The war on Iraq has been incredibly expensive both economically and psychologically. The trillion dollars estimated to have been committed to date amounts to about $3,300 per every man, woman and child in America. It has exacerbated America's federal budget deficit and caused cuts in funding of veteran benefits and medical expenses for the first responders to 9-11 among other things. It has caused greater distrust of the American government at any time since the 1960's and the Vietnam War. The long term effects on America are likely to be at least as great as that defeat has been on our collective consciousness and on our reputation overseas.

The War in Iraq has caused America's leaders to take their eyes off of trends at home. A major problem is that politicians have adjusted the definitions of economic data so much that they no longer accurately reflect the reality for most Americans. A prime example is the unemployment rate which does not even attempt to account for the chronically unemployed or the underemployed, because it solely counts recipients of unemployment benefits. For some arcane reason, if you have become homeless or otherwise lost to the government minions, you don't count. Additionally, the effects of Hurricane Katrina and the economic depression in Michigan and elsewhere in the midwest is "normalized", because those are considered to be special situations which don't warrant being taken into account. To considered observers, it is simply "cooking the books".

The sub-prime mortgage crisis is but one symptom of the corrupt system that hides what people don't like to be reminded about. With funding having been diverted to the so-called War on Terror and the occupation and subjugation of Iraq, government attention and money has been unavailable for helping Americans cope with a changing economy. The "hollowing out" of the American economy has caused millions of high paying jobs to be exported overseas to save in corporate expenses at the cost of lowered US employment by major corporations. They have been replaced by lower paying menial jobs, such as in fast food and small businesses. For millions of American families that has resulted in a lowered standard of living, loss of health care benefits and lowered economic opportunities.

Concurrent with the "hollowing out" has been a deterioration in the emotional health of millions of Americans. Adjusting to lowered expectations has profound impacts on the workers and their families.

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