Current Events > Could the war in Afghanistan have funded universal healthcare?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I see estimates US spent approx $1-6 trilUSD over 20 years

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Yup, but that wouldn't have made the rich in the US richer.

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But think of all the Afghani women and children we protected by getting rich on oil and war while doing nothing to actually improve the country in 20 years.

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hockeybub89 posted...

But think of all the Afghani women and children we protected by getting rich on oil and war while doing nothing to actually improve the country in 20 years.

hockey stop talking about things he knows nothing about challenge [impossible]

Most likely yes. A single-payer system, or even a multi-payer one with a public option that cant be duplicated by private insurance, would give the government leverage to negotiate better prices for drugs and medical services, bringing the overall cost of care down. That plus the significant savings on administrative costs means that amount of money could likely have funded some form of universal healthcare.

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Njolk posted...

I see estimates US spent approx $1-6 trilUSD over 20 years

Estimates for Bernie's plan put universal healthcare at between 17 and 30 trillion over a decade. So no, it wouldn't come anywhere close to funding it.

Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/51662741

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Nah, healthcare is not as cheap as a military invasion by a long shot

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Broseph_Stalin posted...

hockey stop talking about things he knows nothing about challenge [impossible]

Stop siding with the Republicans and our fruitless infinity war

We could have used that money for something useful

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Maybe not by itself, but in conjunction with cutting other dumb spending and actually making the rich pay the taxes they actually owe, it's surely possible.

But of course that's SOCIALISM! so that's bad. Cutting taxes for the rich, allowing loopholes for them to exploit, using tax payer money on stupid shit like border walls, and bailing out big business is fine though.

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We went to Afghanistan to get those responsible for 911 and we got them

Njolk posted...

I see estimates US spent approx $1-6 trilUSD over 20 years

So you wantvto stop looking for murderers to spend the money on something else?

hockeybub89 posted...

Stop siding with the Republicans and our fruitless infinity war

Trump is literally the one who negotiated this lmao

We absolutely did improve the lives of Afghans, security failures have nothing to do with that. And Afghanistan doesn't have oil, stop repeating shit you hear from dumb socialist online.

not unless we change the way we spend money on healthcare too

we already spend more per capita than any other country

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Money is just one factor, also need way more competent workers in the medical field. Stop pushing women and minorities into STEM and start making them become doctors.

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hockeybub89 posted...

But think of all the Afghani women and children we protected by getting rich on oil and war while doing nothing to actually improve the country in 20 years.

It's more so the pharmaceutical industry profiting off of the Afghan poppy fields, and tech companies benefiting from lithium, but the point still remains

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Gwynevere posted...

It's more so the pharmaceutical industry profiting off of the Afghan poppy fields, and tech companies benefiting from lithium, but the point still remains

We literally paid Afghan farmers not to grow poppies and Afghanistan does not produce significant amounts of lithium.

You guys just list shit you heard online and never bothered to fact check because you liked to believe it. It's like listening to Trump supporters.

Broseph_Stalin posted...

Trump is literally the one who negotiated this lmao

We absolutely did improve the lives of Afghans, security failures have nothing to do with that. And Afghanistan doesn't have oil, stop repeating shit you hear from dumb socialist online.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/rare-earth-
afghanistan-sits-1-trillion-minerals-n196861

rare earth metals are the new age oil.

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Well when I'm dealing with tough question like this I try to to take it step by step.

1. How much did the war in Afghanistan cost- $1 trillion dollars over 20 years

How much did the US spend on health care per year in that time period- About $3 trillion a year.

Is 1 trillion >= 60 trillion?

No it isn't. Wow that was tough. You got any more hard questions I can help you out with? In all seriousness though I can't comprehend the level of bold and unashamed ignorance it would take to ask this question without first googling how much the US spends on healthcare.

Atralis posted...

Well when I'm dealing with tough question like this I try to to take it step by step.

1. How much did the war in Afghanistan cost- $1 trillion dollars over 20 years
How much did the US spend on health care per year in that time period- About $3 trillion a year.

Is 1 trillion >= 60 trillion?

No it isn't. Wow that was tough. You got any more hard questions I can help you out with?

Now do a step by step on how not to be an asshole lol.

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1trillion over 20 years feels low

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justaguy3492 posted...

Now do a step by step on how not to be an asshole lol.

How does a person ask that question and not google "how much does the US spend on healthcare" first? And the parade of guys like "ya dawg we could have but THE man didn't want us to". Its ridiculously dumb.

All that wasted money..for what? the moment the US leaves it goes back to how it was before we arrived? we're we supposed to keep our soldiers there forever? this country is a joke. stop funding wars.

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monkmith posted...

