Quote from Free Thinker:
no but here are the numbers for ww2. us only spent 350 billion back then:
Total cost was upwards of $1.6 trillion - many financial records for 1939 are missing, incomplete, misleading or contradictory.For example, there is no data available at all for China.
Official estimates based on government data:
USA $350 billion
UK $150 billion
France $100 billion
USSR $200 billion
Germany $300 billion
Italy $50 billion
Japan $100 billion
All other participants - $350 billion
$350,000,000,000.00
SOUNDS LIKE WE GOT A BARGAIN!
So lets adjust for REAL inflation and we'll see;
In 1939 Gasoline was $0.10 a gallon, today's national average is $3.77. A multiplier of 37.7. In 1939 the average home costs $3,800.00, today it is $172,600.00. A multiplier of 45.4 (in a depressed market)
In 1939 Gold was $35.00 an ounce, today it is $1,745.00. A multiplier of 49.8.
I could also point out that in 1939 a complete graduate course (for a Ph.D.) was $345.00 at PENN STATE. Or, a complete meal at the Waldorf Astoria was $2.00 and a penthouse suite was $10.00 a night. Wanna talk health care?
NAW, let's just use the first three examples, (otherwise our current wars will look like they were purchased at a 99 Cent Store).
The average multiplier for the three is 44.3.
Therefore, 350 Billion Dollars x 44.3 = $15,505,000,000,000 (Fifteen & a Half Trillion Dollars).
That is very near our current debt and Much, Much less than we have spent so far on our current wars as well as our "not wars".
So I guess 350 billion wasn't such a great bargain after all.
Except! Back in 1939 we sent our children to war with the intention of WINNING.