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T U E S D A Y , A U G U S T 0 2 , 2 0 0 5How Would You Spend $300 Billion?by Michael in New York on
8/02/2005 02:15:00 PMAn amusing op-ed in the NYT about the silliness of bottledwater. (Personally, I'm wedded to those square Fiji bottles.)Towards the end, writer Tom Standage talks about thedesperate plight of much of the world when it comes to water:More than 2.6 billion people, or more than 40 percentof the world's population, lack basic sanitation, andmore than one billion people lack reliable access tosafe drinking water. The World Health Organizationestimates that 80 percent of all illness in the world is due towater-borne diseases, and that at any given time, aroundhalf of the people in the developing world are suffering fromdiseases associated with inadequate water or sanitation,which kill around five million people a year.Widespread illness also makes countries less productive,more dependent on outside aid, and less able to liftthemselves out of poverty. One of the main reasons girls donot go to school in many parts of the developing world isthat they have to spend so much time fetching water fromdistant wells.And here's the kicker:Clean water could be provided to everyone on earthfor an outlay of $1.7 billion a year beyond currentspending on water projects, according to theInternational Water Management Institute. Improvingsanitation, which is just as important, would cost afurther $9.3 billion per year.Imagine, with the $300 billion (and counting) that Bush has spent onIraq, he could have made certain that clean water was available toEVERYONE ON EARTH for the next 150 years! Clean water for theworld until 2155. Or Bush could have provided clean water andmassively improved sanitation to the poorest of the poor for the next27 years -- he could have dramatically improved the health of theworld until 2032...and of course many other major nations wouldhave pitched in, making the cost to us much cheaper and the benefitslast much longer.Imagine: at every pump and spigot around the world that wesponsored, a small discrete plaque saying "Courtesy of the UnitedStates of America." How would you spend $300 billion?
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8/02/2005 02:15:00 PMAn amusing op-ed in the NYT about the silliness of bottledwater. (Personally, I'm wedded to those square Fiji bottles.)Towards the end, writer Tom Standage talks about thedesperate plight of much of the world when it comes to water:More than 2.6 billion people, or more than 40 percentof the world's population, lack basic sanitation, andmore than one billion people lack reliable access tosafe drinking water. The World Health Organizationestimates that 80 percent of all illness in the world is due towater-borne diseases, and that at any given time, aroundhalf of the people in the developing world are suffering fromdiseases associated with inadequate water or sanitation,which kill around five million people a year.Widespread illness also makes countries less productive,more dependent on outside aid, and less able to liftthemselves out of poverty. One of the main reasons girls donot go to school in many parts of the developing world isthat they have to spend so much time fetching water fromdistant wells.And here's the kicker:Clean water could be provided to everyone on earthfor an outlay of $1.7 billion a year beyond currentspending on water projects, according to theInternational Water Management Institute. Improvingsanitation, which is just as important, would cost afurther $9.3 billion per year.Imagine, with the $300 billion (and counting) that Bush has spent onIraq, he could have made certain that clean water was available toEVERYONE ON EARTH for the next 150 years! Clean water for theworld until 2155. Or Bush could have provided clean water andmassively improved sanitation to the poorest of the poor for the next27 years -- he could have dramatically improved the health of theworld until 2032...and of course many other major nations wouldhave pitched in, making the cost to us much cheaper and the benefitslast much longer.Imagine: at every pump and spigot around the world that wesponsored, a small discrete plaque saying "Courtesy of the UnitedStates of America." How would you spend $300 billion?
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HuffPost PoliticsMichael Shaw: Reading the Pictures: As If This PutsBirthers To Bedt - click for full size Seeing isbelieving? via RJ Eskow. Stewart escalates....22 minutes ago
FiredoglakeLate Late Night FDL: Holiday Road - LindsayBuckingham - Holiday Road. I'm not headed toWallyworld but I am on the road tonight, headeddown to the San Francisco Bay Area for themeetup this...59 minutes ago
Daily KosOpen Thread and Diary Rescue - *Tonight's RescueRangers are noddem, Elise, jlms qkw, taylormattd,Shayera, and joyful with vcmvo2 editing.* Thediaries up for rescue are: - *Vikin...1 hour ago
Crooks and LiarsOpen Thread - Just a little something re the birtherthing. Open thread below...2 hours ago
EschatonLate Night - Go Electric.2 hours agoJ O H N ' S P H OT O S
Show All
AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: How ...http://www.americablog.com/2005/08/how-would-you-spend-3...
