June 27, 2006
CHUMP CHANGE:
Iraq: A Shocking Waste of Money (Matthew Yglesias, June 27, 2006, The American Prospect)
The shocking truth, according to Bilmes and Stiglitz, is that if one applies the Congressional Budget Office's basic assumptions about the duration of the conflict ("a small but continuous presence"), it will cost nearly a staggering $1.27 trillion dollars before all is said and done.
Which raises the single most important geopolitical question of the 21st century: which other murderous dictatorship, besides Saddam's, does the Left think isn't worth getting rid of when we can do them at a cost of just one twelfth of one year's GDP--North Korea, Burma, Syria, Cuba, Zimbabwe....? How little are basic human rights worth to the supposed heirs of Wilson, FDR, Truman, JFK, and Clinton? Posted by Orrin Judd at June 27, 2006 4:27 PM
They simply repeat what I've said for years: "Don't confuse me with the facts!" The difference is that I was arguing about trivial aspects of computer science; these lefties are playing with people's lives.
Posted by: Jay at June 27, 2006 4:36 PMIt's only money. That Andrew Carnegie quote to the effect that who dies rich dies disgraced is relevant here.
What was the defest of Nazism, Nippism and Communism worth? How much mere moneyre we willing to pay to complete the pending "reformation?" Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also.
Posted by: Lou Gots at June 27, 2006 5:07 PMYglesias does his best to bury the fact, but these cost numbers assume a US presence in Iraq through 2015. So he's complaining about spending $1.27 trillion dollars over 12 years, so he's talking about a period during which the total US GDP will be at least $150 trillion. In other words, at less than 1% of GDP annually, the war remains cheap.
Posted by: David Cohen at June 27, 2006 5:41 PMThe first, and last, two posts I can remember reading on Yglesias's blog were as follows: (1) Yglesias agonizes over whether to give $20 to a homeless guy, decides not to, because it would tend to let Republicans off the hook for the homeless; (2) Yglesias reviews Spider-Man 2, decides it's worthless and corrupt, because Peter Parker gets a kiss from Mary Jane.
Posted by: joe shropshire at June 27, 2006 6:13 PMWow that article actually made me want to pay my taxes.
Posted by: lebeaux at June 27, 2006 11:09 PM