Iraq war may cost US trillions

Iraq war may cost US trillions
This headline made me sick. I don't want American tax dollars spent to improve the infrastructure of some second-world country across the ocean. I want to see those dollars spent on my kids' education. I want to see those dollars spent on my health care.

However, Joseph Stiglitz, the co-author of this study has taken great steps to exaggerate the expense of the Iraq War. He claims that the Pentagon's estimates ($250 billion or so) are inaccurate because they fail to include expenses like health care for combat wounded soldiers and other things like depreciation on war machines.

Though this might be a reasonable consideration, convention dictates that those elements and elements like those, should not be counted into wartime budgets. If a speculative 'ripple' economics were to be applied to WWII, for example, we'd see that WWI was far more expensive than the Iraq War would ever be. Just about every industrial resource in America was funneled into the war effort. There were war bonds being purchased; canned goods were specially made for soldiers; and GM stopped producing cars and started producing tanks, for crying out loud! The effect on the American economy was absolutely startling.

Besides, what doesn't the Iraq War affect? When do you stop measuring costs of the war? Perhaps many people stopped going to the movies and King Kong wasn't as popular as people predicted it would be because of the Iraq War. Maybe people are less likely to eat at the Muslim Restaurant on Grimmer Boulevard next to Tri-City Sporting Goods Store because of anti-Islamic sentiments and the local Fremont economy is also suffering. Calculate that, Stiglitz!