2008 = $725 billion in military spending

[digiweb]

http://www.truemajority.org/oreos/

[Dustin07]

I missed this thread for a few days.. but...

But if the goverment is paying the bill to the doctor, will he do his
best? after all, he will get paid no matter what. and if he does something
stupid and mess's you up, can you sue him?, which would cost the tax
payer?

I'm going to say, no. Government paid doctors (military!) are not the same as civilian doctors. I would prefer a civilian any day of the week.

and in most situations I think the government would just settle on lawsuits (unfortunately) rather than take them to court.

[endymion616]

The only reason we're fighting in Iraq is to secure the oil reserves and increase productivity. If the Middle East had no oil, the US never would have invaded in the first place.

This is a story that goes back to World War One. The British and French carved up the old Ottoman Empire into phony "states", took over the oil production, and there's been chaos there ever since.

For a good primer on how governments continue to ignore obvious lessons from history, check out the program, "Blood and Oil." It shows exactly how European meddling in the Middle East set up a century of conflict. The seeds for Al-Qaeda were planted 90 years ago.

[Dustin07]

while I don't believe that it's the only reason, it's definitely a good one. A loss of oil or a huge spike in oil prices could cripple the U.S. and world economy.