Why Are We Still Involved in Several Wars?

[OhioChick]

I just don't understand this. We're in an economic cluster-fuck with thousands upon thousands of people losing their jobs, homes, health care and lives daily. The taxpayers are paying for all of these financial firms to be bailed out, etc.

I've read so many editorials as of late which are frightening....recovery to "begin" in 2011, "situation dire", etc.

Never in my lifetime have I seen job loss this catastrophic, yet why are we still involved in several wars? How much are we spending on both daily? If we brought our troops home today.....how much money could be used for infrastructure spending and helping out state governments and programs in the up-coming months, years?

This just all seems insane to me....Maybe someone can explain why we're in a shit mess here financially, yet still fighting overseas spending money that we don't have or that could be used wisely elsewhere.....

Anyone?

[HughBeaumont]

1. Got me by the booools.

The Obama Administration needs to end at least one, if not both, and FAST. We cannot logically support the massive trillions it takes to be an empire any longer and this Iraq thing, which was void of purpose to begin with, has now become a billions-a-month anchor on the treasury. The Pentasewer's budget needs to be slashed and the Generals need to get the hell in line and realize they don't have a cash-and-carry mafia boss/cowboy as President any longer.

America needs to kick it's addiction to militarism before it renders us dead.

[HillbillyBob]

2. I said our forces were spread over the world at unneccesary expense

from the very beginning of the wars and that the wars were wrong, unlawful and had nothing really to do with OSL who should be treated like a criminal not a war instigating reason.
We all also know that the wars for fun, profit and oil were to suck our treasury dry and into the pockets of ( * )s buddies.

[woodwrite]

3. Depends on who you think is really driving the bus.

Barrack Obama would ultimately end up doing a much better job if the Congress and Senate were occupied by 535 individuals chosen at random from the population-at-large.

[Johonny]

4. the pain of the Bush administration

doesn't magically clear up in 1 day. This country will be paying for the last 8 years for a long, long time.

[chill_wind]

5. I so agree! I don't see how we can afford to compound this

even further with escalating military spending in Afghanistan on top of the present disasters.

K & R.

[OhioChick]

6. Wow...

I just looked at your link. I knew the cost was "up there" but didn't realize how much.

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

[chill_wind]

7. Every time I look at that staggering running meter of billions

along with the ill-use of them for death and mayhem and making a few rich men much, much richer-- and then look at the trade-off costs to us and our children, I feel sick.

[OhioChick]

8. I just showed the running meter to my kid

And his jaw dropped...and he asked why we're still there when so many people are out of work. I didn't have an answer.....

[chill_wind]

9. There should be one on a billboard outside of every American town.

There are cost calculators there for every state and many towns and cities. There's also one now for the bank-bailout. Put one one of them up, too.

Then there should be a great big pie chart of the military spending and then what's left to our citizenry. If this was visually driven into the consciousness of every American, there would be a lot more fury than even already exists. It's the bank looting AND the war looting of the last 7 years. And now we're going to increase it even more.

Barack Obama carried around a slip of paper during his campaign so he could reference figures from that site from time to time in his speeches. Heh.