Hidden Costs of Bush Wars

$1.6 trillion is the current estimate of the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. This is double what Bush and the Republicans
have said. The report was released Tuesday from the Joint
House and Senate Economic Committee.

Bush-Cheney and Republicans try to give only the actual cost
of making war. This report, however, goes beyond the up-front
outlays and gives the costs that are hidden. These costs include
interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars,
lost investment, the expenses of long term health care for injured
veterans, and the cost of oil market disruptions. The amount for
Iraq alone is $1.3 trillion.

The White House says the report is political. Republicans in Congress
call this a "thinly veiled exercise in political hyperbole masquerading
as academic research." LOL.....What the hell is this? Oh, spin?

The report was prepared by the non-partisan CBO and by the Committee's
own, long standing professional economists.

At the start of the war, oil was $37 a barrel. Today oil is over $90 a barrel.
Who benefits? Moreover, the interest alone will total over $550 billion by
2017. The national debt today stands at $9 trillion. The Comptroller General,
a Republican, says the hidden costs of the total national debt is $50 trillion,
not $9 trillion. Will any one face facts?