Per this article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/study-iraq-afghan-war-costs-to-top-4-trillion/2013/03/28/b82a5dce-97ed-11e2-814b-063623d80a60_story.html
Student loans are about 1 trillion. They could have been wiped out.
That amount would have wiped out half of the outstanding mortgage debt in the U.S. (Actually far more, since most of the mortgage is interest). I'm guessing it could ALL have been wiped out, but I doesn't math.
The amount of money put into education for grades 1-12 could have been increased by $6,849 per student for their entire education. (If we started now with kindergartens and paid for students until they graduated college)
Our infrastructure could have been fully upgraded.
We could have covered the country in high-speed trains.
Every man, woman, and child in the U.S. could have been handed $20,000.
Every man, woman, and child in the U.S. could have a personal trainer, 3 times a week, for 2.34 years (at $50.00 per session).
College textbooks could be free per student for 15 years of education.
Gasoline could be tax-free for 89.55 years.
The list goes on and on and on.
I'm struggling to find any justification for the astounding amount spent and was wondering if anyone out there has a different perspective.
Iraq War: ~$2 Trillion
War in Afghanistan: ~$975 Billion (so far)
CARES Act to provide emergency measures when coronavirus was out of control: $2.2 Trillion
...and more to come
I was speaking to an Iraqi online who said ISIS were able to storm the country because of loss of infrastructure in the war and corruption with rebuild money. He said these both made it difficult for the army to fight back without western help.
I tried to discuss this with friends but they got defensive. I tried explain I felt there was a big difference in criticising the strategist generals at the top and criticising the heroic troops actually present on the ground (with my opinion being only the former were to blame) but it was too late by then. I'm now scared to discuss it.
