How would you spend it? 5

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1. 

   meander Posted 7:16 am
   28 Sep 2006

   Does anyone really know?Another disturbing commentary about war costs is War cost reports said to be incomplete, understated by Winslow Wheeler, Director, Straus Military Reform Project of the Center for Defense Information.  The dollar figures are disturbing on one level, but the description of the Pentagon's accounting systems---which seem to make Enron look like a model of honesty---is truly revolting.  
   
   
   DOD's accounting methods continue to be problematic. The $7.1 billion that CRS reported earlier it could "not track" continues to go untracked. It appears that CRS found another $4 billion that it could "not track" (see page 8) [commenter's note:  the page numbers refer to a Congressional Research Service report linked to in the commentary]. Furthermore, DOD's reports on war costs are incomplete and "understate expenses by over $20 billion because DOD's financial system for tracking war costs has excluded certain types of expenses" (see page 32).
   
   [...]
   
   DOD also refuses to provide any comprehensive estimate for the costs to replace and repair all worn out equipment. There has been discussion of an "in-house" Army estimate of its "reset" costs at $36 billion; the Marine Corps has estimated $11.7 billion for themselves. However, these estimates do not appear to be comprehensive (see pages 18-19).
   
   
   And yet another analysis of costs is The Economic Costs Of The Iraq War: An Appraisal Three Years After The Beginning Of The Conflict by Linda Bilmes (Kennedy School, Harvard University) and Joseph E. Stiglitz (University Professor, Columbia University).  Via an interesting Q&A with Professor Bilmes at Nieman Watchdog.

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2. 

   GRLCowan Posted 9:29 am
   28 Sep 2006

   I might fund a contest ...$50 billion, $30 billion, and $20 billion for win, place, show in an X-prize-style race to lift three loads, one thousand tonnes each, to low Earth orbit in four weeks or less with the same vessel, discarding nothing but propellant. (It would not have to be a one-piece vessel. Two stages to orbit are fine if both make all three trips.)
   --- G. R. L. Cowan, former hydrogen fan
   
   Burn boron in pure oxygen for vehicle power

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3. 

   Vincenze Posted 9:37 am
   28 Sep 2006

   Timeseries of environmental expenditure?That is disheartening... especially after hearing Branson and Google's pledges of a mere few billion between them, spread over the next decade or so, and being so excited by that.
   Dreaming about it the other way round though is still mind-blowing!
   Also, anyone have handy a report (or chart) on annual environmental expenditure by the US (I tried hard but couldn't find anything coherent), we hear about the budget being cut or increased but It'll be interesting to see a timeseries.
   For example you said in one of your articles there was a cut of about 4% to the environment budget in '06 but according to this report if I read correctly, there was a huge increase of about 42% in '05... a timeseries would help to make more sense of these annual fluctuations.
   Regards,
   Vincenze.

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4. 

   Biodiversivist Posted 1:01 am
   29 Sep 2006

   Me, I wouldpour a lot into biofuel research and use the rest to buy up and protect ecosystems (carbon sinks), using innovative approaches to eliminate poverty for those who happen to live in close proximity to those protected ecosystems. Humanity is a real work of art.
   
   In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Help acquire and protect ecological hotspots, give to a conservation organization: http://www.saveourbiodiversity.com

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5. 

   bookerly Posted 12:35 pm
   07 Oct 2006

   Amen brother Amen
   
     It is sad, we have the ability to solve our problems, but we refuse to do so.
     (umm, that was a non-religious Amen).
   patrick

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