A sick graph - Iraq war spending vs. spending on renewable energy

[…] US Spending on the Iraq War Compared to Energy R+D [graph] […]

Wow, I’m with ya on this. It just boggles the mind to think we would spend so much more on a war for oil then we would spend on not being dependent on so much oil to begin with. Wow!

Any doubts why US is running at the back of the “renewable sources” competition?

I blame George Bush Sr. He raised a greedy, incompetent boob. It (yes it) knows not to bite the hand that feeds it, it’s easily bullied, it will obey big oil no matter how inane the demand, and is incapable of thinking for itself. On the plus side, the current resident in the White House has inspired my fish. Things that could never have thought about ruling the free world now think about it often and are looking into hiring public relations firms, compiling statics and forming focus groups. Vote Oscar.

How about a graph showing how many innocent people are killed in the quest for each source of energy?

@Lionel

Actually, I think the country most likely to find “the next big thing” is the U.S. The government may not be throwing too much tax money on research but several universities an d companies are working on the problem.

how about listing the number or terrorists killed with the $$ from each energy source? It’s a big fat Zero! Or maybe you think solar panals on the twin towers would have made a difference?

um. the graph is wrong. it moves in frames of 500 and that would mean that only 500 dollars had been spent on coal. ever. i dont think thats correct. this could be done, just do it right and it will still be as shocking

oh nevermind. i saw the labeling
still, give me some sources

[…] check this out:  http://www.solarpowerrocks.com/solar-trends/a-sick-graph-2/ […]

an oddly appropriate graph for halloween, one of the scariest things I’ve seen in days.

added a link to this post from my blog, along with a short rant on the opportunity cost of this war and the damage to the our country and our economy caused by that. hope you get some traffic off it.

{ep[;e pf tje IS are cp,[;acemt/ Tjeu deserve Bush. It sithe best that they could offer the wowrold. Not once but, twice.

@ Wardo,

More info and references provided above.

It’s clear to all of us by now that the Clinton administration did so very little in the area of renewable resource development that they significantly hampered our national progress in this arena.

While we’ve probably spent a bit more in Iraq than we had hoped, it’s clear that President Bush’s priorities are clearly in the right place. First, safety of the homeland. Then, lesser things.

What’s clear is that there is no hope for our country if enough 1/4 wits still buy into the bull that the war criminals running our nation spew out. They have made this a much more dangerous world for us and everyone else.

Carl Rody said: “I blame George Bush Sr. He raised a greedy, incompetent boob.”

To that, I say: I love boobs, they are soft, sexy, and fun to squeeze.

Yes because the Clinton administration just totally screwed America over…that’s sarcasm btw

[…] Hat Tip: Solar Power Rocks […]

I was only 5 years old then but was peanut butter $50/jar when Jimmy Carter was president?

Alternative energy research isn’t the responsibility of the US government. Why don’t they bother to include private research dollars on the chart? Because there’s an agenda here.

Also, the soldiers and equipment used in Iraq wouldn’t vanish if we weren’t in Iraq. They would still be paid and utilized elsewhere.

[…] Click here for the original location. cost of the war compared to renewable energy solar power Stumble it! reddit_url=’http://groovygreen.com/groove/?p=2145′ reddit_title=’Graph about the war in Iraq’ […]

Cheney and Addington have got to go.

Hey, I wanna do your logo, It would be helpfull if someone send me some info on what you want it to be like… you know… abstract idea of what you have in mind…

Ai yi yi yi yi! This boggles the mind. How did the inmates get control of the asylum? I knew it was bad but this puts a whole other perspective on it.

To Wardo: That is 500 Million Dollars NOT 500!

This graph is a little disturbing, its unfortunate that Americans are allowing their government to waste so much money on a war that may or may not be justified. Consider the BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile costs 1.3 million dollars, during the 1991 Persian Gulf conflict the US Navy used 288 of them. The company that manufactures the BGM-109 Tomahawk, Raytheon posted revenues of 20.3 billion dollars in 2006. Raytheon’s chairman and CEO William Swanson according to the Boston Globe had a pay package of 7 million dollars in 2005.

