[lbo-talk] Iraq to cost $600b?

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Tue Aug 12 12:59:24 PDT 2003


Dwayne Monroe wrote:


>I know the numbers are still "hazy" at this point
>(perhaps deliberately so) but I truly think it's time
>for economists to start taking the occupation of Iraq
>- along wih all the other hyper militarist actions
>underway - into account in their estimations of the
>present health and future prospects of the US economy.

That's hard to do when you don't know how much it's going to cost. The U.S. could afford a $100b pricetag fairly easily. If it pushes up towards $600b, then you're talking some real money.

Fascinating how oil prices haven't fallen along with Saddam's statue. Some warriors had claimed that cheaper oil would more than pay for the war, but it hasn't worked out that way. Gas did fall from $1.73 a gallon in March to $1.53 in June, but it's back up to $1.58 now - 14 cents higher than a year ago and 35 cents higher than Dec 2001.

Doug



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list