The Cost of War

According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), all of the major U.S. wars, including such events as the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan (but not the invasion of Panama or the Kosovo War) cost a total of $7.2 trillion in inflation adjusted 2008 dollars.

That's a lot of money. 

Those on the left like to point out how much the military costs and how that affects the national debt and the U.S. economy. In fact, it has been a strong undertone during the past six to seven years that George W. Bush was undermining the U.S. economy with two wars that cost millions of dollars every month.

Fair enough.

Just F.Y.I, the total value of the bailouts undertaken by the federal government during our current economic cycle has exceeded the combined cost of every major war the United States has ever engaged in. According to a comparison of war costs calculated by the CRS and the value of the bailouts as calculated by Bloomberg News.  

In fact the cost of the bailouts before the Obama inauguration (totals for bailout funds during the year 2008 only)  exceeded the costs of all the major wars mentioned above. While the numbers have not yet been compiled, it would appear that the cost of bailouts for 2008 and 2009 combined may exceed the cost of all military actions (including minor ones) since before we were officially even a nation.

(Figures do not include cold war spending or the cost of maintaining the military not used in conflict.)