The cost of war food for thought

Standard (American accent) Source: www.speakup.com.br

Josef Stiglitz is a distiguished economist whose resumé includes the chairmanship of the Council of Economic Advisers to the Clinton administration, the vice-presidency of the World Bank, and his current job, a professorship at Columbia University. In 1991 he wrote the book Globalization and its Discontents, which has since sold over a million copies and been translated into 35 languages.

His latest book, the Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq War, which he co-wrote with Linda Bilmes, may do even better. Certainly, as we discovered when Joseph Stiglitz met with Speak Up, its findings are disturbing. And, at a time of international financial crisis, The Three Dollar War offers plenty of food for thought: 

Joseph Stiglitz: (Stardand American accent)

This is the second most expensive conflict: the only war that's been more expensive-adjusting for inflation-is World War II. This is more expensive for America-than World War I, the Vietnam war, the Korean war; the Civil war. The cost going forward are (sic) also going to be large, because of the large number of casualties, but the number of trillion, or three trillion, is so hard to grasp that people can't wrap their minds around it and the way that I try to explain it, most effectively, is to talk about what you could have bought for one hour flighting, one day of fighting, one month of fighting, or a fraction of an Iraq War. So, for instance, the (then) U.S. President said we have this huge problem of social security: bankrupt. Well, for about one sixth of the cost of the Iraq War, you could have put social security on firm financial grounding for at least the next 50, 75 years. Ande we have created an unfunded entitlement equal to the gap in our social security system; the obligations to our veterans. So, if you thought social security was a problem, we have now doubled the problem! The U.S. is facing a major problem: one out of 150 kids are being born autistic, the U.S. is spending $100 million, a little over $100 million on research. Obviously, the parents of these kids would like there to be a lot more research to deal with the problem. We're talking about something like four hours of that, we would be able to double the expending. So that gives you a magnitude of how fast we're burning up money.

GLOSSARY

Resumé: Currículo

Chairmanship: Presidência

Findings: Descobertas, conclusões

Food for thought

Adjusting for inflation: considerando a inflação

The cost going forward: Os custos futuros

Casualties: Mortos e feridos

Is so hard to grasp: É tão difícil de imaginar; de se fazer idéia

People can't wrap their minds around it: As pessoas não conseguem saber exatamente

Huge problem of social security: Enorme problema com a assistência social

You could have put...firm financial prouding seria possível criar uma assistência social financeira sólida

We have created unfunded entitlement: Criarmos um direito a assistência para o qual não há fundos.

Gap: Burraco, déficit, lacuna.