How Much are the American People Worth?

When speaking in terms of what the American People are worth, spending comes to mind. It seems that the Republican Party is averse to spend money and continue helping the American people that have lost their jobs, and who have been out of work for some time. Their reluctant behavior brings to mind how much money the Bush Administration spent on the illegal Iraq War, a war which was neither sanctioned by Congress or the UN. I'm thinking in these monetary terms because the Republican Party is holding back the Unemployment extension for about 2 million Americans who have lost their jobs and are on long term unemployment. By the end of July that number could rise to over 3 million Americans. Does the Republican Party believe that the American people are worth at least as much as what the Senate appropriated for the Iraq War?

France, Germany and Russia didn't sanction the Iraq War. The people of England and Italy staged huge protests to no avail, as did many Americans; there were demonstrations all over the world protesting against this war; millions protested against this war including Spain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_the_Iraq_War This was the largest worldwide mass protest in history. For the United States, the debt caused by this war is astounding.

The political structure of the United States government is not that forgiving; perhaps the Republican Party is intent on making the American people pay by not immediately passing the last Unemployment Extension, which was put forth by the Democratic Party. To put it mildly, it is said that payback is not kind. In politics the forgiveness level is not a friendly one, and with a war which was definitely not sanctioned by the American people, perhaps this is a form of payback from the Republican Party to the American people.

Billions of dollars were spent on the Iraq War, in fact it was multi-billions of dollars, over of a trillion dollars; if you count what was spent on the Afghanistan War, well then the government spending tops 1 trillion dollars; this money was approved by Congress and the Senate of the United States of America. http://costofwar.com/

As of Saturday, July 17, 2010, the amount of money spent for the Iraq War totaled $734, 056, 000,000.00 and counting; for the Afghanistan War, it was $284, 116, 000,000.00 which totals $1,018,172,000,000.00; this is since 2001 and the count continues to be tabulated.

There was also 9 billion dollars of the American people's tax money that was lost and unaccounted for. http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqNumbers.htm

U.S. SPENDING IN IRAQ

Spent & Approved War-Spending - About $900 billion of US taxpayers' funds spent or approved for spending through Sept 2010.

U.S. 2009 Monthly Spending in Iraq - $7.3 billion as of Oct 2009

U.S. 2008 Monthly Spending in Iraq - $12 billion

U.S. Spending per Second - $5,000 in 2008 (per Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on May 5, 2008)

There were tractor trailers, weaponry and equipment on a massive scale that was unaccounted for, which total 1 billion dollars.

How many American people could have been employed with those billions of dollars? How many American people could have paid their electric bills with the 1 billion dollars? How many insurance premiums, doctor's bills, college tuitions, day care center bills, grocery bills, medical bills and phone bills could have been paid with those multi-billions of dollars that was spent on this illegal war? of a trillion dollars could have paid for a lot of things in this country, things that the American people need.

You might wonder, what does all of this have to do with what the American people are worth; simply put, it's all about the American people and it's about spending. It is about American people here at home, many who are unemployed like me, and the American people who are having difficulty paying bills. When the Republican Party is reluctant to what the Democratic Party is suggesting to help the American people, then the question comes up as to how much are the American people worth?

This dilemma is about some people that were once thriving, who are no longer thriving; these people are in the same position as some of those who were working to make ends meet; they both lost their jobs. Unlike those who were struggling to pay their bills all along, those who once thrived are looking at their homes, some of which have foreclosed and others that are foreclosing. The banks and big corporate businesses were bailed out with 800 billion dollars by this government; long term unemployment seems to be the only bailout for many of the American people. The Iraq War cost over of a trillion dollars, so did the bailout for the banks and big businesses; why has it been like pulling teeth to continue helping the American people who make up this country? This is not the first time that the Republican Party has stalled in passing an unemployment extension. Politicians must make a decision; will they save their citizens or will they let them drown and blame President Obama instead of past President Bush, who stole two elections, invaded Iraq, who caused over 4,000 American soldiers to be killed, and over 31,000 to be injured, and who sank this country into the economic disaster that we're now in; what will it be?

America could feed, clothe and provide housing for many of its citizens with 800 billion dollars; a lot of ills could be solved with that amount of money. Perhaps the American people aren't corporate, but as a whole they do generate a vast amount of money and power; this amount should be enough to more than substantiate their worth to the Republican Party. Look at what the American people have in the banks, in their savings accounts and other accounts that generate money, and then think about what if the banks didn't have the American peoples' money to work with in order to make more money. Without the investment of the American people, the banks could not make the billions of dollars that they make daily. It's the same in businesses, without the administrative assistants and other support staff, the management and CEOs of these huge corporate companies would never be able to bring in the millions or billions of dollars that they do. However, they pay the support staff a fraction of their salary, which run into the millions minus their millions of dollars in ridiculous bonuses; the support staff is paid a mere pittance, not what they really are worth. America must stop treating their citizens as support staff and step-children. We all know that it's about the "Haves and the Have-nots," who want to keep their monetary stronghold in their favor at all times no matter what it costs, but so at some point the American people are going to have to wake up and demand their share. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7180618

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