• Iraq is Broke. You Have to Pay for It.

    April 2, 2016

    Tags:
    Posted in: Economy, Embassy/State, Iraq

    sheikeagle


    The next time a candidate or reporter asks during a debate about education or healthcare “But how are you going to pay for that?” I would like the person being questioned to respond “The same way we find money to pay for Iraq.”


    So maybe it would just be better for Flint, Michigan to claim it is under attack by ISIS instead of just being poisoned because no one has the money to fix America’s infrastructure.

    See, each month, Iraq’s government pays out nearly $4 billion in salaries and pensions to the military and a bloated array of corrupt public-sector workers. But with more than 90 percent of government revenue coming from oil, it is bringing in only about half that as crude prices plunge. Some Iraqi officials and analysts say the government might struggle later this year to pay the seven million people on the public payroll, which could trigger mass unrest.

    As a sign of the times, Iraqis are facing more nominal charges every day. Hospitals, which have long treated Iraqis free of charge, have introduced fees, for example, even for those visiting sick relatives.

    For Iraq, the decline comes in the midst of an already destabilizing war. There are bills for reconstructing flattened cities destroyed for freedom, and assistance for the 3.3 million Iraqis who have been internally displaced over the past two years, with more expected to come.


    So — good news, at least for Iraq — the United States is stepping in with U.S. taxpayer money to make sure the country can continue military spending while it seeks international loans.

    So, while there is apparently no way anyone can conceive of to pay for fixing America’s infrastructure, making higher education affordable, reducing healthcare costs or any of those other icky socialist thingies, there is money for Iraq!



    BONUS: No one really knows how much money the U.S. has already spent in Iraq, but it is way over two trillion dollars.

    BONUS BONUS: The golden eagle shown above was paid for by the American taxpayers in 2010 as part of the reconstruction of Iraq. The area where it is shown is now devastated by the current fighting. I took the photo myself.





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    Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.

    • Recent Comments

    • rich bauer said...

      1

      In March 2003, Mr. Wolfowitz told Congress that “we’re really dealing with a country that could finance its own reconstruction.” In April 2003, the Pentagon said the war would cost about $2 billion a month, and in July of that year Rumsfeld increased that estimate to $4 billion.”

      How much would it cost to build a wall around the Pentagon?

      And they say Donald Trump is crazy.

      04/2/16 8:43 AM | Comment Link

    • Kyzl Orda said...

      2

      “How much would it cost to build a wall around the Pentagon?”

      People are separated too much from reality as it is. The Rumsfeld staffer quoted in the Reuters article glows how Al Qaeda met its death in Iraq. Shh, don’t tell him. Maybe he will read the news

      Happy belated Iraq Invasion Anniversary Day

      PS is that a golden eagle or a golden goose?

      04/2/16 6:28 PM | Comment Link

    • Kyzl Orda said...

      3

      Plus, don’t tell that same Rumsfeld staffer per Peter’ link (reposted below thanks Peter), there was no Al Qaeda in Iraq until we invaded –

      http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-war-anniversary-idUSBRE92D0PG20130314

      04/2/16 6:30 PM | Comment Link

    • bloodypitchfork said...

      4

      “No one really knows how much money the U.S. has already spent in Iraq, but it is way over two trillion dollars.”

      The first line of the National Anthem of the Dumbest Fucking Country on the Planet, who’s leaders pulled off the biggest heist in history by using a smokescreen of war..

      http://www.zerohedge.com/article/was-iraq-war-merely-smokescreen-largest-theft-taxpayer-funds-national-history

      quote”And this is what the Iraq invasion was all about. Piracy on a huge scale, a looting of not only Iraq, but our own country.

      They simply ordered up 2.4 billion dollars in $100 bills and shipped it to THEMSELVES.”unquote

      http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/16/138993/-

      right.
      This literally is the definition of insanity. I’m leaving a letter for my great great grandchildren, apologizing for my generations lack of courage to revolt and hang these insane war criminals who created a debt generations of taxpayers will spend their lifetimes paying for.

