The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (“CBO”) now estimates our Nation’s fiscal 2010 deficit at over $1.3 trillion. A whopping sum to be sure.

As President Obama takes to the airwaves tonight to mark the end of combat operations in Iraq it’s an interesting time to look at the cost of military action. The CBO estimates the cost of post-9/11 military operations in Iraq at $800 billion. Tack on another $400 billion for post-9/11 military operations in Afghanistan and the total reaches $1.2 trillion.

Looking at this in a simplistic fashion over 9 years of literal and proverbial blood, sweat and tears cost $100 billion LESS than what President Obama and a Democratic Congress have spent passing health care legislation that has no hope of fixing the health care system and banking legislation that passes along the costs of “reform” onto the economy it seeks to protect.

Say what you will about how “right” or “wrong” the military campaigns have been in the Middle East. Healthy political debate is at the core of our American way of life. However there’s no denying that the current leadership has been a poor fiduciary when it comes to taxpayer money.

Given that we Americans tend to vote with our wallets the mid-term elections will certainly prove very interesting.