War is expensive, and it’s about to get more so if the U.S. government escalates its military efforts in Afghanistan. […]Over the past eight years, the nearly $1 trillion cost of the military’s efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan was essentially charged to the national credit card.
Will it be different this time?
There’s some chance lawmakers may opt to pay the bill as it comes due, rather than letting the balance and interest accrue. It’s not the first time the idea has come up, but it may be the first time the idea is given serious consideration.
A big part of the context for deciding whether and how to pay for a buildup are the growing deficits that have become a political and financial albatross. The country’s accumulated debt is expected to rise from $12 trillion today to $21 trillion by the end of 2019.
Some lawmakers are pushing for a war tax. Peter Orszag, the White House budget director, took part in the latest war council meeting. And Obama is expected to raise the cost issue in his Tuesday evening address at West Point.
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Now I ask, what incentive is there to ever end war if they are able to tax it?
One novel idea is to actually win the war as quickly as possible instead of dragging it out for a decade or more. No wonder it’s so expensive.
It’s time to suit up members of Congress and send them to Afghanistan. They obviously have it too good as the only contact battles they participate in is attending Washington parties that we pay for.
I propose we let Senators and Representatives play whack a mole and dodge roadside bombs for a while. That should speed things along quite nicely.
Pay for it with a DIRECT increase in income taxes for the under $30,000 crowd, which includes me. Aren’t we tired of the passive-aggressive, pussified behavior of Congress? A righteous-indignation-induced national-scale RIOT would ensue. I can’t friggin’ wait.
Restore the Progressive Income Tax !!! Let the Millionaires and Billionaires pay !!!
Who do you think is paying now? As you cut tax rates, a higher share of income taxes is paid by the wealthy. Happened under Reagan, Clinton, Bush. When you raise tax rates, the reverse happens.
#17,
Dus,
Umm, you dont know your history or you are >30 years old.
War in Afghanistan, was between Russia and That country for 10 years, as russia TRIED to get the oil there.
WE, BACKED the country with Guns, weapons, ammo and TRAINING. We also made a few promise’s to Mr. Ben Laudin and the other GROUPS fighting at the time. This ened about 1990, and GUESS WHO was in Office. Mr. BUSH senior. and he declined all the promises that were made. After that point, THINGS started happening.
Do you want the Truth of HOW we went to war with Japan?? Japan was at war in china and the Pacific islands, and WE cut off their OIL ROUTES to the middle east. I wonder if that PISSED THEM OFF.
For some reason WE NEED WAR. if only to terrorize our OWN nation.
Just send a general message to the Taliban that they won the Nobel Peace Prize…. $200,000 dollars to anyone who shows up at The Chilzina and can prove that they are Taliban. I will be standing behind the photo backdrop with a large hammer.
Which of the follow will cost less:
1. Pull out and let al Qaeda attack us again. (9/11 is estimated no less than $2 trillion).
2. Half-ass the troop increase and get mired into Vietnam 2.0.
3. Give the people that know what they are doing the troops they need and cut spending in other areas so that we try to minimize the hit to the deficit and at the same time try to finish in Afghanistan as quickly as possible.
Btw, where is the kumbayah foreign policy we were promised that would garner international cooperation and participation in Afghanistan? Were we not told that the rest of the world “hates” us and that was why we could not get more participation in Afghanistan and Iraq? AFAIK, Obama has yet to convince anyone to dedicate more troops to Afghanistan than Bush.
#39 Agree with part and disagree with part.
Afghanistan, after we leave, is going to be run by a combination of Iran, Pakistan, people that aggregate poppy production, religious fundamentalists and western puppets. We are only scratching around the edges. Not much more is possible on time frame and manpower\fiscal constraints that are realistic.
With respect, your reading of India\Pakistan is way off.
The current generation of Pakistani leaders is solid, sort of like a half frozen lake is solid. Corrupt and venal: we know how to channel those impulses, even if they can’t entirely be controlled.
The younger to middle end of Pakistan’s officer core is more suspect. Many are true believers aka “those you can’t buy off.”
Nuclear war on the sub-continent is just about the worst possibility that exists in this world. Mostly that’s because we need India to balance China in the next 50 years.
This would be my solution. Offer to grant the leadership of Pakistan a small extraterritorial state in Nevada, within distance of Las Vegas, in exchange for destroying or handing over the necessary infrastructure of their nuke program.
Mansions plus a guaranteed supply of chemicals, women, and gambling… I think we could swing that.