[…] Via: Solar Power Rocks: […]

Think about the fact that we pay about $3 a gallon for gas right now however we will eventually have to pay for this war with our taxes which is projected to cost 2 trillion. 300 million into 2 trillion comes close to $7,000 per person. That means gas is really closer to probably $10 or $15 a gallon right now. The cost benefit analysis of this war shows it’s been a complete disaster for regular people, however the big oil and gas corporations LOVE instability because they can jack up the prices which is why their profits are skyrocketing! If you can control the flow of oil like you control the flow of diamonds, then you can control the prices which is what is going on. The oil companies want to control the oil supply and shut off some of the spickets, so they can control the supply and cost, and rip us off. When we took over Iraq’s oil fields the first thing they did was shut off the spickets so they could increase the price of gas.

In a nut shell, the average person is losing $7,000 on this war while the big oil companies are making out like bandits. It’s atransfer of wealth from the average Jo to the disgustingly rich.

A bunch of turban-topped bums hanging around the oil wells in the middle east are no match for American Forces. Stop the pantie-waste bullshit and bomb the bastards to hell, unless of course the military/industrial complex is using the middle east to develop weapons, make fortunes and otherwise entertain corrupt politicians that are on the take. Someone is making money otherwise it would stop and soldiers wouldn’t have to die.

Paul: ‘Alternative energy research isn’t the responsibility of the US government. Why don’t they bother to include private research dollars on the chart? Because there’s an agenda here.’

You know what Paul? ‘private research dollars’ don’t appear on the chart because where they exist they are so few. Most of the kind of basic research needed to find alternative sources of energy (ie free-thinking investigation into how nature works) happening at colleges and in private industry is funded by the government. Other funding comes from philanthropic trusts - mainly towards medical research, but industry generally doesn’t take that kind of risk with their own profits.

It would be interesting to look at research into ’suicidal’ forms of energy supply (ie: nuclear, fossil, biofuels etc) vs ‘life-promoting’ forms (ie: various ‘clean’ technologies like solar and wind - the graph won’t be as dramatic as war vs research but we’ll see where government priorities really lie.

A lot of that war expense has magically turned back into ‘private dollars’ and disappeared into a multitude of back pockets…yet to be seen funding energy research.

[…] Link? A Sick Graph […]

To those who are defending this chart, or the people whose policies made this chart a reality - congratulations!

You are doing the bidding of these fuckers. Just don’t say “uh, sorry” when we say “I told you so.”

I must say, bravo to the men who were able to brainwash people into thinking advancing war was a better choice than advancing our nations civilization and well being. To anybody who truly believes the terrorists are more of a threat than that of WWII or the Russians, who had 30,000+ ACTUAL nuclear weapons pointed at us (as opposed to the terrorists, who MIGHT have a few) you have laid over and done what they want. That’s some courage you’ve got there, pansy.

Solar power rocks, but I’m more a fan of passive solar, as the electric grid will fail and solar electricity will not be useful. It is a long story, but worth reading: http://www.peakoilassociates.com/POAnalysis.html

This is in response to Duane Read (10/31/2007) and Paul (11/6):

Duane: “It’s clear to all of us by now that the Clinton administration did so very little in the area of renewable resource development that they significantly hampered our national progress in this arena.”

***There is no way anything like that would have passed because congress and the lobbies that controlled it wouldn’t have allowed it.

“While we’ve probably spent a bit more in Iraq than we had hoped, it’s clear that President Bush’s priorities are clearly in the right place. First, safety of the homeland. Then, lesser things.”

***You, as with most of the American public, are grossly uninformed about the state of the world’s energy affairs. The primary reason we have seen oil prices jump from 20 to 96$ per barrel in the last 5 or 6 years is that we have more demand chasing less supply. OPEC’s spare production capacity is almost nil at this point, and many now don’t trust them when they promise to increase production. Numerous reports, sponsored by our government, international agencies, and by private researchers, clearly show that supplies of the easy-to-get oil are on the decline. We had better find alternatives, especially sustainable ones, if we care about our way of life, let alone our childrens.

