I have been hearing a lot of chatter about the war in Afghanistan these days, and one argument I hear raised over and over again against the war is that if we had not spent the money on the wars we wouldn't be in the recession we are right now. This is completely and utterly wrong.

    If we hadn't spent the money on Iraq and Afghanistan, it would not have gone into some magical “save the country” fund, nor would it have gone into the pockets of every day Americans. The recession was caused by the criminal or criminally stupid behavior of a relative few. I believe it was criminal, because those actors made a lot of money even while the crisis was unfolding, and ordinary Americans were losing their collective shirts.

    If we hadn't spent the money on the wars, then, the vast bulk of it would have gone to two places. Much of it would have gone to the military anyway, because maintaining a professional standing army is expensive, and also because we need to do a better job of controlling cost in the military. Most of the rest would have ended up in the pockets of the wealthiest 5% of Americans, who are the ones got most of the money that was available. If this would have stopped the recession, there would be enough now to stop it.

    This isn't to say that the war is justified. It takes more than just discrediting one argument to justify the hell that is war. But it does make me wish I had enough clout to stop people from using stupid arguments to support otherwise intelligent positions.