Trillions of Dollars. Gone.
House prices drop. Interest rates get slashed. And guess what: I still can barely afford anything. I don’t know about you, but my salary certainly hasn’t kept pace with inflation. Not when a gallon of gas is $3.50, a slice of pizza sets me back $2.25, and single-family fixer-uppers are close to half a million dollars.
But many companies want us to be satisfied with 3% ‘cost of living’ raises.
It doesn’t help that the U.S. continues to hemorrhage money in Iraq. It’s like they’ve come down with anemia and there isn’t a clot in sight. Estimates of $60 billion to rid the world of Saddam Hussein were grossly inaccurate. So far, the war has cost $600 billion and the meter is still running. We’ll be in the trillions before it’s all said and done.
But wait! The government says there are good times ahead.
The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 is cutting checks to over 130 million American households. The money starts to roll in May. Somewhere between $300 – $1200 for most folks, depending on your income. That’s around a $168 billion tab for Uncle Sam.
However, many surveys have indicated that Americans do not plan to “stimulate” the economy by hitting the mall. In fact the majority of folks plan to pay down debt. Because for the first time since records have been kept, homeowners owe more than the equity in their houses.
Look at your local real estate prices and think about that for a second. Home prices skyrocketed to ridiculous proportions several years back. Yet we’ve still managed to dig a hole large enough to crawl inside of and die. OK, maybe not die – but at least go broke.
The poor folks in Iraq are doing both.
I know that many of them signed up by choice. But no one expected this to drag on for thousands and thousands of days.
Jack of All Blogs is certainly too simple to delve into many aspects of the war. In fact, I’m more convinced than ever that the world is spinning way too fast.
I realize this entry is kind of all over the place. What’s my point? I don’t think I really have one. I’m just a little disgusted at where things are right now.
The government will share $168 billion with us. Maybe I should be happy. But I can’t help but wonder where we’d be if they shared the trillions they are spending overseas.
I’ll shut up now and just be grateful that nothing has exploded in my neck of the woods.
[...] support for the military effort in Iraq is waning, as it did during the Vietnam War. Get those men and women of the military home [...]
The War in Iraq, losing steam? at Definition of Philosophy said this on April 6, 2008 6:31 am