What’s the other thing that happens when oil goes way up? Poorer people, both here and especially abroad, suffer. They can’t afford the basics. This can breed resentment and finger-pointing – making them vulnerable to terrorist recruitment. That feeds right back into the “Safety of the Homeland” issue.

You should look up the USDOE-funded report often referred to as “The Hirsh Report”, at least.

To say that this is a “lesser” issue suggests you REALLY need to get informed.

Paul (11/6/2007): “Alternative energy research isn’t the responsibility of the US government. Why don’t they bother to include private research dollars on the chart? Because there’s an agenda here. Also, the soldiers and equipment used in Iraq wouldn’t vanish if we weren’t in Iraq. They would still be paid and utilized elsewhere.”

*** Not the responsibility of the US Govt.?! Industry has done a great job so far, I guess, huh? Part of the role of Govt is to safeguard the people and their livlihood, I think you’ll agree.

Are you kidding? The attrition and damage rate to personnel and equipment in Iraq is tremendous compared to our tempo and mission prior to Iraq. Yes, the military loses aircraft, humvees and helicopters during training and peacetime missions every year. But the numbers are not comparable. But now we’re losing and a lot of men and women with lives and families. Are you honestly saying that the close to 4000 dead US service personnel and 30,000 plus casualties would have occurred in some other fashion over the same period if we weren’t in Iraq?

You can argue that the war in Iraq has merit on some level, or that we owe it to the Iraqis to stabilize it enough now that we broke it (remember Colin Powell?).

But to give you flip comments belittling both the expenditure of my tax dollars, and the sacrifices of the coalition forces over there on your behalf is offensive. I am guessing you are not one of those fighting and/or got less than 50% on your ASVAB.
It is people like you that would give me serious pause before I contemplated putting a uniform on again. You don’t deserve the sacrifice.

WELL-SAID JOHN, BRAVO. EXCELLENT, I AGREE THOUROULY.
General public is seriously under media influence very badly.

Incredible how sophisticated, intelligent, and normally rational cultures, capable of amazing technological feats can be mislead by incompetent zealots, and be damaged severly by their arrogant wars; all because of those willing to exploit people’s fears, and push their lunatic schemes (ie - war in Iraq; Middle East Beachheads) to change the world. And now we’re stuck with the mess.
Everyone’s running so fast to keep up these day, few have time to see the damage being done, or to understand it fully. This graph gets to the point - private resarch added wouldn’t be a molehill by comparison either. I was aware the war was incredibly costly - but this really shines the light on it!! It’s funny though - what we need more than research (though that definitely is needed!) is an economy that counts the risks and externalities. So much could be done so easily if market forces had an honest broker (ie - honest Government oversight), we could easily cut our energy consumption by 90%. I’ve done it, and made houses warm, kept the air fresh, and cut the fuel consumption by 80%; with a little added solar, it could easily by 90 - 100%. That in a severely cold climate!!
Honest government requires reform to the campaign finance process, and citizen oversight. Term limits. Diverse media & diverse media ownership. Root causes need to be addressed before we can make real progress.
But we can all do our own first, and set the example. It’s easy, fun, and saves both lives and money.

WaPo has an article this morning giving a $1.5 billion price tag so far.

[…] spent on energy research vs. the Iraq war. (Via Matthew Yglesias.) Amusingly illustrative graph below the […]

Is there a higher resolution version of this graph? I’d love to make a poster!

[…] Lifted from http://www.solarpowerrocks.com/solar-trends/a-sick-graph-2/ […]

“It’s clear to all of us by now that the Clinton administration did so very little in the area of renewable resource development that they significantly hampered our national progress in this arena.”

What year will it be when some people stop blaming the sorry state of the US on Clinton? I was no fan of his presidency (a Republican dressed up like a liberal), but the neocons were in office before and since, and they command the most powerful executive branch ever seen in the US. How can anyone in their right mind still blame Clinton??

