Why hasn't the "war" in Iraq bankrupted the U.S.A.?

Question

I don't get it. Thousands of Americans are sent over there with fancy armour, expensive weapons, tanks, helicopters, fighter jets, etc. etc. etc. All of that stuff is very expensive, let alone the daily upkeep of just having people there (food, shelter, etc.).

How is it affordable?

Answer 1

The US is an extremely wealthy country. Also, it is just wealth changing hands. The US prints new money by selling treasury bills, mostly to foreign countries.

Answer 2

...China  :(

Answer 3

the US is $9 trillion in the red. Chinese are so generous that they lend you money you spent buying their goods you couldn't afford.

Answer 4

  We are very rich.  We have a much larger debt than the cost of the war per year.  You may have noticed that our economy is not so hot right now, partly due to debt.

Answer 5

chinese credit card you know the lack of fiscal conservativism that this administration has wrought...

Answer 6

Because we always win in the end.  

Answer 7

because 85% of the war money goes right back into the economy.... Someone has to make all that stuff and they do get paid for it.

Answer 8

It isn't.  We are paying for it with a Mastercard issued by the Chinese.

Answer 9

It is not affordable.  The dollar amount will never be made known to the American taxpayer for very good reasons.  Your children as well as grandchildren will be paying down that debt for centuries to come.

Answer 10

As of March 2008, around $501 billion has been spent based on estimates of current expenditure rates[1], which range from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) estimate of $2 billion per week[2] to $12 billion a month, an estimate by economist Joseph Stiglitz.[3]

Those figures are significantly more than typical estimates published just prior to the start of the Iraq War, many of which were based on a shorter term of involvement. For example, in a March 16, 2003 Meet the Press interview of Vice President d**k Cheney, held less than a week before the Iraq War began, host Tim Russert reported that "every analysis said this war itself would cost about $80 billion, recovery of Baghdad, perhaps of Iraq, about $10 billion per year. We should expect as American citizens that this would cost at least $100 billion for a two-year involvement."[4]. Vice President Cheney didn't comment specifically on the estimate quoted by Russert, noting:[4]

According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report published in October 2007, the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost taxpayers a total of $2.4 trillion dollars by 2017 when counting the huge interest costs because combat is being financed with borrowed money. The CBO estimated that of the $2.4 trillion long-term price tag for the war, about $1.9 trillion of that would be spent on Iraq.[5]

Stiglitz, former chief economist of the World Bank and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, has stated the total costs of the Iraq War on the US economy will be three trillion dollars in a moderate scenario, and possibly more in the most recent published study, published in March 2008.[6] Stiglitz has stated: "The figure we arrive at is more than $3 trillion. Our calculations are based on conservative assumptions. They are conceptually simple, even if occasionally technically complicated. A $3 trillion figure for the total cost strikes us as judicious, and probably errs on the low side. Needless to say, this number represents the cost only to the United States. It does not reflect the enormous cost to the rest of the world, or to Iraq."[6]

The CRS estimated in September 2006 that total expenditures had topped half a trillion dollars.[2] Additionally, the extended combat and equipment loss have placed a severe financial strain on the U.S Army, causing the elimination of non-essential expenses such as travel and civilian hiring.[7][8]

As the total passed US$450 billion, the cost for the Iraq war reached approximately $1500 per person in the United States.[9] If the Iraq war were to wind up costing 1.9 trillion dollars, the cost would be over 4.2 times higher ($6,300 per United States citizen.) This would put the expense at $25,000 for an average family of four, or $32,000 per family if Afghanistan is included.

As a comparison, with this money he estimates[9] that one could have built 8 million houses, paid 15 million teachers, paid for the child care of 530 million kids, paid for the scholarship of 43 million students, offered social safety net during 50 year to Americans. Stigltz also said that United States help for Africa is only $5 billion, soon to be superseded by China. $5 billions correspond to only the spending of 10 days for the war by the United States.

Answer 11

Because it costs a lot less than the social programs like social security. Social Security will bankrupt us. The war in Iraq doesn't come close to what Social Security will do to the U.S.

Answer 12

It isn't. The US is billions of dollars in debt.

Answer 13

are u joking look at our ****** economy

Answer 14

Iraq is financed by a  huge budget deficit. We'll be paying this idiocy off for decades, and that's not including all the ripple effect costs of trying to repair and react to the effects of it.

It will likely be an excuse to make our government services more dysfunctional, to cut spending on things that are actually beneficial.

Answer 15

its isn't but the economical benfits off set the cost.......I mean all that fancy equitment creats thousands of jobs not to mention the actul troops employed and other supports jobs the war is actuly keep our economy from going in to free fall.....dispite what the liberals say...

Answer 16

Obtaining peace in the world requires more then blood, sweat and tears, America has been willing to pay the price in dollars too.  In fact dollars are secondary to the blood our soldiers have had to pay with.  Some in America don't get it - fortunately a lot do.  God Bless the Troops!

Answer 17

If you think the cost of war is expensive, imagine the cost to America being bombed and terrorized non stop.

Do you have any idea what 9/11 Cost (not only in thousands of lives)

Answer 18

"How is it affordable?"

It's not:

"As of April 2008, the total U.S. federal debt was approximately $9.5 trillion"  ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stat... )

Answer 19

The democratic economic policy will bankrupt the US

Answer 20

    if all ends well hopefully most of the war will be payed for with Iraqi oil

Answer 21

We are no where close to bankrupt.  Because the USA is filthy rich with a annual budget of 5 trillion a year GNP,   so its nothing for the USA to spend a few billion on helping keep stability in the middle east. Do you have any ideal the h**l it would be in this world if we were not in Iraq?  Iran and Syria backed by Russia would jump in and take over the moment we left Iraq.  

USA defense contractors have received billions from other countries in defense contracts. The largest amount in history of the world is being spent by other countries for defense weapons right now. All this money comes back to USA in some way or another. Besides someone has to help these poor people survive Saddam's destruction.