Funny Presentation on Religion

http://atheistdelusion.cf.huffingtonpost.com/

Opportunity Cost

I was reading the WSJ this morning and there was a brief article on the current cost of our country's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan ( please keep in mind these figures come form a non-partisan group named the Congressional Research Service which provides research and analysis to lawmakers). The cost of the war is now running at $12 billion a month. The $12 billion monthly "burn rate" covers the costs for both Iraq and Afghanistan. The total funds appropriated by congress since 2001 for these wars is now at $650 billion, with Iraq totaling nearly $500 billion of that. And please keep in mind that this aggregate amount will only increase faster, as the monthly cost continues to rise.

Another important fact to keep in mind is that the government ran a fiscal deficit of $400 billion in 2006 and are forecasting another deficit of $280 billion in 2007. So wouldn't you think you might want to try to rein in expenses? Oh that's right, they did that by decreasing the budget for student financial aid, medicare, and other social programs.

So my point is this. Allocating resources and capital to war spending takes away resources from other areas. So by spending this money on wars which have no return on investment (only death and increased global tensions) you are essentially forgoing the possible benefit of investing those dollars back into American households. Wealth inequality in America continues to grow and it's more evident that more and more people from the lower income brackets are being left behind, i.e. lower high school graduation rates, lower college attendance, and much, much slower growth in median income.

I am a firm believer in capitalism and I am well aware of the fact that today's society is a meritocracy (your worth is measured by knowledge) so I don't believe that all wealth should be distributed evenly. It should be distributed according to the value of what you create, tangible or intangible. But I do believe in equal access to opportunity and unfortunately the trends show this becoming less available. Opportunity is what leads to the notion of social mobility and that is what has made America great. It provides the incentive for people to educate themselves, work hard, and eventually live a better life than where they came from. If social mobility fades away, so too will conformism to our society and economy. We need to look internally and dedicate resources to address our problems because it is with these people where our future lies. Not in a desert on the other side of the globe.