tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post8601024596590929440..comments2024-03-28T12:59:41.910-04:00Comments on NeverEnding Story: Special Feature: Selected Poppies Poems for Remembrance DayChen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐http://www.blogger.com/profile/06235248170011255532noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-54672258845651624272021-11-11T11:17:47.567-05:002021-11-11T11:17:47.567-05:00FYI: The "costs of the Afghanistan war[Americ...FYI: The "costs of the Afghanistan war[America's longest and most expensive war], in lives and dollars" by Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press, August 17, accessed at https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-business-afghanistan-43d8f53b35e80ec18c130cd683e1a38f<br /><br />THE HUMAN COST:<br /><br />American service members killed in Afghanistan through April: 2,448.<br /><br />U.S. contractors: 3,846.<br /><br />Afghan national military and police: 66,000.<br /><br />Other allied service members, including from other NATO member states: 1,144.<br /><br />Afghan civilians: 47,245.<br /><br />Taliban and other opposition fighters: 51,191.<br /><br />Aid workers: 444.<br /><br />Journalists: 72.<br /><br />2021: 1.<br /><br />PAYING FOR A WAR ON CREDIT, NOT IN CASH:<br /><br />Amount President Harry Truman temporarily raised top tax rates to pay for Korean War: 92%.<br /><br />Amount President Lyndon Johnson temporarily raised top tax rates to pay for Vietnam War: 77%.<br /><br />Amount President George W. Bush cut tax rates for the wealthiest, rather than raise them, at outset of Afghanistan and Iraq wars: At least 8%.<br /><br />Estimated amount of direct Afghanistan and Iraq war costs that the United States has debt-financed as of 2020: $2 trillion.<br /><br />Estimated interest costs by 2050: Up to $6.5 trillion.<br /><br />THE WARS END. THE COSTS DON’T:<br /><br />Amount Bilmes estimates the United States has committed to pay in health care, disability, burial and other costs for roughly 4 million Afghanistan and Iraq veterans: more than $2 trillion.<br /><br />Period those costs will peak: after 2048.<br />Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐https://www.blogger.com/profile/06235248170011255532noreply@blogger.com