Let's Say Thanks

Back at my desk after a fabulous weekend in NYC. No time to write about it yet but I thought I would pass along this site where you can write a thank you note to a soldier who is currently serving in Iraq and it will be printed/sent for free.

The cards are designed by kids and they're really sweet.

U.S. Economy Could Fall Casualty to Wars

That's today's headline on CNN.com. The article goes on to say that:

• In 2008, its sixth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the "burn" rate of its earliest years
• By 2017, it is projected to cost the U.S. budget between $1.7 trillion and $2.7 trillion
  
• Interest on money borrowed to pay those costs could alone add $816 billion to that bottom line
• These numbers don't include the war's cost to the rest of the world
• Estimating all economic and social costs might push the U.S. war bill up toward $5 trillion by 2017
• These calculations are conservative and don't encompass many "hidden" items in the U.S. budget

And so on . . .

Check my math because I'm not great at these things but, assuming out of the 300M people in the U.S. that 80% are footing the bill for this through their taxes (i.e., 240M), does that mean that each person is spending roughly $50/month today (or $600/year) and that figure will rise to over $11K annually per capita in a decade (in today's dollars)? Please point out my error and tell me that I'm wrong.

Is this a good reason to strive to earn more so that the hit to my wallet doesn't seem that gigantic or a stronger incentive to earn significantly less (i.e., live off the government and lower my taxes) so that I don't have to personally fund this colossal nightmare?