I just read somewhere that the Iraq war has cost America $1.7 trillion and counting. What kind of money did WWII cost America? And how does it compare to what we are spending today on the Iraq war?
Inflation makes the cost of World War II seem small, by today's standards. A better way to look at it, is measuring the national debt of the Federal Government. At the start of Fiscal Tear 1940, the national Debt of the Federal Government was $40 billion dollars. At the start of fiscal year 1946, the national debt was $440 billion dollars. So while the $1.7 trillion dollars spent on the war in Iraq is a staggering amount of money, it did not increase the national debt by a factor of 11. It increased the national debt by amount closer to 11 %.
Source: The Oxford Companion to World War II.