$60B or $3T?

Here's an interesting comment by Joseph Stiglitz pointing out that there is a "bit of a gap" between Bush's estimate of $60 billion for the Iraq war and Stiglitz's estimate of $3 trillion. This reminds me of the famous quote by Everett Dirksen: "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money."

Well, in Iraq, I guess Bush would say "a billion here, a billion there, and gosh, you might find yourself spending $3 trillion!"

Here's the Stiglitz and Bilmes comment:

President Bush has tried to give the impression that the $3 trillion dollar estimate of the total cost of the war that we provide in our new book may be exaggerated.

We believe that it is, in fact, conservative. Even the president would have to admit that the $50 to $60 billion estimate given by the administration before the war was wildly off the mark; there is little reason to have confidence in their arithmetic. They admit to a cost so far of $600 billion.