Cost of war?

I just put a counter in my sidebar. It displays a running total of the cost of the war in Iraq. If you click the link, you'll find a list of alternative ways we could have spent the money and how much of each we could have financed. It's absolutely disheartening. Even sadder, this is only the counter for ONE war. This doesn't include money spent on Afghanistan or any other military action, overt or covert.

I can't even say it's mind boggling because I can't really imagine that much money. But I'm constantly reminded that it's got to come from somewhere. As does all the other money needed to run a government. So it looks like everything except war debt payments is going to be down the shitter for the next 100 years. If I wasn't already cynical and depressed about our government, I am now...