Monitor war spending

President-elect Barack Obama’s administration needs to do much better at monitoring war spending than the Bush administration did, according to a new study by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary, a defense think tank. The CSBA estimates that the price tag for the direct costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could grow as high as $1.7 trillion by 2018. It blames the ballooning costs on the Bush administration’s unprecedented decision to finance the wars through off-budget, emergency spending. “The process has reduced the ability of Congress to exercise effective oversight,” the report said. “It has also tended to obscure the long-term costs and budgetary consequences of ongoing military operations.”

7 Comments

  1. Maggotpunk
    Posted December 29, 2008 at 6:07 am | Permalink

    “Fiscal conservative” Republicans will be coming out of the woodwork after being silent for the past 8 years. They’ll demand a balanced budget and huge cuts in spending. You know, the sort of thing they have been mum about since Clinton was in the White House. However, if President Obama does something wise like cut the military budget in half the Republicans will suddenly become huge advocates of spending.

  2. XXX
    Posted December 29, 2008 at 8:59 am | Permalink

    Off-budget spending for the wars is going to lead to a financial disaster for our economy. Being off-budget doesn’t mean that the bills won’t eventually come due, and there’s no way we’ll be able to grow the economy enough to cover the costs plus interest of the wars. Republicans criticized Democrats for being “tax and spend” for decades; how does that compare to the “borrow and spend” policy of the Republicans?

    Anybody who has run a household budget knows you can’t spend money that you don’t have forever. When will we learn that the same principals apply to government?
    Considering the state of our economy, it’s time to bring the wars to an end. Declare victory and bug out. Cut military spending to the bone and forget about projecting military power…it’s a luxury we can no longer afford.

    Now may be a good time to consider the Argentina model. Default on our debt and declare bankruptcy. It didn’t seem to have much of a long-term effect on Argentina.

  3. beber
    Posted December 29, 2008 at 9:09 am | Permalink

    AW, XXX, the Chinks wouldn’t sell us Barbie dolls anymore

  4. XXX
    Posted December 29, 2008 at 9:25 am | Permalink

    #
    beber
    Posted December 29, 2008 at 9:09 am | Permalink

    AW, XXX, the Chinks wouldn’t sell us Barbie dolls anymore
    _________________________________________________
    LOL berber!
    Our business with China is kind of like a deal with the devil.
    Maybe the Chinese need to learn an important lesson; don’t loan money to deadbeats.

  5. Phantom
    Posted December 29, 2008 at 1:38 pm | Permalink

    Let’s put the Obama stimulus plan ‘off budget’ so it doesn’t count!

  6. Mr_Kia
    Posted December 29, 2008 at 3:44 pm | Permalink

    Does anyone know if military salaries are included in the cost of war figures?

  7. CashAdvance
    Posted December 30, 2008 at 1:12 pm | Permalink

    The cost of war is ridiculous and I can’t believe we’re still paying for this war. The costs associated with our national spending habits, consumer purchasing and borrowing is out of control.