[Azure]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

It may not be an either or situation for the States right now but with the USA going further into debt every day

Sure is.

[and one of the biggest wastes is Iraq]

Waste, really? Okay, from the outset, it WAS a bad idea. But now? You must have missed the AP article that actually 'said' the US was winning in Iraq. Micheal Yon has said the US has WON in Iraq. A waste? Don't you think the US owes it to the Iraqi people to at least rebuild their country after basically destroying it in 2003? I hardly call that a waste. Again, bad idea to begin with. Good idea to continue with.

And should I even mention that it has cost the US less than 5% of their budget the past 7 years? Again? Because you seemed to have missed that part the first time around.

Secondly, US GDP the past 7 years is clocked at over 91 'trillion' dollars. Yes, you read that right. So the 'GWOT' has cost 1/91 of the US GDP in the past 7 years. That would be 1% of the total GDP during that time. Staggering? It blows your argument out of the water. But of course, you can continue to discount actual 'facts' from the US Department of the Treasury, and keep rambling on about something that makes absolutely no sense if you want, but you're dead wrong.

it cuts down on the possibility of increasing health care spending.

Increasing health care spending? During the past 7 years, the US, as a country has spent $14 trillion dollars on health care. The US government has spent an average of $600 billion per YEAR on Medicare, and Medicaid, which in total equals $4.2 trillion spent by the Federal Government on Health Care the past 7 years. And you want to 'increase' health care spending? You do realize that by 2016, at the rate health care spending is increasing in the US right now, they're going to spend $4.2 trillion, per YEAR on health care? And here you are, worried that the US isn't putting enough money into their health care system.

In other countries this is an 'either or' [more commonly guns or food] situation so the moral question is right there. This is enough of a reason for me to say there is something wrong with this picture.

Yeah, you know whats wrong with it though? The fact that billions of dollars are being wasted each year on a broken system. THAT is whats wrong with this picture.

Hey, I'm all for keeping health costs down but when one side of the face is saying that, while the other side is wasting money on a fun war, I'm not impressed.

Again, the war has absolutely nothing to do with the poor quality of health care in the United States. I know you love to jump on the anti-war bandwagon whenever you can, but you're DEAD wrong here.

Its like beating a dead horse.