I'm a bit behind in my reading of The Economist, once again, but I was just reading this article:
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6787433
I was concerned by this comment in particular:
Why is the Bilmes/Stiglitz estimate so high? Partly because they attribute a number of economic ills—oil prices, interest costs and foregone government projects—to the war in Iraq. These seem questionable claims. Oil prices are indeed much higher now than in early 2003, but the war's impact on global oil supplies has been relatively small; a surging world economy has driven up demand. Including the interest payments on America's Iraq spending is also strange. Alan Krueger, a Princeton University economist writing in the New York Times, has likened this to counting interest payments on a home mortgage as part of the purchase price. As for government projects, that estimate hinges largely on the perennial debate over whether more public investment would yield net benefits for the economy.
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