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Introduction
September 9, 2011, also commonly known as 9/11, is a day that irks the memory of most Americans. This research paper seeks to have an analysis of the government funding after 9/11. What is 9/11? This research paper shall first of all look at what happened on this crucial date in order to be able to analyze the financial funding by the government. September 9/11 is a day, when terrorists led four well-coordinated attacks on the New York City. The terrorists seized four passenger jets. Two of the planes crashed into the southern and northern towers, situated in the world trade center. The third plane crashed in Pentagon, destroying its western side. The fourth plane was bound to crash into the United States Capitol, but crashed into a field near Pennsylvania. This is after its passengers tried to fight with the hijackers. The September attacks led to the deaths of close to 3000 people. This number includes all the passengers in the planes and the hijackers. The hijackers were 19, while the total number of the passengers equaled to 227. The attacks were quickly linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist group. This was later confirmed by the groups leader, Osama bin Laden. The attacks led to the US invasion in Afghanistan. The invasion was meant to flash out the Taliban, who were housing al-Qaeda. The invasion had some economic impacts on the government. This is because the government fully funded the invasion. One of the goals of the terrorist attack was to stultify the economy of the United States of America by destroying the main power centers. The power centers of the United States are Pentagon, White House, and the Wall Street (Valerie, 2004).
Economic Analysis of Government Spending Post 9/11
The September attacks brought about various economic effects to the United States of America. The attacks brought about both instantaneous and long-term economic repercussions. It heightened the countrys depression in 2001, and led to massive government spending in the fight against terrorism. After the attacks, the stock market closed down for the four days. This was the first time that the stock market has ever closed down, since 1933, when there was depression and the President Roosevelt had ordered a two days closure of the markets. The attacks further goaded the recession in 2001. The recession had begun on March 2001. This led to the economy sliming to 1.3%, although it bounced back in the second section by 2.7%. This, however, changed in the third section, when the economy slimed down by 1.1%. This has led to the heightening of the recession (Gail, 2011).
The war on terror, as then President George Bush put it, was to be like one has never seen before; moreover, it was supposed to be the lengthy one. This has led to the invasion of Afghanistan in order to bring justice to the American people by arresting the man behind the attacks, Osama bin Laden, and the al-Qaeda group. The war cost the government twenty billion dollars; extra thirteen billion were used to initiate Homeland Security. The war on terror stretched to Iraq. This has led to more funding by the government. The war in Iraq was expensive, and in the first year alone it cost the government fifty billion dollars. When Bushs presidency came to an end, the war on terrorism had cost the government close to $864.82 billion. Obamas presidency did not end the fight against terrorism, but rather, funded the campaign using $477 billion. The fight against terrorism has cost the government a lot of money that totals to an amount higher than $1.3 trillion. The attacks increased spending on defense and security. This has led to the government being in debt. This has led to the country being in a debt crisis and unemployment cases keeps on rising. The huge debt also means that the government has to underfund stimulus programs. The attacks have also led to the insurance losses that total close to $40 billion. After the attacks, the dollar fell against other currencies. The attacks also affected travelling and entertainment agencies. Flights to most parts of the country and to Canada were brought to a halt. Those, who bought tickets, were refunded. The tourism sector was also not spared by the attacks, as New York City failed to attract tourists, which led to losses. The 9/11 attacks led to loss of roughly 430,000 jobs, which accounts to the loss of wages that equal to $2.8 billion. The wage loss stretched to three months. The export system of the city of New York was adversely affected, which has led to the decline of the GDP by twenty seven billion dollars. The government of the United States of America provided some financial aid to the New York City government. New York City was granted eleven billion dollars by the federal government in the same month that the attacks occurred (Gail, 2011).
The federal government also granted financial aid to New York City in the year 2002, to help the city to rebuild and to improve both its economic an infrastructure needs. The money given to the government of New York City was close to ten billion dollars. The attacks did not spare even small businesses. Small businesses that were mainly affected were those in Manhattan and in lower Manhattan. Close to eighteen thousand businesses that were suited near the World Trading Center were either displaced or destroyed following the terrorist attacks. The loss incurred by the small businesses was, however, catered for through the loans granted by the federal government through various bodies, such as Community Development Block Grants Board, Economic Injury Disaster, and Small Business Administration bodies. The airline agencies or industry financial crisis has worsened after the attacks. Most of the airlines shut down, while others were faced with bankruptcy, which led them to closing business afterwards. These attacks made people become afraid of flying. The federal government, however, came to the rescue of the airlines. It offered some financial aid to the industry. The financial aid included loans for them. The government issued ten billion dollars for the loan assurances and five billion for those airlines that needed assistance that was not long-term; that is, the short-term assistance. The federal government has also helped the families that were victims to the attacks. The families were compensated and a memorial for those, who died during the September terrorist attacks, was built (Lloyd, 2004).
In total, the government of the United States of America has spent $5.6 trillion to budget Pentagon, $230.3 billion for the nuclear weapons, $1.36 trillion on Afghan and Iraq, and $635.9 billion on the homeland security. The federal government has always come clear on its spending and on the various projects that it was funding. The money has to be first approved by the relevant bodies including the legislature and the cabinet. The president is the last person, who approves the bills allowing money to be spent. This promotes integrity and honesty. Integrity is all about truth and honesty in ones actions. The war on terror that came after the September attacks was justified. The country had to bring the culprits to justice and to protect the country from the future attacks. The war was also justified, as it was meant to end terrorism by crashing the terrorist groups, namely Taliban and al-Qaeda. The federal governments move to fund businesses that were affected is in itself a noble thing that shows the governments commitment to its own people. The loans were offered or granted to those, who were affected on merit, and there was no one, who was prejudiced against. The government was open in all its financial dealings, when financing affected businesses, and when funding the Homeland Security. The government was also open and had nothing to hide in its funding of the war on terror. This, in turn, promotes integrity. Government funding after 9/11 portrays or displays actions that show the core values of integrity (Stephen, 2011).
The government has also solved the moral dilemmas that occurred after the 9/11 attacks. This was or is mainly done through the government reports on the war on terror, and on the ways the government was treating prisoners and citizens of Afghan and Iraq. The government also assured its citizens of security and protection from such terror attacks. This helped in reducing the societal impacts of the 9/11 attacks. One of the societal impacts is hatred of Muslims. The government advocated for peace amongst religions, and that Islam does not support terrorism. This meant that those, who carried out the attacks, were not Muslims, but terrorists (Susan, 2011).
Conclusion
Almost thirteen years down the line and 9/11/2001is a day that most Americans will always remember. Terrorism had its hand and carried out deadly attacks in New York. The aftermath of the attacks was devastating, as the City and the country tried to deal with economical repercussions of the attack. The attacks influence, perhaps, one of the biggest spending by the government. The government has used a lot of money to fund the countrys defense and security systems. The government has also spent a lot in funding the war against terrorism. The war against terrorism was brought about by the 9/11 attacks.