there Best-of .. come on admit it !!! -- see .. an american company came out of it with a bundle ...ahh see .. there you go .. now you are beginning to see the benefits ... attaboy..

and what about those millions or so sent over in the briefcases ..you know who got it .. yeaa.. i see that smile .. you know....

come on Best -of .... you can see
$500,000,000,000 isn't nothing between friends and the glory of bush's legacy...
( AAgghhh .. my poor fingers .. them thar durn zeroes .. !!! )

hey ...by the way .....you got a fiver i could borrow .. i need to get a whole gallon of gas

thanks ......

Answer 9

Sure ... consider how many people we could have
SAVED instead of killed if we had invested it in
disease research (curtailing the number of people
who die of flue each year, etc).

How how about using it for technology research
to discover cold fusion or some other renewable
energy source?

And of course, how about that colony on Mars?

And how about educating our kids?

And how about ... geez - almost anything would have
been better than 600000 Iraqis and over 3000 Americans
dead.

And if you're a fiscal conservative, how much money
we could have not taken from our public in the form
of taxes?

Yes, social programs have to be paid for - so does the
farce in Iraq.

Answer 10

Yes, you yanks could've spent that money in much better ways. Just think if that money was instead invested in NASA to explore new earth-like planets in person that we could conlonize. I would've put about 10% of this budget into roads and other infrastructure. About 20% into better public schools, and the rest for space advancements.