Iraq War Could Have Paid For 100% Renewable Power Grid

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

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Ritholtz

[opebo]

I don't think Dick Cheney and friends could've stolen anything this way, so, it couldn't happen.

[King]

No.  It would have paid for another tax cut.

[Zarn]

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

[badgate]

Shoulda woulda coulda

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

How big was the debt in 2003 tho?

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

A teeny, tiny, little bit.

[memphis]

Shoulda woulda coulda

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

How big was the debt in 2003 tho?

Enormous. The country had already racked up several trillion to pay for Reagan's tax cuts and military spending.

[DC Al Fine]

Shoulda woulda coulda

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

How big was the debt in 2003 tho?

~30% of GDP

[LastVoter]

Shoulda woulda coulda

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

How big was the debt in 2003 tho?

An insignificant percentage of GDP.

[King]

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

The American people rejected Al Gore's idea to pay off the debt instead of cutting taxes.

[Vosem]

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. With the information the government had in 2003, the Iraq War was the right choice. It's easy to sit here in 2013 and complain.

[Zarn]

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

The American people rejected Al Gore's idea to pay off the debt instead of cutting taxes.

The American people rejected Al Gore for being Al Gore. George Bush ran on a conservative foreign policy, but that changed come War on Terror.

[Franzl]

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. With the information the government had in 2003, the Iraq War was the right choice. It's easy to sit here in 2013 and complain.

Lots of (smart) people opposed the Iraq War in 2003.

[© tweed]

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

The American people rejected Al Gore's idea to pay off the debt instead of cutting taxes.

The American people rejected Al Gore for being Al Gore. George Bush ran on a conservative foreign policy, but that changed come War on Terror.

in other words, American elections have nothing to do with policy preferences, even to the extent that it is possible to figure out what policy preferences the given candidates represent.

[Vosem]

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. With the information the government had in 2003, the Iraq War was the right choice. It's easy to sit here in 2013 and complain.

Lots of (smart) people opposed the Iraq War in 2003.

Consider the evidence that was provided to the government in 2003 (and by the government to the people in 2003), which was that the Iraqi regime, which had been historically quite hostile to American interests and had been extremely brutal to the population of Iraq, was in fact developing weapons of mass destruction. That this was the information available of course constitutes what can be called the greatest failure of the CIA in its history; nevertheless, it was the case. And with this information, the main reason people opposed the war in the US was either out of a general sense of opposition to Bush; out of a sense of general opposition to war (which would've also kept us out of the Gulf War or Vietnam had it prevailed in the past); or, certain farsighted politicians (and I personally believe Obama fits into this category, because unless this is an issue he's involved considerably on (possible, I guess) in the context of his current foreign policy opposition to the 2003 Iraq invasion makes very little sense) foresaw that the war would become an expensive drag (which wasn't difficult to foresee, even at the time; it's just that the threat this posed to the country was less than that, the CIA of the time believed, which was posed by a fortified Hussein regime) and intended to win trust out of opposing the war so they could get elected later. Which was a smart plan, certainly.

[pbrower2a]

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. With the information the government had in 2003, the Iraq War was the right choice. It's easy to sit here in 2013 and complain.

Corrected:

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. With the information the government (suppressed) in 2003, the Iraq War seemed the right choice. It's easy to sit here in 2013 and complain. 

We must never elect another President so dishonest and hollow as Dubya again lest we get a calamity even more severe because the enemy has more powerful resources. When we get leaders who lack caution, kindness, and caution we get the potential for pointless apocalypse.

[badgate]

Shoulda woulda coulda

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

How big was the debt in 2003 tho?

~30% of GDP

Shoulda woulda coulda

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

How big was the debt in 2003 tho?

An insignificant percentage of GDP.

You guys crack me up

[memphis]

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

The American people rejected Al Gore's idea to pay off the debt instead of cutting taxes.

This is not true. Gore received a half million more votes than Jr Bush.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Some odd formulations in this analysis.  The $6 trillion figure is the cost of the war over 40 years.  The current amount is just half that.  So the savings wouldn't all be already available to have completed another project.  Plus, I don't see any consideration of the annual price difference in a hypothetical national 100% renewable verses our current mix.

But the premise of all this is flawed anyway. The Iraq War was about oil in an indirect geopolitical sense, not in terms of getting the energy for our own use.  If we were primarily concerned about getting Iraq's oil for ourselves, we wouldn't have had a decade long embargo against it.  The Gulf War was more directly about oil, but even in that case regional instability was just as big of a concern.

[LastVoter]

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. With the information the government had in 2003, the Iraq War was the right choice. It's easy to sit here in 2013 and complain.

It's been a while since I've read one of your posts and didn't laugh. This is not one of them.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Shoulda woulda coulda

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

How big was the debt in 2003 tho?

Enormous. The country had already racked up several trillion to pay for Reagan's tax cuts and military spending.

Although the projections in 2000 had the entire debt being paid off by around 2010.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. With the information the government had in 2003, the Iraq War was the right choice. It's easy to sit here in 2013 and complain.

It's been a while since I've read one of your posts and didn't laugh. This is not one of them.

If only there had been the largest protest in world history against it before it happened. Then we could have known it was a bad idea. Oh, wait.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

If Gore was President, the CIA would still be stupid, but he would've not invaded (Gore was critical of the invasion well before it happened.)

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

The American people rejected Al Gore's idea to pay off the debt instead of cutting taxes.

The American people rejected Al Gore for being Al Gore. George Bush ran on a conservative foreign policy, but that changed come War on Terror.

Not sure if serious or just trolling...

[Zarn]

Or we could have dealt with the debt a little...

The American people rejected Al Gore's idea to pay off the debt instead of cutting taxes.

The American people rejected Al Gore for being Al Gore. George Bush ran on a conservative foreign policy, but that changed come War on Terror.

Not sure if serious or just trolling...

Perhaps saying the American states or Electoral College would be more to your liking.