[lbo-talk] Topping the Cost of World War I

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

In the midst of the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, the White House had 
the audacity to ask for "an additional $25 billion for the wars in 
Iraq and Afghanistan for the fiscal year that begins in October" -- 
merely the first installment of war spending estimated to climb to 
$65-75 billion for FY 2005 (Jonathan Weisman, "$25 Billion More 
Sought to Fund Wars," Washington Post, May 6, 2004). Congress had 
already approved "two wartime emergency spending laws totaling $166 
billion -- including $149 billion for Iraq" (May 6, 2004), with 
little to show for in the way of reconstruction (see, for instance, 
the widening gaps between the June 2004 goals of "peak deliverable 
generation capacity" and "power production" on one hand and actual 
capacity and production trends on the other hand in the Department of 
Defense's April 2004 "Iraq Status Report"). Historical comparisons 
made by William D. Nordhaus. highlight the enormity of the cost of 
the invasion and occupation of Iraq:

With an additional $25 billion, the war's cost exceeds the 
inflation-adjusted expenditures of the Revolutionary War, the War of 
1812, the Mexican-American War, the Spanish-American War and the 
Persian Gulf War combined, according to a study by Yale University 
economist William D. Nordhaus.

At $174 billion, the Iraq conflict would be approaching the 
inflation-adjusted, $199 billion cost of World War I, a level it will 
almost certainly pass next year. (May 6, 2004) . . . .

The rest of the posting is at 
<http://montages.blogspot.com/2004_05_01_montages_archive.html#108394783520529430>.
-- 
Yoshie

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