|
Edited on Wed Jul-28-10 03:03 PM by AnArmyVeteran
What we could have done with the WASTED war money
The cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is now at $1,022,160,912,463
The number of households in America is approximately 113,000,000
The amount of money per household spent on the useless wars is $9,045
Note: The costs of the war will be ongoing for years, even after any troop reductions. The costs will linger on possibly for decades, just as we are squandering massive amounts of our wealth by having our military stationed around the world since WWII. No one knows what the final tally for the Afghan and Iraq Wars will be, but some estimates put the figure at several trillion.
Imagine what we could have done with that $9,045 per household:
A wind turban system producing 650 watts of power is $1,200, so with $9,045 every household could have a wind turban system producing 4,900 watts of electricity.
A solar panel kit producing 2,261 watts would cost approximately $9,000, so every household in America could have solar panels installed on their households.
I understand some locations wouldn't be able to utilize solar but could use wind, and vice versa. Some locations could have both. While due to the specific locations, some households might not be able to use either. And I understand that the power produced from either of these two methods might not be enough power to provide all the energy needs for a household. But it's a start. And it would cut down on the amount of fossil fuels we have to use. And we wouldn't have to rely as much on the corrupt BPs of the world for our energy needs and we could tell them to stop destroying our shores. Yes, a commitment to using green energy sources would mean a huge reduction of business for the current coal, natural gas and oil companies, but so what? When the horse and buggy was replaced by the internal combustion engine the people who made buggies had to change their professions. Today's workers in the fossil fuel industries could get green jobs.
Instead of constantly spending our money to kill, destroy and make countless new enemies, why aren't use using our resources on ourselves and our future? Why is it so easy for politicians to mindlessly go to war and fund perpetual wars, instead of doing what is right for our country?
I've heard politician after politician whining that we should be working toward energy independence, but they never do anything about it. It's mainly because they are prostitutes to the oil, coal and natural gas industries. But how long are we going to allow our country to be controlled by corrupt corporations who own our politicians and our government? "Drill baby drill" is a chant for the mindless masses who don't have the ability to think beyond the internal combustion engine. When Al Gore suggested replacing the internal combustion engine many years ago he was mocked and scorned by those on the right. We need to be the adults in the room and forge ahead without them. If our country always followed the most ignorant among us we wouldn't have ever seen any progress in our country's history. The same kind of people who laughed at the introduction of the automobile are laughing at green technology. It's time to completely ignore them and to shove through real energy legislation with zero inputs from our enemies on the right. Their only goal is to retard and destroy our country's economy and our future.
President Obama made a lot of bold claims while he was running for office. His successes have mostly been marginal and every bill proposed has been compromised to death, essentially destroying any chance of them becoming the meaningful legislation they could have been. Yes, there have been a few successes, but why hasn't President Obama done something bold like have a true war against energy dependence?
If electric cars were mass produced I'm sure their prices could be brought down to an affordable range so $9,000 could defray most of their cost, or be inexpensive enough so every household in America could own one. Look at the energy we could save? Look at how much pollution could be reduced. The Chinese company BYD is selling their F3DM electric cars for $22,000, or half the cost of a GM Volt.
So why aren't we doing these sane things instead of sending money, weapons and soldiers to foreign countries to fight unwinnable wars? We have a golden opportunity to make big changes which will benefit all our citizens and our country, so why are we allowing our leaders to squander away our future?
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
