Eight Years of War: cheaper than two years of “stimulus.”

Not to use the “for sale” argument, of course. You know: “Why’d you spend so much on that?” “Because it was on sale!” “But it costs so much, and we don’t really need it.” “But it was on sale!”

That argument should never be applied to government spending, ever. Even though it frequently is.

But I digress. The story:

According to CBO numbers in its Budget and Economic Outlook published this month, the cost of Operation Iraqi Freedom was $709 billion for military and related activities, including training of Iraqi forces and diplomatic operations.

The projected cost of the stimulus, which passed in February 2009, and is expected to have a shelf life of two years, was $862 billion

Caveat: as this lib points out, at least part of the war was financed with bonding. So the price tag so far is just that: the price tag so far. We’ll be paying for it for quite some time yet, even if every single soldier comes home next week.

The point, though, is: no matter how you slice it, the war is a far, far smaller factor in today’s deficits than Bush-hating liberals and Democrats would have you believe.

Plus: that will only become more true over time, as the economic “policies” of the last three years continue to fail.

Via Memeorandum.