We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2007 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:01:18 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2008 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification I keep hearing the figure $10 billion a month being bandied about for the cost of the war, I think just the Iraq portion of it. That's a big number. So, I was curious - how did that compare to the cost per month of WWII? According to the WWII Museum, the cost of the war was $288,000,000,000.00 A nice round number. What I don't know about it is if it includes costs from prior to December 1941, and after August, 1945, when Japan surrendered. I decided I'd just use from Jan 01, 1941 to Dec 31, 1945. That gives... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:58:49 -0600 http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:jntJFM8VIE4J:www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf+Iraq+war+cost&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=14&gl=us&lr=lang_en That says the total on military operations since 9/11 has been $609B, with a request for $195b to be added this year. This is soup to nuts-- troops, medical, base security, humanitarian aid, etc, with an estimated total of 607 going to Iraq. If anyone wants to try to get the math from those numbers....]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70107 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70107 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:25:08 -0600 Snerk. Took me a minute to realize where Trias's head was at. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70102 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70102 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:18:03 -0600 Not this boy sugah. Except the cutie on the right. Too bad about the duck poop and the sad uniform. Where was I? Honesty in accounting? Don't be silly. Not without more info. Not that I would apply or look for it. This is a black hole of maths and supposition if you ask me. Not that you are. eg stage 1 probably is getting an honest and accurate accounting of the cost of both wars. Good luck, the clock starts now. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70095 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70095 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:31:03 -0600 Well, I did admit it was back-of-the-napkin doodling on the fly. But in some respects, quite possibly no worse in accountancy than government accounting of costs (which are probably understated). And d'you have a better method of accounting for constant dollars? http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70092 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70092 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:17:46 -0600 It has a bad foundation and too many weak assumptions. One thing that stuck out to me right away was the low cost in the link to the UK compared to the US. I am very suspicious of it's low value comparison. And where's the supporting data? They might as well have made the number up. Inflation relates to the cost of generally purchased items. Wages, rebuilding and military inflation are not going to have the same numbers. How much would inflation be if the US had not spent on the war? If you include the rebuilding etc the cost per month would be diluted considerably. And I'm not even nitpicking yet. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70091 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70091 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:13:40 -0600 If yer a boy they are. For you, it was the chance to snark me! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70086 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70086 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:03:33 -0600 Wait...hang on a second... Lex and pr0n are rewards for noodling some math??? http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70083 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/idle_doodling_a.html#comment-70083 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:49:02 -0600