The cost of war

The latest estimate, here, of the cost to the U.S. of waging the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, from Harvard researcher Linda Bilmes. The eventual cost could reach $6 trillion, she estimates, or nearly $20,000 per American.

“While the wars did not cause the financial crisis, they were certainly a significant factor in creating the conditions that led up to it,” said Ms. Bilmes. “First, the Iraq war and the resulting instability in the Gulf put upward pressure on oil prices, which rose from $25 a barrel in 2003 to $140 a barrel four years later.

“Second, these higher oil prices depressed U.S. economic activity, prompting the Federal Reserve to loosen monetary policy. Finally, this additional liquidity contributed to the housing bubble and the financial collapse that followed,” she said.

The political cost of the war was also enormous, untruths were told to the American people and to the United Nations to justify the invasion, reputations were tarnished, tarnished in the same manner war hawks frequently justify their ambitions. But there were those—a minority of those in Congress—who stood against the war.

Analyzing the Capricorn Ingress in a previous post on the fiscal cliff, I had written:

Astrology of the 'fiscal cliff'

The Capricorn Ingress chart has the now familiar Kronos-Hades-Pluto-Uranus T-square firmly on the angles along with Sun conjunct Pluto. Kronos-Hades is the stupidity of leaders or more politely a deterioration of the executive function and Uranus-Pluto can be read as the collapse of an order on account of this.

Shown here is the same Capricorn Ingress chart progressed to the date of the news item. Notice that the asteroid Juno [1] (associated with costs, tallying and accounting) is now on the progressed MC along with Sun-Pluto and the rest of the T-square. On the descendant of the chart is the TNP Zeus associated with war and the military so that combining the two we have someone tallying the cost of a war!

The stars which form the backdrop to the planets provide some more detail.

Pluto is in sidereal  Sagittarius  - a sign that has been associated with religious wars and those who must go on a mission , see their outlook and beliefs carried into practical effect somewhere. It is conjunct the star Facies of the Archer (the Warrior) which is often blamed for consequences due to victim’s own careless actions [2].

Zeus is conjunct the stars Algorab and Kraz of the Raven – a bird that has been associated with “destructiveness, malevolence, fiendishness, repulsiveness and lying”[3] resulting in   “fiascoes, losses” [4]

Kronos is the star Mirzam or beta (β) Canis Major. This star was often combined by the Arabs with the star beta (β) Canis Minor (Gomeisa), and together were titled "The Announcers". (could that be the accountant announcing the cost of the war?)

[1]Juno : http://divinationcounselingservice.org/astrology/asteroids/

[2] The Living Stars, Dr. Eric Morse, p.94-95.

[3] Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923

[4] Fixed Stars and Their Interpretation, Elsbeth Ebertin, 1928, p.60.