It is estimated - by highly reputable economic experts - that the ultimate tally for the Republican lead invasion and occupation of Iraq could amount to a whopping ONE TRILLION DOLLARS!!!
Now consider this: a typical solar system installation - sufficient to power an entire average home - costs around $30k. And we're assuming in this rough estimate that there are no government subsidies provided, so that this is the true cost and not some bogus distorted cost.
At that cost per installation, the trillion dollars that us taxpayers will end up wasting on killing men, women, and children in Iraq could instead have been used to install solar power systems for 33 MILLION AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS!!! And this is not even taking into account the economy-of-scale effect that would inevitably kick in with such high levels of manufacture of solar panels.
Now, why the fuck aren't Americans as pissed off as hell about this complete and utter wasting of their money, and ready to take to the streets of Washington D.C. and hang all the corrupt politicians they can get their pitchfork-wielding hands on!???
If you want to make this little math exercise even more poignant, consider what it would cost to also supply electric vehicles to citizens of this country. Electric vehicles are admittedly still expensive to produce. If we gave our stagnating auto manufacturers a stiff kick in the pants - war effort style - they could probably figure out a way to get the price tag down to $40k per unit. Now, if the government were to supply citizens with an electric vehicle - AND the means to charge it with free electricity from the sun - that would cost about $70k a pop. At that price, 14 MILLION gas guzzling, global warming, lung choking vehicles would be removed from US roads.
Imagine the return on investment for US society from such a radical and enlightened approach to spending taxpayers' hard earned money. Isn't that a better way to deal with our dependence on foreign oil than getting our military mired in conflicts aimed at securing the sources of that slippery poison, to which we've become so desperately addicted? We must stop needing so damned much of it, and commit the national treasure to that cause - instead of wasting it on enriching the merchants of destruction and suffering.