      Meanwhile, an insane portion of the DFCOTP goes apeshit to elect the posterchild for One Flew Over the US Cukoo’s Nest as the next POTUS.

      bartender..

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIvka3SSv9Y

      04/3/16 7:24 AM | Comment Link

    • Rich Bauer said...

      5

      Trump Says he wants every country to pay for its own defense. Of course, we haven’t paid for our own defense. We just put it on our credit card and let the Chinese loan us the money to pay our monthly credit card interest and stick our children with the bill.

      I did the math for the bill to build the wall around the Pentagon- exactly 6.6 billion dollars, the amount of cash stolen by corrupt US officials in the Iraq War.

      04/3/16 8:33 AM | Comment Link

    • wemeantwell said...

      6

      We could build the Pentagon wall with actual money, bales of $100 bills. Expensive, but arguably a better use of the money than the other things we’ve done in the past.

      04/3/16 9:01 AM | Comment Link

    • Bill Johnson said...

      7

      As usual, Peter, your analysis is spot on. Our priorities are skewed and cities like Flint need to take some action that will make them the government’s front sight focus. I have a slightly different of Flint’s best course of action. Rather than claiming to be under attack by ISIS. After the declaration, Flint should immediately surrender and wait for the reconstruction money to flow. If that doesn’t work, Flint should declare sovereignty over Lake Michigan and establish an ADIZ around Mackinac Island. This would likely get Flint an invitation to help manage the tyrant running Detroit to keep him from nuking Toledo. That’s how policy really works.

      04/3/16 10:55 AM | Comment Link

    • Rich Bauer said...

      8

      Of course, the Pentagon could just implode like the “Buffy” Hellmouth.

      04/3/16 12:06 PM | Comment Link

    • Links 3/4/2016: LabPlot 2.2.0, NixOS 16.03 | Techrights said...

      9

      […] Iraq is Broke. You Have to Pay for It. […]

      04/3/16 12:08 PM | Comment Link

    • Rich Bauer said...

      10

      Or hire Wolfie and Rummie and the rest of the shitheads to defecate a wall of shit around the Pentagon. There is no end to the shit these asswipes produced.

      04/3/16 12:09 PM | Comment Link

    • jo6pac said...

      11

      #7

      Works for Me;)

      04/3/16 4:38 PM | Comment Link

    • bloodypitchfork said...

      12

      Meanwhile, the unbelievable depth of the .1% corruption on the planet explodes across the worldwide news outlets…

      http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/04/03/german-paper-massive-financial-leak-reveals-offshort-accounts/82586798/

      I’ve got $1k that says some of these accounts hold US and Iraqi officials/contractors stolen Iraq booty…and more. I’ve also got $1k that says not ONE SINGLE financial criminal will be held accountable. Not one…cause.. well..you know.

      fuk.

      04/3/16 7:39 PM | Comment Link

    • Infocaos | Links 3/4/2016: LabPlot 2.2.0, NixOS 16.03 said...

      13

      […] Iraq is Broke. You Have to Pay for It. […]

      04/3/16 8:03 PM | Comment Link

    • Sri said...

      14

      “In the 1980s, there was a bumper sticker that people in Texas had that said, ‘God give me one more boom and I promise not to screw it up,’” says Lynch. “People should have those bumper stickers ready again.” The last really big oil bust was in the late 1980s. The Saudis really controlled the price then, says La Forge. Now the Saudis (and other members of OPEC) are in a battle with the United States, which has become a major player again in energy production. No one wants to cut back on production and risk losing market share. “It will be the U.S. companies that go out of business,” predicts La Forge. OPEC countries don’t have a lot of smaller players like the United States does. It’s usually the government that controls oil drilling and production in OPEC nations.”

      Peter
      The money get paid from right pocket but will back to left pocket.

      All those financial crises in US starting in end of G W Bush and after with all what went wrong billions of dollars no one knows were those billion ended in which pockets?

      Late read recent blow of the corruption of Iraqi gang that US brought inside Iraq, its eye opining

      WORLD’S BIGGEST BRIBE SCANDAL

      04/4/16 3:40 PM | Comment Link

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