The Cost Of War - 7 facts

http://www.alternet.org/economy/7-astounding-facts-about-insane-cost-war?akid=12124.294211.7t-Y5k&rd=1&src=newsletter1015426&t=3

2. Second most expensive war ever fought: post-9/11 “war on terror.”
They told us invading Iraq would be short and cheap. That’s not exactly what happened. The U.S. has poured more money (including the ongoing cost of medical treatment) into the controversial “war on terror” than any other conflict except WWII. By some estimates, the price tag has already reached $4 trillion and may eventually outstrip the cost of the second World War, particularly in the wake of the recent Iraq political crisis and U.S. airstrikes against militants in Iraq.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, author of The Three Trillion Dollar War, has commented that the war has already had a negative effect on the U.S. economy, making it harder to respond to the downturn and invest in things like vital social services, infrastructure and education. If Republicans boost their numbers in Washington this year, you can bet on budgets set to increase military spending and shred the social safety net, actions that will further destabilize the economy.