A New Year of Bills

The New Year's honeymoon is over, and it's time to look at the bills. Harvard economist Linda Bilmes and Nobel-totter Stiglitz announce this week that they're going to release a study concluding that the total bill for the Iraq war will be between $1-2 trillion.

Yow! That's a whole lot higher than current estimates figuring between $300-400 billion. And definitely not in line with soft campaign statements to pay-off the debt and reduce spending in general. Bilmes and Stiglitz contribute to their estimates disability and health insurance for veterans, and lost revenues due to the war's negative impact on productivity.

I like this commont by a reader on TPMCafe, where I got the story:

But don't worry, the reconstruction will pay for itself. I mean, we will be greeted as liberators. I mean, protecting the nation from weapons of mass destruction is worth the cost. Um...stay the course!