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/rare-earth-
afghanistan-sits-1-trillion-minerals-n196861

Read the links you post. This says Afghanistan may be sitting on reserves of lithium. They do not produce lithium, which means no one is profiting off it. They do not have oil. We did not invade Afghanistan to profit off of them, that's a socialist talking point meant to delegitimize foreign intervention by liberal democracies.

monkmith posted...

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/rare-earth-
afghanistan-sits-1-trillion-minerals-n196861

rare earth metals are the new age oil.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/afghanistan-holds- enormous-bounty-of-rare-earths/

It's no wonder China has an interest in Afghanistan, given that they could upset the fact that China currently controls the rare earth market.

Also of note, poppy production in Afghanistan increased during US occupation.



Afghanistan seems to be rather lucrative to a lot of people.

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Killing brown people in the ME is a hell of a lot cheaper than healing American citizens.

I'm sure universal healthcare would cost trillions a year, let alone 20 years.

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If prices weren't so inflated by useless middlemen insurance companies, healthcare would be very affordable

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Yeah, if healthcare prices weren't inflated by being pulled out of someone's ass the costs would definitely go down.

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Broseph_Stalin posted...

Trump is literally the one who negotiated this lmao

We absolutely did improve the lives of Afghans, security failures have nothing to do with that. And Afghanistan doesn't have oil, stop repeating shit you hear from dumb socialist online.

I admit the entire Middle East conflict that we wasted time on has kind of blended together for me. We still continued these wars for personal gain. The Taliban wouldn't have taken over in 20 minutes if we actually improved anything. We can't occupy the entire world forever.

But who cares about all how all that money could have been spent to help Americans? People have gained a lot of wealth, so fuck the millions who are still struggling every single day. We totally had selfless, humanitarian reasons for occupying Middle Eastern countries until the end of time.

Stick to belittling people's situations while you tell them the truth since they read socialist forums or some shit while you know the truth due to shoving your head so far up your fucking ass.

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Lol

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https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1426208059773358086

Also lol
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RamboCell29 posted...

Killing brown people in the ME is a hell of a lot cheaper than healing American citizens.

In general, it's much easier and cheaper to break/destroy/kill things than it is to make/fix/heal them.

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Smashingpmkns posted...

https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1426208059773358086

Also lol

That ain't great

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If we put all the War in Afghanistan money into bitcoin, the US would have the best health care that's free

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I thought we already spend a hell of a lot more on healthcare than we do on the military.

I think the problem we have is the crappy system we already have in place, not that if we spent more money it would somehow turn into universal healthcare.

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Broseph is the only one who understands we went to Afghanistan out of pure hearted intentions, to think there was a profiteering motive is completely unfounded and a ludicrous assertion.

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David1988 posted...

Broseph is the only one who understands we went to Afghanistan out of pure hearted intentions, to think there was a profiteering motive is completely unfounded and a ludicrous assertion.

It's kind of wild. The war in Afghanistan being motivated by profit is something that is agreed upon regardless of political affiliation in the US. It's not even controversial lol

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It could have and it should have. We could have used it also to create jobs to make sure that the rising population had work with fair paychecks, too. We could have used it to end homelessness, but we had to suffer through two decades of a wartime economy so that Pfizer could keep producing and distributing legal heroin.

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Gwynevere posted...

The war in Afghanistan being motivated by profit is something that is agreed upon regardless of political affiliation in the US. It's not even controversial lol

The deranged online communities you are indoctrinated in do not represent the real world. That's why you end up claiming the war was for oil even though Afghanistan does not produce oil. Lithium even though Afghanistan does not produce lithium. Opium even though Afghanistan is not a licensed opium producer and US companies literally can't buy from them.

And notice you have absolutely nothing to say when called out on these debunked conspiracy theories.

Bruh you're drinking the CIA juice harder than Shab hits the CCP juice.

I'm not sure whose liver is stronger at this point

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Haha just like I said.

Broseph_Stalin posted...

And notice you have absolutely nothing to say when called out on these debunked conspiracy theories.

Cheater87 posted...

Yup, but that wouldn't have made the rich in the US richer.

Ey-oh

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Broseph_Stalin posted...

Haha just like I said.

I did have something to say though. Here, I'll post it again:

Gwynevere posted...

Bruh you're drinking the CIA juice harder than Shab hits the CCP juice.

I'm not sure whose liver is stronger at this point

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Broseph_Stalin posted...

That's why you end up claiming the war was for oil even though Afghanistan does not produce oil. Lithium even though Afghanistan does not produce lithium. Opium even though Afghanistan is not a licensed opium producer and US companies literally can't buy from them.

Broseph_Stalin posted...

And notice you have absolutely nothing to say when called out on these debunked conspiracy theories.