$3 TRILLION

[proud2BlibKansan]

$3 trillion. That is what Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz estimates the war will cost our country. It's crippling our economy and causing our Iraq recession.

To put this colossal amount of cash into perspective, we've partnered with Robert Greenwald and our friends at Brave New Films to bring you a game to help people really understand what $3 trillion dollars can buy. Get ready to go on a 3 Trillion Dollar Shopping Spree!

http://www.3trillion.org/

When the war was already hurting our economy two years ago, President Bush announced that Americans should go shopping-a brilliant plan to remedy our ailing economy. So follow the President's advice in this virtual shopping bonanza and rack up a $3 trillion tab like he has in real life. All you have to do is stroll down through our online store, add items to your cart for yourself or friends, and check out. It's just that easy!

Whether you buy serious gifts like health care for all Americans or frivolous ones like building the world's tallest building, I hope you'll begin to see just how far $3 trillion could go and help others understand the cost of this war.

This "game" is designed to build further awareness, and we need your help to make that happen. Please buy gifts for your all your friends and loved ones, and send them e-mails to let them know you've found better ways to spend our nation's money than the President. We need to help Americans understand the war's economic toll.

So do the "patriotic" thing. Start shopping right now:
http://www.3trillion.org/

[countingbluecars]

1. That helps put

things in perspective and makes that enormous $3 trillion dollar figure somewhat easier to grasp.

Having just finished our taxes, I'm particularly pissed about where my money is going. George Bush and this war have ruined our country. I hope we can recover.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. I honestly don't know if we can recover

The important thing is to make sure the Republicans are sent packing in November.

[chimper]

3. Don't think it will make any difference.

Amerika is bankrupt.

It's over.

[Journeyman]

4. How soon do we have to leave to keep the cost so low? . . .

What arbitrary withdrawal date did Stiglitz use to compute a possible of cost of $3 trillion? Such a large number, it could seem a "bargain" in retrospect if this catastroph#@k carries on into a seventh or greater year. . .

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. So far it has cost $720 million a day

Do the math.

[Journeyman]

6. A tally of daily costs so far wouldn't come close to $3 trillion. . .

Stiglitz arrives at his figure by calculating, in addition to the ongoing costs so far, the projected costs for all veterans benefits in the decades to come. So to keep this catastroph#@k at the relatively low number of $3 trillion, we'll need to pull out very soon, or the $3 trillion will quickly escalate to $4 and beyond.

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/29/exclusive_the_three_trillion_dollar_war

Stiglitz own estimate has risen only recently to $3 trillion. In January 2006 he pegged the cost as "likely to be between $1 trillion and $2 trillion." So you see, these figures are all exceptionally arbitrary, given the secrecy and dual-books BushCo has hidden the true costs behind. Stiglitz only hopes to shed light on a murky crime; he doesn't claim to hold either hard or fast answers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/jan/07/usa.iraq