$3.6 Billion Kansas
$6.9 Billion Oklahoma
$7 Billion Missouri
$37.3 Billion Texas
___________
$79 .5 Billion Total for these 5 statesIn short, if one looks at this total of nearly 80 billion dollars in federal funding for budget items--other than funding the Iraq-War--, these 5 states took upon themselves over 1/7th of burden of the $456 billion total losses in discretionary and other budget non-discretionary spending related to the ongoing war and occupation of Iraq as reported by NPP.
This may seem fair at first because these states as a group represent a great portion of U.S. citizen residents: 1/6th of the total U.S. census. However, here is where NPP’s talking points are especially helpful. NPP shows which U.S. Congressional Districts in which states are bigger losers. For example, in Kansas’ Congressional District #3, under U.S. Representative Moore, $1.12 billion has been lost. Meanwhile, in Kansas’ Congressional District #1 has lost only $761.4 million—almost 25% less.
OVERALL LOSSES ON I-35 CORRIDORWith each state losing billions of dollars, there should be little wonder that the infrastructure on I-35 and other roadways and bridges around the region are in such horrid state!
On top of the under-funding for U.S. infrastructure since the 1980s, the Iraq War has served as a shock-factor weakening significantly further our local government’s ability to oversee maintenance of basic needs that our societies have been depending on historically—like public libraries or public transportation.
Using Naomi Klein’s analysis, called the “Shock Doctrine”, in looking at the apparent federal government’s turning its back towards the ever-growing man-made disaster in New Orleans since 2005, the Iraq War is continuing actively as a “shock policy” in most all regions of the U.S.
Politically and economically speaking, this economic shock is simply called run of the mill capitalism by the U.S. press today. However, it is actually a new form of capitalism done-to-regions by the federal government in support the Chicago School of Economics’ vision of transforming once-upon-a-time Keynesian political economies—as were once present throughout the U.S. after WWII—into fascist inspired forms of capitalism, which have become too-dominant on the U.S. political landscape.
Moreover, using the talking points of NPP’s website in state of Kansas, the $3.6 billion shortfall due to the Iraq War could have provided any of the following:
(1) the insuring of full health care coverage for over 500,000 children,
(2) the building of well over 400 new elementary schools, or
(3) the creation of nearly 45,000 affordable housing units.
Using the moneys in almost any combination of these 3 ways [above] could have had greater positive impact and a better multiplier effect throughout the region than has the war-bound defense spending of this Iraq War, the war on Afghanistan, or the unending-war-on terror.
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