“it’s clear that President Bush’s priorities are clearly in the right place. First, safety of the homeland. Then, lesser things.”

Are there people on the planet that still believe the occupation of Iraq has something to do with “safety of the homeland”? How very, very sad. And dangerous.

[…] Fiscally irresponsible. Surely not the $102 trillion variety of fiscally irresponsible… […]

[…] take on this is illustrated by the amazing (but very large) graph from SolarPowerRocks.com below the fold, which makes it painfully clear how little the administration really cares about […]

Bush Jr. Is why you shouldn’t tell a retarded child he can be anything when he grows up.

[…] Solar Power Rocks, via Pharyngula et al) Trackback URL Leave your own comments about this […]

“That $2,000,000,000,000? Well, that amount of money could’ve built solar thermal plants here that would have provided energy for 2/3rds of our nation’s energy demand”

Actually, according to your calculations at the provided link, it would be 3 TIMES the nation’s current energy demand. There would be 2/3rds of the budget LEFT OVER AFTER the entire nation’s energy demand is satiated with solar power plants.

[…] trillion (a number beyond mortal conception) on a needless war in Iraq. Just see this graph — the Cost of War — for getting a perspective on how much that is and what it spends on other […]

[…] What is really wrong with our country? Everyone seems to agree we are involved in an unjust war and that our priorities are , under the current administration, so far off course it would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic. […]

[…] Novembre 2007 · No Comments Qui un grafico che vale davvero più di mille […]

[…] Coste de investigación y busqueda de energia en relación con el gasto de la guerra de Iraqwww.solarpowerrocks.com/solar-trends/a-sick-graph-2/ por hat100 hace pocos segundos […]

What is new here? This is something that we’ve known about since the second year of the war. Now that it’s a graph it’s understood?

I wonder how many would chooose to have even a partial solar set up than pay to have our fine young men and women shot at maimed and killed. Ever notice solar is priced out of reach for fixed incomes?

[…] is a little graph from Solar Power Rocks to give some […]

[…] So far it’s cost about $1 trillion dollars. To get a sense of just how much money that is, see this graph comparing the amount spent in 2007 for Iraq vs. research on “other” energy […]

[…] (vía solarpowerrocks) tags: administracion bush, bush, costo guerra irak, gasto guerra irak, guerra, guerra irak Esta entrada fue escrita por David el día Noviembre 18, 2007 a las 7:32 pm en las categorías actualidad. Accede a esta entrada mediante el enlace permanente. Puedes suscribirte a los comentarios de esta entrada vía RSS feed. Deja un comentario o un: Trackback desde tu Sitio.                 |   Enviar por e-mail « Preguntas Frecuentes Sobre damr.net […]

[…] Kottke, check out the graph on this page comparing what the US spends on research for alternative […]

Can any of us say we are conserving recycling and seeking alternatives to our potential?? I know we recycle in a community that doesn’t, we don’t conserve as much as we can and alternatives sure my husband and i are looking at solar and wind power for powering our home but it is messy and complicated and the townships frown upon new ideas that they have to inspect.
Also, Did anyone else notice that on the news critics were saying that the use of the hydrogen fueled car isn’t going to really go anywhere mostly because it will need stations to fill up on hydrogen so a refueling structure will need to be in place and that is hard to do. I noticed AS soon as more people started to use Diesel most stations transferred one pump for Diesel. Who… besides the oil companies… is to say they can’t do the same for hydrogen? I believe the lack of foresight is unbelievable! All the talk of change and alternative fuels… some highschool kids came up with a soybean fueled car! So where is the agenda? Politicians are saying it can’t be done because they don’t want it to be done. Until the government wants us to use alternative fuels and be serious about it there is always going to be criticism not to use alternatives. Right now this country is only doing enough to say they are doing something and it isn’t working.

eye-opening and devastating

jean -

It does cost money to buy and hook up solar panels - in many regions, it’s more expensive than standard electricity.

However, there is no region where a simple solar water-heating system does not reduce the power draw significantly; and it is also cost effective, returning its value often within the first two years.

