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The Real Price of War: How You Pay for the War on Terror
Calculates and expounds on the costs to individual Americans of the War on Terror
Are Americans in denial about the costs of the War on Terror? In The Real Price of War , Joshua S. Goldstein argues that we need to face up to what the war costs the average American―both in taxes and in changes to our way of life. Goldstein contends that in order to protect the United States from future attacks, we must fight―and win―the War on Terror. Yet even as President Bush campaigns on promises of national security, his administration is cutting taxes and increasing deficit spending, resulting in too little money to eradicate terrorism and a crippling burden of national debt for future generations to pay.
The Real Price of War breaks down billion-dollar government expenditures into the prices individual Americans are paying through their taxes. Goldstein estimates that the average American household currently pays $500 each month to finance war. Beyond the dollars and cents that finance military operations and increased security within the U.S., the War on Terror also costs America in less tangible ways, including lost lives, reduced revenue from international travelers, and budget pressures on local governments. The longer the war continues, the greater these costs. In order to win the war faster, Goldstein argues for an increase in war funding, at a cost of about $100 per household per month, to better fund military spending, homeland security, and foreign aid and diplomacy.
Americans have been told that the War on Terror is a war without sacrifice. But as Goldstein emphatically “These truths should be The nation is at war. The war is expensive. Someone has to pay for it.”
Are Americans in denial about the costs of the War on Terror? In The Real Price of War , Joshua S. Goldstein argues that we need to face up to what the war costs the average American―both in taxes and in changes to our way of life. Goldstein contends that in order to protect the United States from future attacks, we must fight―and win―the War on Terror. Yet even as President Bush campaigns on promises of national security, his administration is cutting taxes and increasing deficit spending, resulting in too little money to eradicate terrorism and a crippling burden of national debt for future generations to pay.
The Real Price of War breaks down billion-dollar government expenditures into the prices individual Americans are paying through their taxes. Goldstein estimates that the average American household currently pays $500 each month to finance war. Beyond the dollars and cents that finance military operations and increased security within the U.S., the War on Terror also costs America in less tangible ways, including lost lives, reduced revenue from international travelers, and budget pressures on local governments. The longer the war continues, the greater these costs. In order to win the war faster, Goldstein argues for an increase in war funding, at a cost of about $100 per household per month, to better fund military spending, homeland security, and foreign aid and diplomacy.
Americans have been told that the War on Terror is a war without sacrifice. But as Goldstein emphatically “These truths should be The nation is at war. The war is expensive. Someone has to pay for it.”
232 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2005
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About the author
Joshua S. Goldstein
28 books31 followersJoshua S. Goldstein is an International Relations professor who writes about the big issues facing humanity. He is the author of six books about war, peace, diplomacy, and economic history, and a bestselling college textbook, International Relations. Among other awards, his book War and Gender (2001) won the International Studies Association's "Book of the Decade Award" in 2010. Goldstein has a B.A. from Stanford and a Ph.D. from M.I.T. He is professor emeritus at American University in Washington, DC, and research scholar at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he lives.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 30, 2019
The economic costs in detail and personalized
Joshua Goldstein is a political scientist with a special interest in war and international relationships. In this modest volume he itemizes the economic costs of war in general and historically and shows specifically how much the average household in America is paying for the war on terror. (That would be $600 a month according to a "bill" he presents to "The Smith Household" on page 16.)
His position is nonpartisan and his tone is measured, factual and amazingly calm. It's apparent that he didn't think the war in Iraq was necessary, and it is clear that he thinks the Bush tax cuts put too much of the financial burden for the war on terror onto the shoulders of Americans of modest means. He shows that historically the rich have paid a larger portion of the cost of war than they are paying for the current war. This would only seem right since they have more to lose financially speaking. He also thinks we ought to pay for the war as the expenses arise and not put off the cost by borrowing or through deficient spending as the Bush administration has done. That way just increases the total cost of the war because we have to pay interest on the money borrowed.
Regardless of how the war is financed Goldstein shows that there will be an additional cost in terms of inflation. He sees inflation as one of the "hidden" costs of war, and relates a "History of War-Induced Inflation" on pages 76-81, and then asks, "Will the War on Terror Trigger Inflation?" His answer is most likely. However, it will not be as bad as the inflation that began during and following the Civil War, World Wars I & II, and the Vietnam War, mainly because the cost of the war on terror is nowhere near as great in terms of total GDP. As an example of the kind of inflation we have experienced in the past, Goldstein points out that the dollar was worth $18.19 in today's terms in 1915 before WW I began and worth only $9.18 in 1920, two years after the war was over. ( p. 79)
Goldstein believes "Americans are in denial about the substantial war costs we face." (p. 161) He would like to see us get over the denial and to urge our government to spend more money on the war on terror so that it might be won more quickly and in the long run cost us less. To this end he recommends increasing expenditures so that the average household would pay another $100 a month so that the "bill" would be $600 a month. (p. 196) Goldstein believes there is no such thing as "a war without sacrifice" and wants the Bush administration to be more open about that fact and to become more Churchhillian (if you will) in asking the America people to make the necessary sacrifices. Obviously, by detailing the costs of the war on terror and making that cost personal with his "bill" to the average American household, Goldstein is attempting to do this himself. I think it's a good idea; however, if the average American household had to write a check for $600 a month to the government rather than having that money just disappear from their living standard (either today or down the road) I think Mr. and Mrs. Average American would balk. One wonders if that is not Goldstein's veiled point, although his expression would seem to deny that.
