The Edge

I hate to admit it, but I agreed with "The Edge" in the May 14 Tribune:

Number of the week: $48.8 billion
As big as that number is, it seems a little small considering all the hubbub the base realignment and closure process has caused.

The figure is how much Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld hopes to save over 20 years through the recommendations released Friday.

Considering the hundreds of billions of dollars spent in the past couple of years in Iraq, $2.44 billion a year in BRAC-ish savings doesn't seem like much — about seven hammers and a toilet seat, by our calculations.

When one thinks about how much money our government spends every year, it seems a little silly to create all of this heartache and disruption for $2-3 billion a year. Someone tell me if the savings includes the economic ripples that will be lost by closing these bases.