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317 Comments
- haiduz, on 11/07/2007, -26/+248That ***** raised interest rates on student loans!
(pissed off college student)
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/bush-opposes-democrats-student-loan-rate/story.aspx?guid=%7BE59E3609-7B9A-4AEF-89E2-2EE8E21F76AF%7D - dustonnorcross, on 11/07/2007, -15/+207amazing, it's ironic, you would think that killing people would be a lot cheaper. there are probably about 2 million college students that should read this.
- DatDudeWiggs, on 10/12/2007, -67/+197Bush sucks.
- hode, on 10/12/2007, -3/+109@dustonnocross "You'd think killing people would be a lot cheaper"
You'd think so. Divide $145 billion by the number of terrorists you think they will eliminate this year. Go ahead, pick a nice high number. How about 5,000? Thats $29,000,000 per body! The reward for Bin Laden is only $25 mil. Talk about waste! We would have a better return on our tax dollars by parachuting in laptops with World of Warcraft installed. We'd never hear from Al-Qaeda again.
Your tax dollars are being stolen. - hode, on 10/12/2007, -2/+71@Dmuth "I should have invested in some terrorists!"
You can. The stock symbol is HAL. I hear they are making serious money in the terror industry. - validius, on 10/12/2007, -17/+81Even better then the idea put fourth by the topic poster. What if that money was never taxed at all?
- dmuth, on 10/12/2007, -5/+64$29,000,000 per terrorist body? And how much does their training cost? $4.99 for some box cutters and a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator?
Wow... screw my 401(k), I should have invested in some terrorists! :-P - Waiting2awake, on 10/12/2007, -1/+51 When you grow up you just might realize that not everything is a partisan political move. Sometimes things are wrong, regardless on who does them. From an outside perspective, there is no difference between your republicans and your Democrats - they are both the same, tugging at certain issues to illicit an emotional response because as long as you are thinking emotionally you will be likely to fall for the blame game.
Republicans = Democrats.
The only losers are the American people and you all are too busy sling monkey poop at each to even bother noticing that both sides are playing the same game. - Slovenian6474, on 10/12/2007, -2/+45That's like 145 billion bacon double cheeseburgers...
- floridiot2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+34Well.. junior bacon cheeseburgers.
- argoff, on 10/12/2007, -10/+42You ain't seen nothing till you get to the 40 Trillion in unfunded liabilities (like social security). Also, they are making the implicit assumption that paying for every ones college (for example) wouldn't destroy the cost unaccountability's and double and triple the price.
- math20, on 10/12/2007, -36/+67This assumes every dime gets to who the money is supposed to help, in reality 99% of the money will be absorbed into an inefficient beurocrasy.
- iceperson, on 10/12/2007, -15/+44If only the government would pay everyone's tuition, think of all the weed we could buy with the savings!
- biniar, on 10/12/2007, -4/+32I like the idea of having it all illustrated so you don't even require reading it to understand the point with the huge circles.
- mibi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+28actually it IS EXTRA... its a 145 billion supplemental tacked on to the budget as an after though, the Defense Department doest request supplemental money if there isn't a war, they already get 1/2 trillion.
- Tsen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24@Halleyscomet:
And? So, we up the estimate to your (highly optimistic) 100,000 casualties.
That's still $1,450,000 per terrorist.
I don't want my money wasted that way. - halleyscomet, on 11/07/2007, -5/+28@DAGONthehauge
Nah, a Democracy is too much paperwork. Having every voter vote on every bill would be absurd. Think of the logistics.
What we need to do is break the country out into sections, districts if you will. Then we have each district elect a representative who will go to DC to vote on things, under the assumption that the representative would, represent the views and needs of his or her district!
It'll be like a democracy, but more manageable. We'll call it a Representative Democracy.
Or we can just stick with the Corporate Oligarchy we have now. - vertinox, on 10/12/2007, -5/+27@"What if that money was never taxed at all?"
It wasn't taxed. It was simply borrowed from the national debt.
Simply put, there is not a single dollar of actual tax money going to the war in Iraq right now.
Of course when it comes around to pay the national debt, then you will see tax money being spent regardless on interest payments only. - PleaseJustDie, on 11/07/2007, -6/+27I have ideas of what can be done with that money.
It can be destroyed to put less money in circulation thereby increasing the value of all our money (deflation) to ballance the rampant unbacked printing of money the government has been doing.
It can be used to pay off some of the debt this country has incurred to fund the war.
It can be used to give the tax payers a tax break.
All three of those options will increase economic growth increase quality of living for the people by resulting in increasing the value of the dollar. But the congress, democrat or republican, will never do that. If they weren't allowed to spend that money on Iraq then well, someone has to fund the 20,000 dollar toilet seats and 10,000 dollar hammers. - po43292, on 10/12/2007, -3/+24I'd buy 145 billion Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers.
- deathsquadx, on 10/12/2007, -6/+24Making bombs and funding the Iraqi military isn't what I call good economic stimulation!
How about putting more students through college, that way we get more scientist/chemist/biologist/etc. People that will actually help our country. - masamunecyrus, on 10/12/2007, -14/+31What America WOULD buy for $145 billion dollars if it were not spent on the Iraq War:
1.) Pay raises
2.) Welfare
3.) Increase the Department of Homeland Security budget - gardnmi, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20End hunger four times over? Aren't we fat enough in America.
- hode, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18@secondguesser
It's called hyperbole. Perhaps your english class was underfunded? - toconnor, on 10/12/2007, -4/+19@haiduz
You do realize that opposing a cut in rates is not the same as raising rates don't you? - Tweekster, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18But they wouldnt have bought any of those things so the entire article is a waste of breath.
- hode, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15@secondguesser
A cease-fire with Al-Qaeda is irrelevant. The bottom line is more people die from peanut allergies than terrorism (and that is a fact). This kind of massive spending just isn't justified.
I can imagine no reason for you to peddle fear like you do. Are you heavily invested in a defense contractor? - halleyscomet, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15@waiting2awake
Shhh. Be careful. You're spewing "Common Sense" and injecting reality into a partisan debate. Both Repubocrats and Demlicans object to that kind of behavior, and it goes over very poorly in most discussion forums, particularly Digg.
(For those who missed the gag, I just switched the first two syllables on the words "Republican" and "Democrat" to illustrate the fact that there really isn't that big a difference between them. There are no other attempts at punnery inherent in the switch, nor am I trying to make either name sound like a different word.) - monarch00, on 10/12/2007, -8/+20Whoever designed that site should be beaten with a blunt object.
- AngryPenguin47, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13If you want to know where it would go just look at where that money went before the war in iraq. Did it go to free tuition and room and board? No. It doesn't matter whether it goes to the war or into the great black money hole that is the US gov, we won't see a ***** dime. Time to face reality folks.
- lonnieh, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13or around 121 million roast beef samiches, five fo five niny-fy.
- lithuin, on 10/12/2007, -5/+16We could also buy a billion $145 hooker-bots, or 145 $1,000,000 hooker-bots.
Or one gorgeous Lucy Liu-bot. - Ibanezfoo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13How about giving it back to the people who earned it in the first place (people being raped by taxes, like me) and not "buying" anything...
- daedalus1982, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10@DrBooBooGone
actually Obama is for funding the war. He would like to be out of Iraq by march of 08 but he isn't against funding. Quite to the contrary he has lobbied for better armour for their vehicles. Some of our boys are ALIVE because of a person you're blasting.
get your facts straight. I'm a conservative but I respect that man. - lonnieh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10^^^ i mean billion, that number is hard to comprehend with my tiny human brain
- evablack, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11it's definitely one of the most intricately woven graphs I've ever seen.
the detailed information is so easily understandable, i definitely think this should be used in high schools when discussing American politics. i wish someone would do something similar in a Canadian version. - qwickone, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12You idiot. Did you RTFA? It's not talking about setting fire to the money, but what better things could have been done with it considering the Dept of Defense already gets around 500 billion. And how much of that do you really think is going into our economy. You better believe that a significant portion of that money is going into some other country's economy because those dollars are being spent abroad.
- mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9The point is to imagine the possibilities.. or to make us all further depressed. It is said the entire war will cost around $2000000000000 considering all future costs.
- owenlars, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9@srodolff
Aside from the fact that you're purely speculating, you seem to imply that the only thing keeping the US economy going is the military. If that is the case, then according to your logic, the only way we can survive is if we keep spending more on the military, and keep starting new wars.
You should head over to Wikipedia and read up on President Eisenhower's speech/warning on "Military Industrial Complex". You prove his point. - mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9What's difficult to understand? The circles represent the budget each department was allocated in relative proportion to each other.
- futureb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8if by "US economy" you mean the investment accounts of the filthy rich, then YES!
personally i don't feel very stimulated...economically...
... - Konrad9, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10And the probability that it would actually go into my tuition if the war wasn't on....
zero.
I wish it would, though. 50% of my tuition this year was from a loan. Next year, it's gonna be a lot higher. - edmondodantes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Bush : in name of god
Binladen: in name of god
Ahmadinejad: in name of god - vmerc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9World hunger maybe? Anyway, all that would do is cause a HUGE surge in population around the third world, and then we would have to feed all those new people that are now starving because they outstripped the food supply.
- deathsquadx, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9So don't read it, and please don't ***** comment on it!
- Waiting2awake, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6 You know you're right! It isn't like this current government has this money(your money) just sitting around. It is your children's money and your grandchildren money they are throwing away today.
What ever happened to traditional conservative ethics and fiscal responsibility?
Taxes are extortion, government spending this large on lies is enslaving your children and instead of standing up against it, instead of protecting them, you are leaving them a debt they will have no hope of paying off. Sacrificing your children's future because of your fears today.
I believe that is referred to as cowardice. - Thuktun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@secondguesser "see how much we spend in freebies to those that cannot pull their own weight here at home"
Wow, you shoved your foot into your mouth. You included:
* Social Security and Medicare -- You are only eligible for these programs if you or your spouse paid into these programs through payroll taxes.
* Things for kids -- Worthless kids who don't pull their weight, put them to work.
* Retirement and disability for *MILITARY* employees -- Yep, they don't do anything for us, let them rot.
Not pulling their weight, indeed. - ZakColeman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6$145 billion, thats nothing! you should see their overall military spending per year: "For 2007, the budget was raised to a total of US$ 470 Billion."
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States
What could be done with say maybe $300 billion? (give it to nasa) - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Or how about our great pubic ebucation?
- Waiting2awake, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8 Not to sound calous, but why do we as Canadians have a reason to be in Afgani? If the 911 commission wasn't the farce it was, if serious questions were met with serious answers instead of the politricks of the day, if there was some tangible goal that can be defined - then maybe, but without any of those things, we are acting emotionally too.
No one likes the Taliban, and I do feel sorry for the Afganni people who are stuck there - but it is them and not some outside force that will bring peace to the region. Once they stand up against them, then we should join them, but it seems all the heavylifting is being done by foreigners(which you know will only come back to bite us on the arse) because of nebulus reasons.
Heck, Canada is the 6th largest arms dealer in the world, outfit the average person with relative equipment and let them fight the Taliban, but one drop of Canadian blood is too much when the Afgani's aren't volunteering to shed their own.
I know it is harsh, but so is life. And the truth. -
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