The three trillion dollar war : the true cost of the Iraq Conflict / Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Is it really three trillion? -- The costs to the nation's budget -- The true cost of caring for our veterans -- Costs of the war that the government doesn't pay -- The macroeconomic effects of the war -- Global consequences -- Exiting Iraq -- Learning from our mistakes : reforms for the future.

Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda J. Bilmes cast a spotlight on expense items that have been hidden from the U.S. taxpayer, including not only big-ticket items like replacing military equipment (being used up at six times the peacetime rate) but also the cost of caring for thousands of wounded veterans--for the rest of their lives. Shifting to a global focus, the authors investigate the cost in lives and economic damage within Iraq and the region. Finally, with the chilling precision of an actuary, the authors measure what the U.S. taxpayer's money would have produced if instead it had been invested in the further growth of the U.S. economy.--From amazon.com.