One study shows that $719 million dollars a day is the average cost of the Iraq War to us as Americans. That’s each and every day. Maui County will run our entire three-island county for $574 million a year. When you factor in the money being allocated by the state for the first installment of a badly needed expansion of our harbor—one day’s worth of war will pay for all of our infrastructure needs for a year and help a vital expansion of commercial transportation. One day.
This war has been costing us huge sums of money since March 19, 2003. That’s 1,945 days of money pouring out of our economy, driving down the value of our currency on the international market until it actually fluctuated one percent in one day only three weeks ago. The massive increase in gasoline prices is directly reflected in the value of our currency. This ongoing war is costing you dollars each and every time you fill up. Please remember this.
Nobel Prize-winning Economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard University Professor Laura Bilmes calculated a $3 trillion price tag. And this isn’t taking into account the long-range forecast of John McCain, which would allow our military presence to wander on in Iraq for decades to come.
When you go to the polls in November, you have a clear choice—to end this massive fiscal drain that is bankrupting our country and our children’s future by voting for a candidate that will stop our involvement in the Iraq War, and wisely rebuild our economy before it is too late. Remember, this same type of drain bankrupted the mighty Roman Empire, until the hoards of ancient Europe overran an exhausted military and morally corrupt government. It’s your choice.
Sean Lester
Ha‘iku