How many Solar Chariots could we have built we wonder?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ZquJIolvY

[…] Cost of the war in Iraq compared to research and development of solar technology. a stunning infographic. […]

[…] Impresionante este gráfico donde se ve en comparación la plata invertida por Estados Unidos en distintas fuentes de Energía (solar, otras fuentes fósiles, nuclear, carbón) y la guerra contra Irak, qué es algo asi como 2.000.000.000.000 de dólares… Por dfgonzalez en wtf 22 Nov Deja tu opinión Tu comentario: […]

[…] imagen, que se puede ver en el blog "Solar power rocks" (que es estadounidense, vale decirlo), compara los gastos del Gobierno de Bush en diferentes tipos […]

whats even more unfortunate is that this graph is surprising to us. they do a good job of keeping stuff like this on the dl…

If we ever get our priorities right there are solutions! The above link to a page on my web site contains an equation which shows how we can reduce our consumption of oil. Using this equation I figure we can reduce our demand of oil by 96% (in the transportatiion sector atleast) while improving our quality of life, if done right. And using solar power to charge electric and plug in hybrids vehicles is part of the solution. I warn you though, ‘The Hydrogen Economy” is a diversion. We should have got suspecious when Pres. Bush championed it. The actual solution will be more complex than that.

Anyway, my personal opinion is that we should elect Bill Richardson as our next president, then we might actually reduce oil imports more than pump price is causing us to do.

One important fact that is hidden in all this is the impact and cost hidden in the externalities that us placed on the public of which is largely unaware of the true costs of petro derived products. If the producer where required to capture the costs in the externalities or at least some of them gasoline would cost 5 times what it costs today. But as it stands now they just get to walk away with their profits while some child living in the energy belt get to wear a shirt that says we fought a war in Iraq and I lost my dad and all my mom got we $3.00 a gallon gas and all I got was cancer from the gas. Also, with the US energy market energy value in well over 2 trillion a year it would have been a good investment with a very rapid return.

http://www.inventhp.com/Reducing_Demand_for_Crude_Oil_2.html

If we ever get our priorities right there are solutions! The above link to a page on my web site contains an equation which shows how we can reduce our consumption of oil. Using this equation I figure we can reduce our demand of oil by 96% (in the transportatiion sector atleast) while improving our quality of life, if done right. By the way, using solar power to charge electric and plug in hybrids vehicles is part of the solution. I warn you though, “The Hydrogen Economy” is a diversion. We should have gotten suspecious when Pres. Bush championed it. The actual solution will be more complex than relying on one thing.

Anyway, my personal opinion is that we should elect Bill Richardson as our next President, then we might actually reduce oil imports more than what high pump prices will do on their own.

Impeach Bush, vote Obama!

Comment by Thomas
2007-10-30 15:46:50

@Lionel

Actually, I think the country most likely to find “the next big thing” is the U.S. The government may not be throwing too much tax money on research but several universities an d companies are working on the problem.
—–

You sir, are an idiot. You mean just because “several” universities and companies are “working” on the problem means the USA is bound to find a solution to the renewable energy problem first? There’s a Norwegian scientist that has already modified wind turbines to be 85% more efficient than current models, and only require 10% of the space current wind farms do.

Hundreds of companies all around the world are working on it, whereas unlike the USA they are already doing something about it as well, renewable gas sources, wind farms, solar power, all these have been implemented everywhere except the united states, who are still the worlds #1 oil burning country, the worlds largest carbon footprinting country and ultimately, the biggest threat to the environment on the planet.

If you had seen the high resolution image, you’d notice that it’s in either millions or billions of dollars. So $500 billion on coal since the war began.

Uh, LOL?

49% of your fellow countrymen don’t feel the same way. First it was Saddam that had the nukes (no he didn’t), then it was Osama (who is somewhere in Afghanistan apparently) and yet Bush is still basically fighting a pointless war in a country that never threatened the USA, they just had more control over a resource than Bush did, and he threw a temper tantrum in the name of God.

