Nobel Prize Economist Puts Long Term Costs of Iraq War at $7 Trillion (Merged)
Didn't Al Gore win the Nobel Prize? :dunno: Just sayin.
Yeah, I get your point, but are the predictions wrong? We don't know. Dapperdan and I had a running debate here--I've seen conservative estimates around $500 million dollars thusfar. Other more "biased" or anti-war sources (Democratic party Congressional Commission) have the price tag around 1.3 trillion dollars when taking into account care for the wounded soldiers, disability, etc.
There's been a discussion to construct a massive base which rivals the pentagon. We've had McCain even suggest a 100 year commitment, which if elected and congress continues to fund it, at least extends the occupation for at least 8 more years. Do the math.
Another 8 years is at the very LEAST nearly 2 trillion dollars. A 10-20 year plus commitment with troops, bases, and further help for infastructure, etc. surely will sniff 5 trillion dollars. 30 years? Who knows.
The problem with these predictions are obviously based on predicting what level of commitment the United States will have in Iraq for the next 10 years at least, but we do know that there are plenty of polticians on both sides of the aisle and specifically McCain who want to continue handing a blank check with a completely open-ended commitment. :shrug: