A 2% Solution?

Generally speaking, a figure representing 2% of the total sum is an extremely low number. A loan with such an interest rate would be exceptional, yet unrealistic by all means. Couple that with a similar sales tax on all goods and services and every American family budget would find it easy to catch up on outstanding bills, although many would extend their debts to maximize such a bonanza of value.

There are other items that would bring a sigh of relief and a hope for financial gain. Interest rates on many savings accounts and money market accounts. Such a limit on increases for home insurance, property taxes, health care and gas prices over a year’s time might be a catalyst for consumer retirement accounts. For some wage earners a 2% pay increase would be unacceptable, but for many employees such a pay raise would be better than none, especially so if job loss is of major concern.

The list could go on identifying the benefits of such a small increase but, just as easily, there are numerous other cases where a 2% increase would be disastrous. Returns on typically safe investments or the gross national product are just a couple items.

Taking a look at other statistical percentages, should we be willing to accept a mortality rate of 3% of breast cancer victims, or 2.7% for those with prostate cancer? They may be small numbers in themselves but when referring to a survival rate, the equation demands the least amount of heartbreak.

Taking a serious look at another group of numerical facts, what about the death rate of servicemen as a result of WWI at 2.5%? WWII at 2.1%? The Korean War at 3.0%? Vietnam War at 2.2%? Gulf War at 1.8%? These figures include those who are Missing In Action.

Thus far, the Iraqi War figures indicate the death rate of our troops to be at 2.4%, which may be in question considering the honesty of our current administration in divulging the truth of occupational hazards. By all averages, this number seems to be in line with the other wars, but perhaps the percentage would be lower if victory had been declared with the capture and the ultimate execution of Sadam Hussein; the total would surely be much less regardless of any percentages.

At this point, the U.S. military is assuming an extended period of military occupation in Iraq but it will surely expand to more involvement in Afghanistan, Iran and, more likely than not, Pakistan, Turkey and Syria.

The United Sates took the task to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction with little or no support from our historical allies. As the years have passed, those nations that had once participated have abandoned what they have come to see a lost cause.

With the demise of Saddam Hussein, President Bush had achieved his original goal and would have been considered a winner if he had taken the victor’s prize at that time. At that point, if he had been willing to re-evaluate strategies to wage a true war on the broader task of fighting terrorism in the region, perhaps the United Nations and NATO would, right now, be at our side, giving support to the effort, sharing the expenses of time, money and the loss of lives.

Without argument, waging a war on terrorism in just one of many countries that harbor these scourges of humanity has been poorly focused; all roads to Iraq do not lead to the sources of Islamic extremists. Iraq has never been the solution to labyrinth of terrorist factions.

Other disturbing numbers of war involve the amount of time the troops have been deployed.

Whereas service men were in combat for an average of 40 days during WWII, and those in the Vietnam War were deployed for 240 days, the length of time in Iraq is 24 months. This equates to 720 days, or 300% longer than the time a soldier served in Vietnam and 1800% for those serving WWII. Such a lengthy tour of duty is a detour from life for every soldier in battle.

By any means, percentages may be derived from simple math, but the sum of all these numbers represent a negative solution for success.

Parcel Post 2008 @ www.parcelpost08.blogspot.com A New Year. A New Blog.