Which to be honest, makes him even more stupid.

[…] A Bad Investment - Where do we invest in the future of energy? […]

Figures are in millions.
~$500 million in coal R&D since January of this year.

How about investing in public service anouncements telling us we need to replace our incandescent light bulbs with the new swirly ones. I think swirlly will grab our attention better. Of course there are many more things we could and should do to reduce consumption of energy. And it certainly is easier to do than find: new, safe, abundant, and affordable forms of energy. So, Invest in Conservation, or energy efficiency, if conservation is now a bad word.

Hmmm… Well, how dare you call this man an idiot and follow it up with something like that. The United states installed more wind power capacity in 2005 and 2006 than every other country in the world except for Germany and Spain. Year to date, it has invested more than last year and is only second to Germany for new installations. Thomas may have been vague, but it IS private enterprise that brings about revolutionary change. If we were to ask the government to develop the same technology that private companies have been developing, it would cost taxpayers dearly. The chart up above doesn’t mention the billions of dollars that have been invested by the government and private companies to develop high capacity batteries to store energy that is collected from these Green sources (what happens when it is cloudy or the wind doesn’t blow?). I bet it hurts to know that a lot of this research is done by government contractors. It also doesn’t mention other investments such as ethanol or biofuels (even though we wouldn’t be any better off). You need to understand that most of the advanced innovations will be done by auto manufacturers and those big energy companies that we hate so much. They have incentive to find cheaper alternatives too. Their wells are being tapped out. They know it. It isn’t the governments job to develop this stuff, it is our job as citizens to request it from the companies we purchase power from. Put a solar panel on your roof if you don’t like it, but don’t waste another byte of memory or use another watt of energy typing on your computer until you read a little bit. As for our oil INVESTMENT in Iraq, we might as well be invading Canada and Mexico, they are closer and they are our two top importers of oil.

the family line goes back further than sr. try prescott bush who funded hitler in killing jews. this is so deep the bush family is also cousin to the queen of england.

Amazing people still think they can vote and obtain a solution to complex problems (renewable energy and armed conflict) by electing such “representatives” as Hillary, Rudy et al. As a species we need to rethink our goals and the first goal should be survivability. The U.S. and other national states have elected or have inherited leaders / dictators and power structures that practice cultures of destruction. Greed and death are the cause and result- ultimately it will lead to the death of all living creatures and plant life on Earth. If there is enough living plant and animal matter left, perhaps in 250,000,000 - 500,000,000 years a new set of inhabitants will abide on this planet and not have to compete with moralistic critters who always war over their money, their power and their gods. No more Islamofacists nut balls like bin Laden and no Neo-Christo-Facists like Bush and Cheney.

This is not just a US problem. Get your noses out of your own asses and see that the entire world is being affected by corporate greed for profits and power and the governments around the world are supporting them. Even our own politians in Canada are being caught with thier hands in corporate pockets. Saying that it’s not the government’s job to solve this energy problem gives them license to do nothing(which is the one thing they do well). Hydrogen is the on the top of my list for much more research(as well as solar, wind, geothermal and tidal and not weapons development)and the politicians could easily direct more into grants for the private institutions that are doing the real work. Hydrogen vehicles have been on the roads for two decades, windmills were used hundreds of years ago. Changing a light bulb in your home to save energy is completely negated by lighting a baseball park for a night game. Our priorities have become lost supporting a suicidal lifestyle and power drunk politicians and corporations. Stop the wars and save the world please.

What fascinates me is the division of polictical bias over responsible judgement.
When are people going to overcome their divisive political agendas and decide on what’s best for the human race..? Do those of you greedy political capitolists think you’ll breath any better without the tree huggers..? And tree huggers, we already know that thew dollar trumps all, so think like they do and find a way for them to profit from conservation we yurn and we’ll ALL win!

These arguments are exactly what’s wrong with America. Let’s leave them to an unresponsive government. Its up to us…the real America to find common ground amoung ourselves and drivethe agendac before they divide and conquer us. Then it WILL be too late!

