Photo Illustration: Everett Bogue; Photos: Getty Images
Chuck Schumer is bearing bad news. So bad that it affects you personally. Yeah, you, the one with the family of four who lives in New York (side note: What, are you crazy?). See, our senior senator just discovered that the United States is paying way more for the Iraq war than we thought: If we stay the course, he says, the nation’s costs will exceed $3.5 trillion. Schumer, along with other senators and representatives, have released the report “War at Any Price? The Total Economic Costs of the War,” which totals the real national costs of the war (hint: It’s more than double what the Bush administration would like you to think). And $55 billion of that has already been spent by New York taxpayers alone. You, with that family of four? By the end of 2008 you’ll have already paid $21,000. Chuck Schumer wants you to see it in those highly personal terms, and for you to get upset. His office sent out a press release about it, even. $21,000 is a lot of money. That’s like a year of private elementary-school education for one of your children! Gone out the window, to someone who needs an armor-plated Humvee in Kirkuk in order to survive potential IED attacks.
Wait, now we’re confused. What are we supposed to care about again?
