Thursday, September 4, 2008

Buy a Bridge to Nowhere for each house or condo in Alaskan Zip Code 99901


For the price of the Iraq War, we could attach a new 'Bridge to Nowhere' to each house and condo in Alaska's zip code 99901.  

The 99901 zip code contains 6,164 houses and condos.  It was supposed to include the infamous Bridge to Nowhere, a $398 million bridge designed to connect Ketchikan, Alaska, with a small island inhabited by only 50 people.  Governor Sarah Palin, pictured above, ended her support of the bridge after it became clear that $169 million in federal funding would not be forthcoming. Fully funding the addition of a new 'Bridge to Nowhere' to each house and condo in 99901 would cost $2.45 trillion, which is less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the cost of the Iraq War.

Photograph from Andrew Halcro.