First of all, there should be a US citizenship test with one question:

The Iraq War was an action taken for this reason:
A. to improve the security of our country and that region.
B. the opposite of A.

Anyone who answers A should be immediately shipped out of the country with the word “Rejected” stamped on their forehead.

Now having said that, this is not a very good chart because everyone knows the war has cost us an ungodly amount of capital (financial and human) and ruined the armed forces for many years to come. That has nothing to do with R&D though. There is no way politicians will vote for R&D because the benefits come down the road, when have long left office. The only exception is when it is some pork barrel project. So, fact is, the money would not have been spent on energy R&D in any case. I would not mind having my share back in own pocket though.

Eye opening, devastating and immoral. Bush and his cronies should be charged with crimes against humanity

what are we doing to our planet?
I’m 11 years old, what is the planet going to be like when I grow up?
I don’t see how the war in Iraq is helping me.
I can’t wait for a new president!!!!

put the absolute investments into renewable energy into relation to the country’s tremendous size compared to Germany and you’ll see that what the US does about renewable energy is just peanuts.

And why do you need to burn so much more renewable energy than other western societies?! That’s just stupid and short-sighted like the whole US way of life.

Thank God a president can’t be elected twice…. I’m only 13 and my parents generation and the generations before them have ruined my world!!! Why don’t we take some of that money put into the war, put it into some solar panels to not have to pay for more oil to be sent over seas, have the government pay people to have solar panels on their roofs through an EEG law like Germany, use net metering to spread out the energy collected from certain families (which would cut the cost of the electricity for the family doing the net-metering), then use the money that is saved to put it into the war? I know that we can’t get out Iraq since we took out their government, and then they’d fall into anarchy (and that would not be a good thing) but they can’t collapse because “we need” the oil from them!!! And then their is the conflict of humans not liking change, that we can’t grasp the idea that “just because I do it doesn’t mean it affects anybody else” is completely untrue. Our government needs to figure out something, and quick. Or else I’m going to have to pay a LOT for taxes….

Ok… 13-year-old here…. Twin Towers don’t have anything to do with the Iraq war. Congress gave the Pres. the wrong information that they had nuclear weapons… right? Yah… pretty sure I’m right…

you guys are effin stupid…the companies behind the development of alternative resources have as much money as they need. if we all of a sudden dump in 1 trillion dollars into alternative resource development, we wont be any better off than we are today. Alternative resources are still on the thinking stage, and im sorry, but money does not help you think better.

Also, yes the war in Iraq is directly helping secure our country from terrorism. if we let the terrorists run free after 9/11 and went oh well, well just keep a better eye then it would have happaned over and over again, costing more and more american lives.

Sure, the war does not directly affect your life but that just shows the ignorance of you. We voted for this war to happen! so we can’t just say “oh shoot, it doesn’t look like its going to well, lets bail. what kind of spirit is that??”

this graph is nothing but pure propaganda. Why didn’t you put it up against the kyoto accord and solving global warming? because you would have noticed that that the US government plans to spend 3 trillion by the year 2050 to battle global warming to slow down the affect by .50 degrees!!!!

Also, i ask you…what is the price of freedom?

i totally agree, what is the price of freedom?

oh, and also..this is a American LED campaign…their leading the UN…the greater part of the civilizard world is fighting in iraq. and to those bitchin about how much in taxes they are gonna pay for this, remeber…the government doesnt just make money from taxes -_-;

Except that all the military and money in the middle east is most of the reason that part of the world despises us in the west. and contrary to what people like jack may think…we don’t have a right to go anywhere and do anything that we want to on this earth. so how different would this entire world be if say 30 years ago when we were uncovering the power of alternative energy, we would have poured our resources into those clean and unobtrusive ways of powering our country? We would be energy independant and we would have not harrassed areas like the middle east, and we would not have had to go into wars that were and are morally reprehensible. And why generally decent Americans by day will give a pass to Bush for a war that is 100% about oil, and that only benefits the elite rich, and sends Americans home in body bags and mental illness…I will never until my dying day understand.

