Monday, March 6, 2006

How Much is That Dogma in the Window?


Maybe you're in a similar economic position to mine right now: tax time's bearing down and I'm not even in cell phone range of the top 1% of wage earners—those folks who can look forward to tax cuts, rebates, and other gestures of financial genital-licking on the part of the government of the United Snakes of America.

What me, bitter? Nah. So the cost of the war is about to hit the quarter-trillion dollar mark, and according to most estimates, runs something in the range of $150-200 million per day. So maybe there's been a slight under-estimation of certain ancillary costs for defending freedom (Don Rumsfeld's freedom, that is); but look at what our tax dollars are buying us now—another historic Presidential mission to the far corners of the Earth, aboard Air Force One—a bargain at a mere $57,000 per hour. Here's a sampling of the statesmanship and the leadership that we're paying for:


Mr Bush said: "We discussed the civilian nuclear programme and I explained to him that Pakistan and India are different countries with different needs and different histories."


So, in terms of air travel alone—let's leave out lodging, security (the guy needed a battalion around him just to get around, though the fact that Air Force One landed in Pakistan with the lights out and windows drawn must have saved some money), and other expenses—we're talking about (at a conservative estimate) 30 hours in the air, or $1.7 million.

That's about 25 years' salary for me. 25 years of work.

And one day of the Iraq War? 2,000 years of salary. One month of the War? 80,000 years. A year? Try a million years' worth of work.

But am I bitter? Just because in about five weeks from now I'll be staring down the barrel of a shotgun called bankruptcy, all because of my government's demands that I finance their global depredations and inveterate self-indulgence?

Maybe a little, but I'll get over it: I'm just going to keep repeating to myself: "the President and I are different people with different needs and different histories." And thank god for that.

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Note to Hillary: sit down, shut up, and listen to a real Democrat. Murtha '08.

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