While I'm glad to see our troops coming home from Iraq, I think we ought to be very conscious that our spending large amounts of money there is continuing. I think it is fair to assume that the private contractors have large amounts of corporate or "small business" profits built into their invoices to we-the-people.
We're paying for their pensions, their life insurance, their health care, and their not-trivial "wages." The lowest-paid contractors are probably receiving wages approaching those of mid-level military, and benefits far superior. Their management is likely taking home compensation many times what we pay our President.
I realize that some will think this is a fine thing, but I submit that its costs to our society are non-trivial.
Sometimes public employees are the best people for the job. There is a lot less fat in our military than there is in private-sector substitutes.
Let's not fool ourselves about Iraq.
"Out of sight, out of mind" sometimes gets translated by the naive as "blind and crazy."
Daddy Warbucks. Daddy "peace"bucks?
We ought to be getting a monthly accounting of the dollars flowing, and to whom they are flowing.
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