And the 13 year old is right by the way Jacky…9-11 has nothing to do with why Bush Lite went into Iraq. Two different situations…but hey those people kinda look the same and there’s a bunch of sand lying around…I bet if we start blowing the whole place up no one is going to know the difference. No one named Jack at least.

Bush belongs in prison for war crimes. Bush is our Hitler. He is our Stalin.

“As for our oil INVESTMENT in Iraq, we might as well be invading Canada and Mexico, they are closer and they are our two top importers of oil.”

….google The North American Union….. we don’t even need the option to invade… anymore.

“Thank God a president can’t be elected twice…”

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You might want to check your facts there ;D. Great ideas otherwise though.

Over a trillion wasted taxpayer dollars and thousands of wasted American lives, apparently.

Geeez - I have said for decades that I’m worried about our country when folks like Bush, Ditto-heads and the like are mainsream ya gotta wonder. But your comments (and comments by folks who are in your camp) are really really very scarry. It shows how little you actually use your mind for critical thinking and how the facts somehow seem to elude you.
Why and when did the US get its collective head sideways up its ass??

I belive that the Iraq war was fought correctly. Pulling out the soldiers is wrong fuck whoever disagree with me

I tried my darnedest to back Bush before the war, you know, the WMD and all. I believed them. Even when we went in, I tried to be optimistic. But everyone has their limits. This graph makes me sick indeed. Opportunities wasted….people wasted…money wasted….Lord have mercy

And of course, taking all the profit potential away from us. We will be bankrupt in 5-25 years. No more loans to pay our soldiers. No more money to fuel our war planes or pay the pilots. Anyone, anywhere can invade us.

I personally feel we’ll all be in Chinese slave-labor camps on US soil standing in long lines for our daily rice rations. How can one administration do so much damage in 7 years.

Fascism sucks. FOX News and all the other corporate controlled media outlets suck. Yes, GE makes more than light bulbs.

And in the mean time, Cheney and all the other war criminals will take all their converted currency to any country that won’t hang them. His stock in Halliburton went up 3000 percent since the war. Shhhh. We don’t want the general public to know, keep them tuned to Fox and NBC. They’ll never know.

Most of you would think I’m looney if I told you there are prison camps going up HERE to incarcerate American citizens.

We’re to blame too, for our long history of consuming more than we produce. 60,000 new manufacturing plants in China. Shh. Don’t tell anyone.

Pretty soon those SUV drivers won’t be able to sell their monster machines for 3 cents, or the equivalent of a dollar today.

Once we survive the holocaust, we’ll get solar power. Someone else will have sucked all the money out of it, but we’ll get it. Who knows, maybe some good humanitarian country will take over like um, er, uh……

A quote from Vladimir Lenin: “Fascism is capitalism in decay.” Kinda makes me wish I was 95 and dying so I wouldn’t have to witness what younger people will.

Sorry I’d donate, but I’m more concerned in the faint hope of getting Cheney out of office before the next 295 days.

Once he nukes Iran and gas goes up to $10 a gallon, that might be it. He could let the Jews do it, but it’s only fitting that we borrow more money to pay for it while they sit on their riches and watch. We should probably even protect them from anyone fighting back.

And can’t the idiot who brought up the twin towers talk about how many warnings there were. They practically gave us the time and date, several months in advance. Not only could (and should) have it been avoided BUT WE LET IT HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, on purpose. Read up on Fascism, buddy.

Like they should. Duh.

What I don’t understand is why the most powerful army and mercinaries in the world are a afraid of a few Afghan opium farmers. Take it all. And what they don’t use, they can sell. We’d all be a happier bunch.

Great info (and I love the look of your blog!). I Googled war versus homeland spending for a blog post I’m writing today about a single father losing his home to predatory lending. So I’ll add solar, too, as one more thing at home we could be spending money on to make America stronger.

Don’t you think if we had food, clothing, shelter, healthcare and satisfying labor we could protect one another and our borders with our own hands? Not the Twin Towers from airplane bombs, but from our enemies within, and coming in?