thoughtcrumbs

Speaking of national spending

David Leonhardt's article today, "What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy" is frightening and infuriating. $1.2 trillion is a conservative estimate of the cost of the Iraq war, not even taking into account soldier deaths. With the same amount of money, he asserts you could buy the following:
  • A global immunization campaign
  • Treatment for diabetes and heart disease for every American
  • A doubling of cancer research
  • Universal pre-school for 3- and 4-year-olds
  • Reconstruction of New Orleans
  • Better baggage and cargo screening (a 9/11 Commission recommendation deemed too expensive)
  • Increased pressure against the Taliban in Afghanistan
  • A peacekeeping force in Darfur
He concludes that the decision to send another 20,000 troops (costing $20 billion) shouldn't just be compared to other political strategies such as putting pressure on the Iraqi government. It should be compared to that and what we could have bought for the $20 billion.
January 17, 2007 : 9:38 AM
: link

Comments

I can't seem to access the original article. I'm not sure if the link is wrong, but I'm getting the runaround with logging into blogger to access it.
posted by Anonymous Cortney : January 17, 2007 1:19 PM : link to this comment  
Oh, thanks -- the link is fixed now.
posted by Blogger Moira : January 17, 2007 1:42 PM : link to this comment  
Could $1.2 trillion buy all those things, or would each of those cost $1.2 trillion? (I'm afraid of the answer, though in either case, 'infuriating' is appropriate.)
posted by Blogger mkrumm : January 25, 2007 10:08 AM : link to this comment  
The sad news is $1.2 trillion would buy all of those things. Ping has some more information at his blog.
posted by Blogger Moira : January 29, 2007 1:40 PM : link to this comment  
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Moira Burke

Psst! This is the blog of Moira Burke, a Ph.D. student in the HCI Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

Rife with derivative pop culture blather, this site occasionally features thoughts on social psychology, usability, aesthetics, and technology.

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