Of course the real "real" cost of war goes much deeper than the economic. The lives lost, the injured and maimed, the waste of human effort and the displacement of energies from something productive and life-affirming are most significant. Goldstein is not to be faulted for leaving these out since such matters are not part of his thesis, and that is fine since every book should have an end as well as a beginning. However, I cannot read about the subject of war without thinking about its "real" significance in human affairs beyond not only the economic and the personal costs, but the species-wide costs as well. And I would ask not just "what price war?" but what can we do about it? As an instrument of the tribal structure, has war insured that those tribes that committed themselves to its unrestricted use are the ones that have survived (and are "us") or is it the case that those tribes that survived are guaranteed to eventually go the way of the swordsman?
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
Joshua Goldstein is a political scientist with a special interest in war and international relationships. In this modest volume he itemizes the economic costs of war in general and historically and shows specifically how much the average household in America is paying for the war on terror. (That would be $600 a month according to a "bill" he presents to "The Smith Household" on page 16.)
His position is nonpartisan and his tone is measured, factual and amazingly calm. It's apparent that he didn't think the war in Iraq was necessary, and it is clear that he thinks the Bush tax cuts put too much of the financial burden for the war on terror onto the shoulders of Americans of modest means. He shows that historically the rich have paid a larger portion of the cost of war than they are paying for the current war. This would only seem right since they have more to lose financially speaking. He also thinks we ought to pay for the war as the expenses arise and not put off the cost by borrowing or through deficient spending as the Bush administration has done. That way just increases the total cost of the war because we have to pay interest on the money borrowed.
Regardless of how the war is financed Goldstein shows that there will be an additional cost in terms of inflation. He sees inflation as one of the "hidden" costs of war, and relates a "History of War-Induced Inflation" on pages 76-81, and then asks, "Will the War on Terror Trigger Inflation?" His answer is most likely. However, it will not be as bad as the inflation that began during and following the Civil War, World Wars I & II, and the Vietnam War, mainly because the cost of the war on terror is nowhere near as great in terms of total GDP. As an example of the kind of inflation we have experienced in the past, Goldstein points out that the dollar was worth $18.19 in today's terms in 1915 before WW I began and worth only $9.18 in 1920, two years after the war was over. ( p. 79)
Goldstein believes "Americans are in denial about the substantial war costs we face." (p. 161) He would like to see us get over the denial and to urge our government to spend more money on the war on terror so that it might be won more quickly and in the long run cost us less. To this end he recommends increasing expenditures so that the average household would pay another $100 a month so that the "bill" would be $600 a month. (p. 196) Goldstein believes there is no such thing as "a war without sacrifice" and wants the Bush administration to be more open about that fact and to become more Churchhillian (if you will) in asking the America people to make the necessary sacrifices. Obviously, by detailing the costs of the war on terror and making that cost personal with his "bill" to the average American household, Goldstein is attempting to do this himself. I think it's a good idea; however, if the average American household had to write a check for $600 a month to the government rather than having that money just disappear from their living standard (either today or down the road) I think Mr. and Mrs. Average American would balk. One wonders if that is not Goldstein's veiled point, although his expression would seem to deny that.
Of course the real "real" cost of war goes much deeper than the economic. The lives lost, the injured and maimed, the waste of human effort and the displacement of energies from something productive and life-affirming are most significant. Goldstein is not to be faulted for leaving these out since such matters are not part of his thesis, and that is fine since every book should have an end as well as a beginning. However, I cannot read about the subject of war without thinking about its "real" significance in human affairs beyond not only the economic and the personal costs, but the species-wide costs as well. And I would ask not just "what price war?" but what can we do about it? As an instrument of the tribal structure, has war insured that those tribes that committed themselves to its unrestricted use are the ones that have survived (and are "us") or is it the case that those tribes that survived are guaranteed to eventually go the way of the swordsman?
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
March 5, 2021
Informative and compelling in his argument, Goldstein presents an attention-grabbing view on how America needs to put investing in the war effort on terror at the forefront of agendas. Presents many quotes and facts about critiques of the Bush administrations priorities. Worth a read into the geopolitical and financial realm of the world, as well as the U.S.
4.7/5
4.7/5
October 9, 2017
costs of war as cost of personnel and eqpt., people heavy cost.
Also lost opportunity, cost to business. etc.
Also lost opportunity, cost to business. etc.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews