How much is $650,000,000,000

Recently SecDef Gates went before Congress to ask for another 200 Billion dollars for the war. In the same session, Congress members stated that the current total spent on the war is 450 Billion and we one Senator stated that we were spended at a rate of 13 Billion per week now. These crazy amounts of money become a little hard to comprehend. Since that day I have been struggling with the Math in my head to try to comprehend whats happening. Here is what I have come up with so far.

1. According to CIA Factbook the US GDP or Gross Domestic Product is 13.06 Trillion that means that if we spend the additional 200 Billion or a total of 650 Billion that would mean we would be spending almost 5% or our Gross GDP. Or we are spending almost 5% of all the money not cost adjusted that the entire nation makes. On one specific effort in one country. Let that sit for a minute.

2. The other way to look at it is as a per year amount. 650 Billion / 5 years = 130 Billion per year. That would represent somewhere between 1 and 2% of each of those five years of GDP. According to the Office of Management and Budget the entire budget of the US government for 2007 was only 17.7% of GDP. Remember this is covering roads, healthcare, other military spending aside from war, everything.

3. Yet another way to look at it is that pesky 13 Billion a week statement. how much money is that per capita. Well the population of the US is about 300 million currently. So if this figure of 13 Billion a week is correct thats about $43 dollars a week for every man woman and child nationwide. Well is that even possible 13 billion a week? Yes, yes it is. While I showed you the average in the bullet above, this cost has not really accurate. It was not spreadout in this way, the costs have primarily come in the last couple of years, and are increasing daily.

All of this is great banter, but some of you out there are saying: "Whatever it costs to protect our troops with body armor and armored vehicles. Whatever it costs to protect America, it may be expensive but it is security."

1. Military members who worked in Kosovo and many other conflicts under Clinton state they had armor and the tools they needed and these conflicts were not costly.

2. We have almost the same number of US contractors in Iraq as troops. A Blackwater storm trooper costs far far more than a solid steady Marine. He also isn't working for the mission we are, he is working for a paycheck and thats it. If we don't have the troops for the war then there is a problem and it isn't one that high paid crazy mercenaries can repair.

3. There is no evidence that this war has made us any more secure. All of the conventional thought about this region and the former Iraqi regime would tell us that we have destabilized the region further, we have created more terrorism, we have lowered the quality of life of everyone in Iraq, we have weakened our military and offensive capabilities, and we have lost the trust of the world.

I will cut it off there, all is not lost, but the current Whitehouse is trying hard to take you to a point where it will be. The country spends more and Cheney and pals make more, this is a clear transfer of national treasure into private coffers.

Az