Cost of the War in Iraq

Put together in “intergenerational cooperation” by Niko Matsakis and Elias Vlanton, this site’s big draw is an ever-climbing total price tag for the U.S. war in Iraq. The running total is based on estimates from the Congressional Budget Office; in early July, it was at $68 billion and increasing at the rate of $100,000 a minute. The site has a convenient comparison mode: The price of our occupation of Iraq could provide a year of Head Start for close to 10 million kids or add 1.3 million teachers to public schools. The site also includes the health-care and housing benefits we could buy with that money, and it has a great links page. But the visually stunning running price tag alone is more than enough to make this site worth visiting.