What Did the Iraq War Cost? More Than You Think.

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I want it to end now so no more men and woman

face of TX 3:49PM February 28, 2013

I remind people that most of the Democrats also voted in favor of these wars. And, as to the cost of the Bush tax reductions: recently Democrats wanted to get rid of only 2% of these cuts. The rest of the Bush cuts benefitted the Middle Class and below. Let us be factual here.

mostberg of NJ 11:40AM January 05, 2013

And now we argue over entitlements. Did any of the current Republicans hesitate about approving such war debt. Hell no! We're always able to afford war and we tear the country apart fighting over entitlements. It's always been such Republican strategy: Privatize war pofits, while socializing the debt. The beat goes on and on and.....

Larry Moylan of NY 3:26PM December 30, 2012

"By its very definition, war spending—indeed, any government spending—improves GDP, as anyone who has ever taken an economics 101 course knows."
WRONG. You are forgetting that any gov't spending is also grossly ineffiecient. If what you have stated here were true the USSR never would have collasped and their own GDP would have long ago eclipsed our own. You may have taken Econ 101 but you did not learn anything.

Jim of TX 8:59PM September 20, 2012

Yea I guess they "did a good Job for their economy" when they blew up their own twin towers, blamed it on iraq, made up bs about nuclear weapons and terrorists and went to war ( they went to kill innocent people.) Saddam Hussein and Osama are innocent people. The us Government and Illuminati are the ones who are mass murders. Brainwashing society more as every day goes by. Its a joke how USA tries to say they are the best country and have the best military. When in fact without the rest of the world . America would be helpless. I hope some good blooded real English or British come and take over the corrupted USA and help deal with real world problems. Don't believer me? Think I care? What Do i Benefit from telling you these facts? Well hey don't take my word for it do your OWN research. I could tell you things about the world that would scare and shock you and the truth is hard to accept.

Josh of NY 10:36PM September 19, 2012

Those numbers just don't add up. even 3 + Trillion the max that this war cost estimated by Stiglitz and Bilmes compared to entitlements is a drop in the bucket. They are also taking the Bush Tax Cuts as an expense which isn't necessarily so, Those tax cuts increased business until 2007-8 when the housing bubble and consumer spending fell through the floor before that those cuts stimulated the economy and at worst were budget neutral. Calculating what the taxes would have been and subtracting that from the tax revenues taken in after the tax cuts is voodoo math. The debt is fueled by the massive increase in entitlements (Obamacare) and the negative pressure on business by the excessive regulations (Dodd-Frank) it's as simple as that. The class warfare increases in tax won't make a hill of beens difference on the revenue side but will dampen economic growth and ultimately job growth.

Peeter Jakobson, MD of FL 10:17PM July 14, 2012

To Afgan War Vet.
That is by far the best post I have read on this subject and I read "The Law" and it was very enlightening. I have always been under the impression that war does not improve our economy. After reading this though, I have a true understanding of why.
Thank you

Thorsen of MA 1:48PM March 20, 2012

" ... the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, together with the Bush tax cuts, will account for almost half of the projected $20 trillion debt in 2019."
Love it when you junk it up absolutely no discussion of the tax cuts from the cost side to the credit end .... just junk it up at the end to get your number.

smokey of MO 1:42AM January 28, 2012

With all the costs, we still have not found any Weapons of Mass Destruction. Way to go "W."

James of SC 11:20AM January 21, 2012

"On the positive side, the Iraq War did bolster the economy in some ways."
Wow, we really need to put this myth to rest; the idea that destruction actually helps the economy.
GDP is simply a number telling us how much money our nation has SPENT. It does not tell us how healthy our economy is, because it tells us nothing about how much money our nation EARNED.
If you know what an income statement and balance sheet is, then think of GDP as looking at the income side, without looking at the expenses.
Take the example of your household budget: if you buy a sports car on your credit card, that increases your "personal GDP"; but that doesn't mean you are rich. In fact, you are POORER because of your new toy. Purchasing the car hasn't increased your income or your net worth. All it did was spend your money. Same goes for GDP: when GDP goes up, it just means we spent money. It doesn't mean our income went up.
The only way you can get RICHER by spending your money, is if you invest it in something that pays you more money in return. If you buy a taxi, instead of a sports car, and you make money by driving that taxi around, then your vehicle purchase can make you richer.
How can we possibly say we, as a nation, are getting richer by spending money on bombs, which we then explode over another country? How are those bombs making us more money? How are those soldiers making us more money? The soldiers and contractors are certainly benefiting financially (except of course the guys that get hurt); but overall as a whole, our nation is suffering.
If those soldiers were here at home, and they were being paid to make something useful, like taxis, then we would actually gain something from them. So we are hit with a double-whammy: not only are we having to pay for something (war) that doesn't benefit us, we are also losing the "opportunity cost" (another econ 101 term) of having those same people and paychecks be used to make something that DOES benefit us.
This fallacy was debunked in the early 1800's by Fredrick Bastiat. Everyone should read his book "The Law" (http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html). Or, read "Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlit, an even shorter book which takes the lessons from Bastiat and applies them to the modern world.
http://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Understand/dp/0517548232/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326229989&sr=8-1
We didn't get out of the great depression until AFTER WWII. After we finally brought the troops home, and had them build cars instead of tanks, power plants instead of bombs, etc etc.
Destroying stuff does NOT improve our economy.

An Afghan war veteran of WA 4:21PM January 10, 2012