America has given billions of dollars to many third-world countries over the last century, only to see our investments come to naught. The general pattern is that America would give a large gift with the idea that the money would be used on education or infrastructure. Tragically, corrupt government officials from the third –world would often take the money but use it on projects that benefited only themselves, while leaving their citizens in worse shape than before. This problem is caused not because America is ungenerous, but rather we didn’t want to give money away that would be entirely wasted. Fortunately, there is a good solution to this problem.
Early in the first term, the Bush Administration decided to go forward with a brilliant piece of legislation. This plan was called the Millennium Challenge Act, and would have distributed $15 billion or so over three years to 16 third-world countries. These countries, from Africa and elsewhere, made the list by showing recent governmental efficiency in alleviating poverty and investing in infrastructure, as well as democratic reforms. As a result, we would be able to continue being generous, but our giving would be targeted, ensuring that the funds would benefit those who need them most. This plan was widely praised for its combination of compassion and shrewdness.
Unfortunately, this plan went unfunded because we simply ran out of money. It is not too hard to see why, as Bush recently requested $100 billion for military operations in Iraq in 2007, and $145 billion for 2008, and most experts believe those figures to be much less than what we will actually need. Let’s assume that the war ends in 2008 (which it won’t), and that $245 billion will actually cover those two years (which it won’t). Now consider that the war has gone on for almost 200 weeks, at a cost of $2 billion per week. Thus the war, under those conservative assumptions, will cost $645 billion over five years.
But some things are worth it, right? Well, not this war. The rallying cry was 9/11, where 3,000 Americans were killed, but in subsequent combat operations, 3,000 American soldiers have died, and an estimated 15 Iraqi citizens die for every one American soldier. And of course, Americans are much less safe than before 9/11 because now we are by far the least popular country in the world, and very vulnerable to future attacks. Maybe Iraq will think twice about it the next time that they let some Saudis fly a plane into our buildings (that’s sarcasm).
The horrifying truth is that a non-understandable war cost $645 billion (not to mention the 48,000 people), and the Millennium Challenge Act, which would have lifted millions if not billions out of poverty, was unfunded because it would have cost $15 billion. When considered from the perspective of the number of people involved, it is not at all an overstatement to call this President’s budget one of the worst moral tragedies in all of human history. All of us Bible-thumpers, who realize the correct definition of sodomy (see previous two posts), should be terrified.
