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> I'm an American and I understand too. We are living through the decades where America gave away its leadership in the world. We can't get anything accomplishe

> I'm an American and I understand too. We are living through the decades where America gave away its leadership in the world. We can't get anything accomplished at a reasonable price in reasonable time It's not that we can't get it accomplished reasonably, you'd be amazed at how fast and cheaply major projects can be developed if funding is properly structured. It's rather that we've wasted our treasure on other things. Jack Ma had an interesting comment at Davos[1] - what would the US be like if we had spent the $14 trillion we've wasted on war and wall street bailouts on infrastructure, research, and education in the Midwest? [1] http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/18/chinese-billionaire-jack-ma-says-the-us-wasted-trillions-on-warfare-instead-of-investing-in-infrastructure.html http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/18/chinese-billionaire-jack-ma-s...

idibidiart 9y ago
I don't think Iraq or Afghanistan got those $14 trillion. Iraqi infrastructure is worse than it was under Saddam, and society is much poorer... and in civil war. The money went to friends of corrupt US administrations and military contractors. That is 14,000 billion dollars stolen from American workers and shoved into the pockets of filthy rich white men.
sosa2k 9y ago
Wall Street bailouts were necessary to keep our country and economy intact. Most if not all of the money has been paid back. Agree on the war part though, it sucks that we spent so much on it.
- atonse 9y ago
  And this will never change. I live in the DC area and when you live here, you see how much of our economy in America is dependent on our ability to continue fighting wars. The military industrial complex is so out of control and bloated, we can't help but keep fighting wars to feed all these thousands of jobs going. Very worrying state of affairs.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- honestoHeminway 9y ago
  Is it intact? Or did the money blisters just move?
twoodfin 9y ago
$14T is an absurd exaggeration of the budgetary costs of post-9/11 wars and post-2008 bailouts. The entire Iraq war/post-war cost $800B, most of the TARP bailout money was paid back. You can claim there were huge knock-on costs to the economy for either if you like, but skipping either or both would not have given the US Government trillions to spend on Midwestern infrastructure.
- dxhdr 9y ago
  > The entire Iraq war/post-war cost $800B Source? The Congressional Research Service published a report in 2014 stating $1.6 trillion as the cost of war. Every other article I could find suggests this number is far too low and estimates $2-6 trillion. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-war-anniversary-idUSBRE92D0PG20130314 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-war-anniversary-idUSB... https://www.brown.edu/web/documents/nosearch/2016CostsofWar.pdf https://www.brown.edu/web/documents/nosearch/2016CostsofWar....
  - nealabq 9y ago
    This Wikipedia article suggests about $800B. But the Reuters article you cite says $2T to $6T is the eventual cost. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War Accounting is a creative endeavor.
  - losteric 9y ago
    I've encountered the Brown article before. Averaging the $3.6 trillion spent to-date since 2001, we're spending $240 billion per year on war in the Middle East. For perspective: * Hillary Clinton's campaign platform included a decent infrastructure bill - allocating $250 billion over 10 years. * NIH is estimated to spend $8 billion this year on cancer and cardiovascular research - the leading causes of death in America, killing over 1 million people each year.
- rubyn00bie 9y ago
  Sorry but your $800bn figure is bullshit. I'd highly recommend reading The Three Trillion Dollar War: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Trillion_Dollar_War https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Trillion_Dollar_Wa... Even moderate estimates put it at about $5 Trillion, the most conservative at $3 trillion, with the high end (reality) at $8+. One huge cost people completely ignore is the cost of health care for the vets we bring back who suffer from a huge number of physical and mental issues. It's also one we'll be paying for the next 40-50 years.

idibidiart 9y ago

I don't think Iraq or Afghanistan got those $14 trillion. Iraqi infrastructure is worse than it was under Saddam, and society is much poorer... and in civil war. The money went to friends of corrupt US administrations and military contractors. That is 14,000 billion dollars stolen from American workers and shoved into the pockets of filthy rich white men.

sosa2k 9y ago

Wall Street bailouts were necessary to keep our country and economy intact. Most if not all of the money has been paid back. Agree on the war part though, it sucks that we spent so much on it.

atonse 9y ago
And this will never change. I live in the DC area and when you live here, you see how much of our economy in America is dependent on our ability to continue fighting wars. The military industrial complex is so out of control and bloated, we can't help but keep fighting wars to feed all these thousands of jobs going. Very worrying state of affairs.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
honestoHeminway 9y ago
Is it intact? Or did the money blisters just move?

twoodfin 9y ago

$14T is an absurd exaggeration of the budgetary costs of post-9/11 wars and post-2008 bailouts. The entire Iraq war/post-war cost $800B, most of the TARP bailout money was paid back. You can claim there were huge knock-on costs to the economy for either if you like, but skipping either or both would not have given the US Government trillions to spend on Midwestern infrastructure.

dxhdr 9y ago
> The entire Iraq war/post-war cost $800B Source? The Congressional Research Service published a report in 2014 stating $1.6 trillion as the cost of war. Every other article I could find suggests this number is far too low and estimates $2-6 trillion. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-war-anniversary-idUSBRE92D0PG20130314 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-war-anniversary-idUSB... https://www.brown.edu/web/documents/nosearch/2016CostsofWar.pdf https://www.brown.edu/web/documents/nosearch/2016CostsofWar....
- nealabq 9y ago
  This Wikipedia article suggests about $800B. But the Reuters article you cite says $2T to $6T is the eventual cost. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War Accounting is a creative endeavor.
- losteric 9y ago
  I've encountered the Brown article before. Averaging the $3.6 trillion spent to-date since 2001, we're spending $240 billion per year on war in the Middle East. For perspective: * Hillary Clinton's campaign platform included a decent infrastructure bill - allocating $250 billion over 10 years. * NIH is estimated to spend $8 billion this year on cancer and cardiovascular research - the leading causes of death in America, killing over 1 million people each year.
rubyn00bie 9y ago
Sorry but your $800bn figure is bullshit. I'd highly recommend reading The Three Trillion Dollar War: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Trillion_Dollar_War https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Trillion_Dollar_Wa... Even moderate estimates put it at about $5 Trillion, the most conservative at $3 trillion, with the high end (reality) at $8+. One huge cost people completely ignore is the cost of health care for the vets we bring back who suffer from a huge number of physical and mental issues. It's also one we'll be paying for the next 40-50 years.