Opportunity costs of the Iraq war

This is not a too brilliant collection of alternative uses for Iraq war monies but at least it gives some idea of the opportunity costs involved. It is from this site.

'Boston Globe' Web Site Calculates Other Uses For $611 Billion Spent on Iraq

By Joe Strupp

Published: November 12, 2007 11:10 PM ET

NEW YORK Boston.com, the Web site of The Boston Globe, has again taken a unique view of the latest Iraq War funding request, offering a look at what the $611.5 billion that would be spent so far on the war could buy if it was not used for the military operation.

The Web site provided a similar assessment in May when the price tag had reached $456 billion. Now with the latest appropriation request set to hike the cost to $611.5 billion, the Web staff has found a new list of would-be uses.

Dave Beard, editor of Boston.com, noted in an e-mail that the posting had remained the most popular news item on the Web site for the past two days.

"If the Bush administration succeeds in its latest request for funding for the war in Iraq, the total cost would rise to $611.5 billion, according to the National Priorities Project, a nonprofit research group," the staff stated in an online introduction. "The amount got us wondering: What would $611 billion buy?"

Among the findings, from college tuition to free gasoline -- each posted with an accompanying photo -- staffers revealed the following:

• "U.S. drivers consume approximately 384.7 million gallons of gasoline a day. Retail prices averaged $3.00 a gallon in early November. Breaking it down, $611 billion could buy gasoline for everybody in the United States, for about 530 days."

• "In fiscal 2008, Medicare benefits will total $454 billion, according to a Heritage Foundation summary. The $611 billion in war costs is 17 times the amount vetoed by the president for a $35 billion health."

• "According to World Bank estimates, $54 billion a year would eliminate starvation and malnutrition globally by 2015, while $30 billion would provide a year of primary education for every child on earth. At the upper range of those estimates, the $611 billion cost of the war could have fed and educated the world's poor for seven years."

• "At almost $15 billion, Boston's Central Artery project has been held up as the nation's most expensive public works project. Now multiply that by 40 and you're getting close to US taxpayers’ commitment to democracy in Iraq – so far."

• "At published rates for this year, $611 billion translates into almost 14 million free rides for a year at Harvard University. Tuition and fees at the University of Massachusetts-Boston could be paid for over 53 million years."

Of course, nothing in Boston is done without at least a slight connection to the Red Sox, so staffers added: "The Red Sox and Daisuke Matsuzaka agreed on a six-year, $52 million contract. The war cost could be enough to have Dice-K mania for more than 70,000-some years at this year's rate."

The presentation can be found here

The comparison has also prompted dozens of comments, which range from anti-Globe sentiment such as, "I would buy a newspaper which doesn't show its leftist bias in all aspects of its operation, from editorial page, to articles, to message boards" to attacks on the Bush administration: "(It is) almost enough to buy the net worth of Bush and Cheney after 8 years in the White House!"


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Bush to cut Medicare and Medicaid to fund wars

Obviously one of the opportunity costs of funding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is a decline in funding of social programs.


Bush says budget will limit non-defense spending By Caren Bohan
Sat Feb 3, 3:59 PM ET



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Saturday his upcoming budget proposal would emphasize restraint on domestic spending while making defense and war costs for Iraq and Afghanistan the top priority.



"Cutting the deficit during a time of war requires us to restrain spending in other areas," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

Previewing the fiscal year 2008 budget he will unveil on Monday, Bush also said it would show that his goal of erasing the deficit by 2012 could be accomplished while making his tax cuts permanent.

"Congress needs to make this tax relief permanent, so we can keep America's economy growing. Pro-growth economic policies also play a vital role in our plan to balance the federal budget," he said.

"Our growing economy has produced record levels of tax revenue. This increase in tax revenue has helped us cut the deficit in half three years ahead of schedule," he added. "On Monday, we will take the next step when I submit to Congress a budget that will eliminate the deficit by 2012."

Bush will propose a 1 percent increase in spending outside defense for fiscal 2008, according to The Washington Post. That would amount to a decrease in programs after accounting for inflation, which is running at about 2.5 percent.

The Post also said the president would seek a 10 percent increase in the regular Pentagon budget to $481 billion.

FINANCING IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN WARS

An administration official has said the president will request a total of $245 billion to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through late 2008. That will include a $100 billion request for the wars for the rest of the current fiscal year that ends on September 30 and $145 billion for next year.

Including $70 billion that Congress has already approved, the total of $170 billion for this fiscal year would mark the highest spending level so far for the two wars.

"Our troops deserve our full support, and this budget gives them the resources they need," Bush said, adding he would set as his top priority "keeping America safe and winning the war against extremists."

He did not discuss any of the numbers in the budget, nor did he specify the non-defense areas where he would curb spending. However, he said some "wasteful spending" could be cut by getting rid of "earmarks" -- or special interest projects.

This is the first year Bush will submit his budget to a Democratic-controlled Congress. Many Democrats have called Bush fiscally reckless and contend that his huge tax cuts were heavily skewed toward the wealthy and were unaffordable.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a report last month that balancing the budget was possible by 2012. But its assumptions did not factor in an extension of the Bush tax cuts or changes Congress is likely to make to shield middle-class Americans from the alternative minimum tax.

Bush, who addressed House of Representatives Democrats at their retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia, on Saturday, also called for a bipartisan effort to rein in entitlement programs, such as the Medicare health program for older Americans.

"Controlling spending also requires us to address the unsustainable growth of entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid," Bush said. "Spending for these programs is growing faster than inflation, faster than our economy, and faster than our ability to pay for it.

Bush's budget will propose squeezing about $70 billion in savings from the Medicare and Medicaid health programs over the next five years, an administration official said.

Opportunity Costs of Iraq War

The Opportunity Costs of the Iraq War
David Leonhardt writes an excellent piece in the New York Times which compares the costs of the Iraq War with other items we might have purchased. He writes:
Whatever number you use for the war’s total cost, it will tower over costs that normally seem prohibitive. Right now, including everything, the war is costing about $200 billion a year.Treating heart disease and diabetes, by contrast, would probably cost about $50 billion a year. The remaining 9/11 Commission recommendations — held up in Congress partly because of their cost — might cost somewhat less. Universal preschool would be $35 billion. In Afghanistan, $10 billion could make a real difference. At the National Cancer Institute, annual budget is about $6 billion. Hell, we could have universal health care for $100 billion a year. Think of how many lives could be saved as opposed to all the death and carnage that has been wrought by the horrible decision to engage in this war.
posted by Macswain.