By GOODMagazine, from Jeff Gates

In 2003 Donald Rumsfeld estimated a war with Iraq would cost $60 billion. Five years later, the cost of Iraq war operations is over 10 times that figure. So what's behind the ballooning dollar signs? Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilme's exhaustedly researched book, "The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict," breaks down the price tag, from current debts to the unseen costs we'll pay for years to come. http://good.is/

"Finance made simple... Why we're broke... 3 trillion dollars down the drain. For a country that's so focused on business, we're not very good at basic arithmetic. The US crowed about bankrupting the Soviet Union by engaging them in an arms race the USSR couldn't afford. Just twenty years later, we're bankrupting ourselves in a bogus "War on Terrorism.". And the band plays on. Three trillion is real money." -- Jeff Gates