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If the Bush administration succeeds in its latest request for funding for the war in Iraq, the total cost would rise to $611.5 billion, according to the National Priorities Project, a nonprofit research group.

The amount got us wondering: What would $611 billion buy?

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Originally posted by oldgoat:
They shine brightly at both Halliburton and Blackwater.

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Geez, I think I still have a half trillion dollars kicking around.

[ 12 November 2007: Message edited by: West Coast Greeny ]

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A real war on poverty
According to World Bank estimates, $54 billion a year would eliminate starvation and malnutrition globally by 2015, while $30 billion would provide a year of primary education for every child on earth.

At the upper range of those estimates, the $611 billion cost of the war could have fed and educated the world's poor for seven years.
(AP Photo)

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By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer 1 hour, 37 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The economic costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated to total $1.6 trillion — roughly double the amount the White House has requested thus far, according to a new report by Democrats on Congress' Joint Economic Committee.

The report, released Tuesday, attempted to put a price tag on the two conflicts, including "hidden" costs such as interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars, lost investment, the expense of long-term health care for injured veterans and the cost of oil market disruptions.

The $1.6 trillion figure, for the period from 2002 to 2008, translates into a cost of $20,900 for a family of four, the report said. The Bush administration has requested $804 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined, the report stated...."

This does not include the cost to the fabric of society of having large numbers of emotionally maimed, and desensitized trained killers returned home.

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What would $611 billion buy?

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Democrats in the U.S. Congress released a report on Nov. 13 estimating the real cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars at $1.6 trillion US through 2008.

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Originally posted by jester:

Half of PetroChina

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Originally posted by The Wizard of Socialism:
$611,500,000,000.00 just might be enough money to get a single so-called green elected to parliament in our lifetime. Scary..

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For this retaliatory insult, I would like to thank my Australian friend, who shall remain unnamed, for showing me the "bloody offensive Aussie insult" application, from which I have borrowed this insult from.

Ahem.

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Originally posted by 500_Apples:
You could colonize mars for that kind of money.

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Originally posted by West Coast Greeny:

For this retaliatory insult, I would like to thank my Australian friend, who shall remain unnamed, for showing me the "bloody offensive Aussie insult" application, from which I have borrowed this insult from.

Ahem.

Wizard of Socialism, you are a a chundering boofhead with a face like a half-sucked mango.

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Originally posted by Noops:

...with a guaranteed democracy.

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