National Priorities Project Calculates Local Costs

Mike has this:

According to the National Priorities Project, the Iraq War has cost the State of Tennessee over $8 billion ($1 billion = $1000 million). President Bush’s new funding request for 08-09 will cost the Volunteer State over $2 billion, which according to NPP would buy Tennessee 21,714 afforable housing units, 41,906 elementary school teachers, or health care coverage for 435,808 adults.

I shake my head and sigh deeply. Here’s the calculator

So I ran District 8 ( Congressman John Tanner) and this is what I found:

Taxpayers in Congressional District 8 (Tanner) will pay $805.7 million for total Iraq war spending approved to date. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

• 168,170 People with Health Care for One Year
• 596,557 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year
  22,381 Public Safety Officers for One year
• 15,078 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year
• 143,314 Scholarships for University Students for One Year
• 62 New Elementary Schools
• 8,379 Affordable Housing Units
• 281,606 Children with Health Care for One Year
• 111,920 Head Start Places for Children for One Year
• 16,171 Elementary School Teachers for One Year

In Tennessee, Gov. Phil Bredesen spoke yesterday about the elimination of a little more than 2000 jobs.

Jeez.