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Total Cost of USA's Wars Since 2001 Approaches $5 Trillion

posted by martyb on Tuesday October 25 2016, @10:49AM   Printer-friendly
from the aggression-is-expensive dept.

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

The Intercept reports:

The total U.S. budgetary cost of war since 2001 is $4.79 trillion, according to a report [PDF] [...] from Brown University's Watson Institute. That's the highest estimate yet.

Neta Crawford of Boston University, the author of the report, included interest on borrowing, future veterans needs, and the cost of homeland security in her calculations.

The amount of $4.79 trillion, "so large as to be almost incomprehensible", she writes, adds up like this:

  • The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and other overseas operations already cost $1.7 trillion between 2001 and August 2016 with $103 billion more requested for 2017
  • Homeland Security terrorism prevention costs from 2001 to 2016 were $548 billion.
  • The estimated DOD base budget was $733 billion and veterans spending was $213 billion.
  • Interest incurred on borrowing for wars was $453 billion.
  • Estimated future costs for veterans' medical needs until the year 2053 is $1 trillion.
  • And the amounts the DOD, State Department, and Homeland Security have requested for 2017 ($103 billion).

Crawford carried out a similar study[PDF] in June 2014 that estimated the cost of war at $4.4 trillion.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 1, Troll) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 26 2016, @09:47PM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday October 26 2016, @09:47PM (#419169) Homepage Journal

    No, that would be low WIS. RTFPHB.

    And inappropriate remarks have done extremely well by me my entire life. Two keys to pulling them off properly: Be funny an don't give a shit if you butthurt the twats with no sense of humor. The latter? Yeah, that's you. You can tell by how utterly flat your attempts at humor fall.

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  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday October 27 2016, @03:47AM

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday October 27 2016, @03:47AM (#419269) Journal

    You're the gift that keeps on, givin', Uzzard :) Cthulhu bless you.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...