The Bush-Cheney war in dollars

George W. Bush's first economic adviser, Lawrence B. Lindsey, predicted the Iraq war could cost as much as $200 billion. Bush fired him.

Right now the war is costing $411 million per day, which comes to almost $5,000 per second.

If one looks at future costs that are being incurred right now, they come to about $25 billion a month.

Nobel Prize economist Joseph Stiglitz says the eventual cost of the war will be about $3-4 trillion. (China and other countries will hold 40% of this increased debt.)

Just imagine the great things that could be done with this kind of money. Here are a couple of examples to get you started: The money spent each day could enroll 58,000 more kids in Head Start. It could give college Pell Grants to 153,000 students.

And oh yes, presidential candidate John McCain says the US military could stay in Iraq for "maybe a hundred years" and that "would be fine with me."

Please go retire someplace, Senator.

(Sources: BBC and CNN)