For the price of the Iraq War, we could give each historical King of Israel the value of everything on the contemporary Israeli stock market.
There are 24 historical kings of Israel: Saul, Ish-Bosheth, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Jeroboam I, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam Il, Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hoshea. (This does not include the kings who only ruled Judah.) The S&P Global Indices currently value all the stocks on the Israeli stock market at a total of $96.9 billion. Giving each of these 24 kings the full value of the Israeli stock market would cost $2.33 trillion, $670 billion less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the total cost of the Iraq War.
Image used under a Creative Commons license from wallyg.
