Iraq War cost more than 2 trillion, interest payments payments could go to 6 trillion

[Phokus]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/14/iraq-war-anniversary-idUSL1N0C5FBN20130314

Just a reminder that conservatives want to actually invade Iran after this debacle. Want to really bankrupt the country? Vote for a GOP president next election. We'll have boots on the ground in Tehran before you know it.

 

[ivwshane]

Hey we got the 9/11 terrorist saddam Hussein didn't we!?

Don't forget all the other good things that we got from invading Iraq!

 

[Matt1970]

Whew, we really dodged an out of control spending administration didn’t we?

 

[Balt]

You must be mistaken. The war paid for itself, just as the Bush administration said it would... right?

 

[First]

Whew, we really dodged an out of control spending administration didn’t we?

On useless wars, yup. At least with entitlements, welfare and bailouts there are actually direct economic benefits to American citizens. Invading Iraq? Errrrrr, not so much.

 

[boomerang]

Never to early to start lobbying for the next presidential race - if you're insane.

 

[Jaskalas]

Iraq War cost more than 2 trillion, interest payments payments could go to 6 trillion

With that logic, Obama's $6 trillion is really $18 trillion, after interest.

 

[Incorruptible]

On useless wars, yup. At least with entitlements, welfare and bailouts there are actually direct economic benefits to American citizens. Invading Iraq? Errrrrr, not so much.

Ignorance! Useless wars, entitlements and bailouts are all a waste of money and idiotic but what else do you expect from liberals.

 

[BoberFett]

Forced to agree with First...

On useless wars, yup. At least with entitlements, welfare and bailouts there are actually direct economic benefits to American citizens. Invading Iraq? Errrrrr, not so much.

But the following is also true.

With that logic, Obama's $6 trillion is really $18 trillion, after interest.

Also, didn't Obama just say there's no debt crisis? I guess that $4T in interest isn't a crisis in his opinion.

 

[Doppel]

Thanks, Bush! You fuck.

 

[nehalem256]

On useless wars, yup. At least with entitlements, welfare and bailouts there are actually direct economic benefits to American citizens. Invading Iraq? Errrrrr, not so much.

You think the bullets, tanks, humvees, soldiers etc were free?

 

[cybrsage]

You all are pretending Obama did not continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after he took office. Using the War Powers Act as our guide, we see that Obama had to request permission to keep performing combat operations after a mere 90 days in office. Obama did request that permission, instantly making the wars his wars.

I know you all love to bash Bush, but your silence in bashing Obama for continuing the wars shows how lame you are.

 

[TechBoyJK]

You all are pretending Obama did not continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after he took office. Using the War Powers Act as our guide, we see that Obama had to request permission to keep performing combat operations after a mere 90 days in office. Obama did request that permission, instantly making the wars his wars.

I know you all love to bash Bush, but your silence in bashing Obama for continuing the wars shows how lame you are.

Didn't he kind of HAVE TO continue them? At least with some kind of strategic drawn down approach?

He couldn't really step into office and simply say 'wars over. everyone come home'!

 

[Matt1970]

On useless wars, yup. At least with entitlements, welfare and bailouts there are actually direct economic benefits to American citizens. Invading Iraq? Errrrrr, not so much.

A lot of the money goes to soldiers and companies that will supply them, but ya, a very useless war.

 

[cybrsage]

Nope, he could have pulled out all the troops. Sure, that would have taken more than 90 days, but he did not even bother to do so even though he campaigned on the promise that he would.

He certainly could say "war is over, everyone come home", due to being the Commander In Chief. Would have been stupid, but something being stupid has yet to stop Obama from doing it.

 

[BoberFett]

You think the bullets, tanks, humvees, soldiers etc were free?

Broken window fallacy. Yes, the government pays to build things one way or another. But paying for a new stretch of road which Americans use daily is a different investment than paying for an air to surface missile that blows up a road half way around the world.

 

[Matt1970]

Broken window fallacy. Yes, the government pays to build things one way or another. But paying for a new stretch of road which Americans use daily is a different investment than paying for an air to surface missile that blows up a road half way around the world.

Not to mention all the money that goes into the Iraq economy rather than ours.

 

[nehalem256]

Broken window fallacy. Yes, the government pays to build things one way or another. But paying for a new stretch of road which Americans use daily is a different investment than paying for an air to surface missile that blows up a road half way around the world.

He claimed that the wars had no direct positive economic impact on America.

This is obviously false. Building the equipment provided jobs for Americans.

If you want to argue it could of been spent in more productive ways that makes sense.

 

[cybrsage]

It is well known that democracy is contagious. We setup two democracies in and around the middle east and, a few years later, the locals in the nations near these democracies overthrew their dictators and established democracies themselves.

For years now I have said that was the true reason we went into Iraq.

 

[nextJin]

I can't believe it's already been 10 years. 10 years ago I was a 19 year old PFC in our company GP Large when a CSM came in and said get your shit ready we are going to war. 24 hours later we were at the border conducting precombat checks and listening to some creedance from some guys 80's boombox.

The costs don't surprise me at al frankly, we will be recovering from this war for half a century and those who were injured will have a life long experience not seen since Vietnam with the exception of actual support.

 

[nextJin]

He couldn't really step into office and simply say 'wars over. everyone come home'!

Actually he could have.

 

[ShawnD1]

With that logic, Obama's $6 trillion is really $18 trillion, after interest.

What kind of shitty bank are they borrowing money from?

mortgage calculator
1 million dollar loan
4% interest
monthly payments
30 years
total interest over 30 years = 0.711 million

Now change the numbers around until you get 3 million worth of interest. It's about 13 to 14% interest before the interest payments are 3x the initial loan.

 

[First]

He claimed that the wars had no direct positive economic impact on America.

This is obviously false. Building the equipment provided jobs for Americans.

If you want to argue it could of been spent in more productive ways that makes sense.

No I was still correct, it doesn't have a direct economic benefit in any significant way. It has lots of indirect benefits, but of course that was never my argument. The only people who obtain direct economic benefits from war are those directly employed in war, which is an utterly small fraction of the total workforce and not worth noting as compared to voluminous direct economic benefits received from Medicare, Medicaid, SS, etc. that everyone is legally entitled to.

 

[nextJin]

No I was still correct, it doesn't have a direct economic benefit in any significant way. It has lots of indirect benefits, but of course that was never my argument. The only people who obtain direct economic benefits from war are those directly employed in war, which is an utterly small fraction of the total workforce and not worth noting as compared to voluminous direct economic benefits received from Medicare, Medicaid, SS, etc. that everyone is legally entitled to.

Pretty much this,

Bombs don't add value or help grow the economy, the only benefit of the war was people who contracted out and the military industrial complex industries none of which really bring anything to our local economy. All of which was paid for by taxes. The war improves economies usually revolves around the broken glass theory.

 

[Sonikku]

Hey we got the 9/11 terrorist saddam Hussein didn't we!?

If we didn't arm mad men with weapons, CIA intel and tactics we would not have an accomplishment to feel good about later when we take them down. :thumbsup: