Wednesday, January 17, 2007

What Would You Do With $1.2 Trillion?

I wouldn't know what to do with $1.2 billion, let alone $1.2 trillion. We know what Bush has done with that massive amount of money. He spent it on Iraq (PDF File). He spent it on guns, contractors and lost revenue from all the national guard and reserve units that are being deployed once, twice, three times overseas instead of that 'one weekend a month, two weeks a year' bullshit that the National Guard used to advertise about.

The business section in the NY Times has some ideas:

For starters, $1.2 trillion would pay for an unprecedented public health campaign — a doubling of cancer research funding, treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged and a global immunization campaign to save millions of children’s lives.

Combined, the cost of running those programs for a decade wouldn’t use up even half our money pot. So we could then turn to poverty and education, starting with universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old child across the country. The city of New Orleans could also receive a huge increase in reconstruction funds.

The final big chunk of the money could go to national security. The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that have not been put in place — better baggage and cargo screening, stronger measures against nuclear proliferation — could be enacted. Financing for the war in Afghanistan could be increased to beat back the Taliban’s recent gains, and a peacekeeping force could put a stop to the genocide in Darfur.


So we could have secured our nation and made it a better place to live, regardless of our socio-economic position? We could have started rebuilding New Orleans as well? The decider has no idea on how to decide anything wherein it benefits Americans and not just Bush and the cronies that surround him