"Considering that the United States still held a federal surplus before the Afghanistan and Iraqi Wars began, common sense dictates that ending them could decrease the deficit by billions each year and over time and bring the nation back to a surplus, even if the nation continues spending elsewhere. While no one wants to begin or continue any war, the dollar amounts alone are evidence of the fact that too much is spent on them. Simply stated, if the United States reduced its spending on foreign policy, namely the wars, the nation would have had more than $1 trillion less in deficit. Considering that the current deficit is estimated at $1.3 trillion, while the nation would have still acquired a deficit, the total deficit amount would have been much less." Download opinion by Yahoo contributor JC Torpey in PDF format.
