One would never think that the Iraq War and the City of Glenwood Springs would have something in common, but they do. Money.In the Glenwood Springs area, rentals are extremely hard to locate and the phrase “medium priced homes” is an oxymoron.
A lot of the problem stems from high land and constructions costs that inflate the market price of a home or apartment. Local officials are being advised to have a “come-to-Jesus meeting” to alleviate the scarcity of housing. (Story link)
However, there’s a lot more being “inflated” unbeknown to Glenwood residents—their share of the cost of the Iraq War.
On the National Priorities Project website (link) one can find a display of what the entire population of Glenwood Springs is indebted to financing the war. They owed $7,579,166 as of 8:53 pm MT, July 17, 2006.
There are additional calculations on this website. For instance, that ~$7.6 would have built 68 housing units in Glenwood. In the local hot real estate market, that investment could have grown in value AND resolved some of the current housing problems.
Instead, twenty-five minutes have gone by and it has cost Glenwood Springs an additional $236 in IOU’s for the Iraq War, the cost of a screen door on one of those 68 homes.
