Your Share of Bush's Folly

Let's look at the numbers.

The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and anti terrorist efforts abroad could cost the country $2.4 trillion over the next ten years, according to a report Wednesday.

The money, over 70 percent of which would go to support operations in Iraq, includes the estimated $600 billion spent since 2001, Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag said in testimony before the House Budget Committee. That estimate includes projected interest, since the government is borrowing most of the funds required.

OK, let's give Bush credit for what he got right. Even a good president would have sent troops into Afghanistan. However, a good president would have gone in, gotten the job done and then gotten out, so we probably wouldn't still be there. But, since Bush is used to having everything given to him instead of earned, we'll go ahead and take 30% off the top.

$2,400,000,000,000 x 30% = 72,000,000
$2,400,000,000,000 - $72,000,000,000 = $1,680,000,000,000

So the current United States population is 303,026,362.

Let's see how that breaks down, to find out what each individual owes -- my portion, your portion, your kid's portion, your grandmother's portion:

$1,680,000,000,000 ÷ 303,026,362 = $5,544.07

$5,544.07. That means my family of three is into this stupid endeavor for $16,632.21. I don't know about you, but I can think of some really cool stuff I could have done with that kind of cash.

So, where are you going to come up with that money? More importantly, where are your kids going to get it? They're ultimately going to be the ones who have to pay this bill. Maybe you better up your contribution to their savings accounts...