My Mathmatical Mood...A 456 Billion Dollar War

I found myself in a mathematical mood the other day. I started thinking about theoretical musical concepts, different ways to break up the day, patterns in the ceiling and so on. Eventually, as human thoughts often do, mine turned to money. I began thinking about the money spent on the war.

By September it is believed the war will have coast $456 billion. The majority of the United States and certainly the majority of the world now believe the war in Iraq was a tragic and utter mistake. When I make a mistake spending my own money I usually wonder “what if…” well, what if we used $456 billion for other things?

Until recently Detroit was considered the poorest city in the United States (now at number two). The city of Detroit has a population of 888,675. One third of its population lives in poverty, that’s 296,225 persons. The poverty line lays at $19,157 per year for a home of four. So if we split a third of the population living in poverty into groupings of four (representing individual families) we will get 74,056.25. What if instead of having spent the money on the war we spent it on the poor in Detroit? Before we figure out a number lets avoid any skepticism. Lets pretend the families are completely broke, I mean $0, no money what so ever. Here we go…
456,000,000,000 / 74,056.25 = 6,157,481.644021
The families would receive over six million dollars apiece. Not only would poverty be eliminated in Detroit, the Poor would join the economic high class of society. This got me thinking about the poor all over the country.

There are 37 million persons living at poverty level in the United States, that’s 9 million and 250 thousand Families. What if the $456 billion was distributed to them? Lets again pretend these families have $0, absolutely NOTHING. Here we go…
456,000,000,000 / 9,250,000 = 49,297,29797
The families would receive over forty nine thousand dollars. ALL poverty in the United States, (every city, every town, every home etc.) would be wiped out for at least an entire year. And of course with the economic hand the poor would have a fair chance to continue a middle class life in years to come.

$456 billion could create seemingly endless change. Healthcare could be available for every American citizen for years to come. Alternative energy sources could be researched to their full potential. College could be free for millions of students. Schools and streets could be cleaned. Anti government corruption agencies could be formed. Our brothers and sisters dieing throughout the entire world could finally receive the respectable aid they need. And YOU could be better off in countless ways…

As my mathematical mood faded I found myself full of questions…I asked myself, “Should this continue to be over looked? In years to come should it simply be forgotten? Should it ever be forgiven?” And now I ask you, the reader, as a country that’s supposed to strive for societal justice, should we allow it to go unpunished? Should it not be avenged?

References:

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=297&Itemid=7

http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=61

http://www.arborupdate.com/article/976/