1 of 57/24/09 11:11 AM
A M E R I C A B L O G T V
Visit our AMERICAblog TV site.see all 326 videos >I collect with
vodpod
Judge order San Diego toget rid of the seals
Massive brawl in SouthKorean parliament
Mormons may havesecretly baptized
Medieval helpdesk withEnglish subtitles
The Taco Bell dog hasdied
In honor of SenatorDeMintNext 6AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: How ...http://www.americablog.com/2005/08/how-would-you-spend-3...
2 of 57/24/09 11:11 AM
Walker ReportSimple Test ToDetermine If Conrad'sCo-ops Are Worthless2 hours agoEzra KleinTab Dump6 hours agoWonk RoomNewt Gingrich’s ‘JobsFirst’ Plan Puts TheWealthy AndCorporations First9 hours agoHealth BeatIf We’re Able to StopObama On This . . . . ItWill Break Him9 hours agoDaily DoseObama Talks HealthCare With Post's Hiatt9 hours agoG AY P O L I T I C S
Visit our new gay politicssection, AMERICAblog Gay.F E E D S
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Top AdAdvertise in this spot.H E A LT H C A R ER E F O R MAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: How ...http://www.americablog.com/2005/08/how-would-you-spend-3...
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AMERICAblog
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SearchS E N D U S T I P S &C O M M E N T Samericablog@starpower.netB L O G A R C H I V E
Blog ArchiveS I T E S W E L I K EAir America RadioAlan Colmes' blogAri Melber (The Nation)Ben SmithBicycleMark's blog &podcastBilericoBradBlogBring It OnCarrie FisherCrooks and LiarsDailyKosDan Savage's "Slog"Daou ReportDemocratic UndergroundEschatonEzra KleinFire Dog LakeFiveThirtyEight.comFreeway BloggerThe Gavel (SpeakerPelosi's blog)Good As YouGlenn GreenwaldHoly Bullies and HeadlessMonstersHuffington PostHullabaloo (Digby)Jack and Jill PoliticsJed ReportJesus' GeneralKenneth in the 212Margaret and HelenMatthew GrossMedia MattersMike Signorile's "The Gist"MudflatsMyDDOpen LeftPlum LinePolitical Punch (JakeTapper)Political WirePolitics 1Pop SurfingProgressive Blog DigestQueers UnitedRawStoryRex WocknerRude PunditSmirking ChimpTalk LeftTappedTaylor MarshThink ProgressTowleRoadVetVoice.comWashington NoteWayneBesen.comWonketteWorth Repeating
N E W S L I N K SUSWashington PostNYTAP PoliticsReuters PoliticsRasmussen PollsTimeNewsweekRoll CallThe HillABCNews
P L E A S E S U P P O RTA M E R I C A B L O GOne-time donation$
Recurring monthlydonation$
Donations are nottax-deductible.L A B E L S
Select a labelL A S T 1 0 0 V I S I T O R SRecent Visitors
A B O U TA M E R I C A B L O GWhy AMERICAblog?Because a great nationdeserves the truth.What issues do youcover?US politics overall with aparticular focus on theObama Administration, theradical right, and civilrights.Who are you?John AravosisEditorWashington, DCJoe SudbayDeputy EditorWashington, DCChris RyanAssociate EditorParis, FranceRobert ArenaContributing EditorBaltimore, MarylandJacki SchechnerContributing EditorWashington, DCAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: How ...http://www.americablog.com/2005/08/how-would-you-spend-3...
4 of 57/24/09 11:11 AM
© 2009 - John Aravosis | Design maintenance by Jason RosenbaumSend me your tips: americablog@starpower.netAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: How ...http://www.americablog.com/2005/08/how-would-you-spend-3...
5 of 57/24/09 11:11 AM