The Three Trillion Dollar War
By Barry Ritholtz - January 12th, 2009, 12:13PM
Excellent infographic depicting the enormous costs of the Iraq war.
It explains in 10 steps why Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s 2003 estimates of the war in Iraq’s costs at $60 billion were so wildly off by 10 times that figure.
click for really ginormous graphic
By the time the United States leaves Iraq, the estimated total cost of war will be more than $3 trillion.
January 12th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
I can’t think of one thing, not one, that the Bush administration got or did right. It’s like they endeavored to author a book about how to do EVERYTHING wrong.
January 12th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
The only thing to say is: Harvard MBA.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
The neo-cons were never well versed in understanding the total cost of ownership.
January 12th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Got an email today from a right wing brother in law listing W’s accomplishments. It was copied from the Weekly Standard. Wanted to send him back my version – a blank email.
January 12th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
I’ve often wondered the extent to which the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed to the financial collapse we’re going through.
On top of a huge credit expansion, high oil prices, and a “yield curve” that was inverted for a period of about 18 months, those two wars could have been the “straw” breaking the “camel’s back”.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:01 am
As for the Iraq war costing $3 trillion, it could end up being more than that.
There is no doubt in my mind that Bush made a lot of deals with a lot of House members and Senators in order to get (and maintain) their support for the war. They were in a position to demand money (from Bush) for their districts and states, and Bush no doubt gave it to them. None of that quid pro quo stuff shows up in any official statistics.
January 13th, 2009 at 5:58 am
This administration has achieved something even Noam Chomsky could not have accomplished:
It has planted the seed of Revolt.
Thank you George, and I mean it.