For the price of the Iraq War, we could make it easier for working Americans to take time off and vote by paying them the median hourly wage for the next 100 election days.
There are 225 million adults in America, 6.1% of whom are unemployed. The median hourly wage in America is $15.10. Assuming an 8 hour workday, paying each working American adult the median hourly wage for the next 100 election days would cost $2.55 trillion, $450 billion less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the total cost of the Iraq War.
