My mom used to compare the price of everything to the number of pizzas it could buy. A CD? One pizza. A pair of Guess? jeans? Four pizzas. A Sony Walkman? Ten pizzas. You get the idea.

Mother Jones magazine did a similar calculation for the war in Iraq:

  • Amount needed for basic security upgrades for subway and commuter trains in large cities: $6 BILLION
    (Iraq spending equivalent: 20 days)
  • Bush budget allocation for train security: $100 MILLION
    (Iraq equivalent: 8 hours)
  • Amount needed to equip all U.S. airports with machines that screen baggage for explosives: $3 BILLION
    (Iraq equivalent: 10 days)
  • Bush budget allocation for baggage-screening machines: $400 MILLION
    (Iraq equivalent: 32 hours)
  • Amount needed to buy radiation portals for U.S. ports to detect dirty bombs in cargo: $290 MILLION
    (Iraq equivalent: 23 hours)
  • Amount needed to help local firefighters preparefor terrorist attacks: $36.8 BILLION
    (Iraq equivalent: 122 days)
  • Amount needed to get local emergency medical crews ready for terrorist atttacks: $1.4 BILLION
    (Iraq equivalent: 5 days)
  • Bush budget allocation for emergency medical training grants prior to eliminating program altogether: $50 MILLION
    (Iraq equivalent: 4 hours)

You can buy a lot of pizza for this amount of money.
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