Pay every Mexican the minimum wage to stay home for ten years

For the price of the Iraq War, we could've humanely dealt with illegal immigration by paying every Mexican their country's minimum wage to stay in Mexico for ten years.  

The minimum wage in Mexico is 52.59 pesos per day, or $4.11 per day at current exchange rates.  Paying this wage every day of the year for 10 years to the 108 million Mexicans would cost $1.62 trillion, $1.38 trillion 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 nathangibbs.

Give every Alaskan ten times the gifts that Ted Stevens lied about receiving

For the price of the Iraq War, we could give each Alaskan ten times the gifts that Senator Ted Stevens, lied about receiving.  

On October 27, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was found guilty of seven counts of making false statements about $250,000 in gifts that he had received.  While polls currently show him leading his Democratic opponent Mark Begich by 1%, Nate Silver notes that many absentee and early ballots have yet to be counted.  There are 683,478 people in Alaska.  Giving each of them ten times as much as Stevens received would cost $1.71 trillion, $1.29 trillion less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the total cost of the Iraq War.

Buy the world's cinnamon harvest for ten thousand years

For the price of the Iraq War, we could've bought the world's cinnamon harvest for the next ten thousand years.

135,000 metric tons of cinnamon were harvested in 2005.  At 2001 prices, this much cinnamon was valued at $235 million.  Adjusting for inflation into 2008 dollars, buying this much cinnamon for ten thousand years would cost $2.90 trillion, or $100 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 Kiri :D.

Pay every unemployed American a Congressperson's salary

For the price of the Iraq War, we could pay every unemployed American a Congressperson's annual salary.

According to the Department of Labor, 10.1 million Americans were unemployed in October, the highest figure since 1983.  A Congressperson's salary for 2008 is $169,300.  Paying each unemployed American a Congressional salary would cost $1.71 trillion, or $1.29 trillion less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the total cost of the Iraq War.

Protect Alaskan wolves and moose from aerial hunting with 30 surface-to-air missiles each

For the price of the Iraq War, we could protect each moose and wolf in Alaska from returning Governor Sarah Palin and other hunters with 30 surface-to-air missile launchers.  

The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launcher is planned or installed on 100 Navy ships, and costs $444,000.  Each launcher contains up to 21 infrared-guided missiles for shooting down aircraft.   Alaska has up to 11,200 wolves and about 150,000 moose.  In recent years, aerial hunting of wolves has become more popular, and Governor Palin supports the practice. Protecting each animal with its own 30 surface-to-air missiles would cost $2.15 trillion, or $850 billion less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the total cost of the Iraq War.

Give the Georgians who forced Sen. Chambliss into a runoff 300-meter cubes of corn whiskey

Georgia law requires 50% of the total plus one vote for a candidate to win the election outright without a runoff election. According to current totals, Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss has 1,841,454 votes, giving him 49.83% of the total. If 6251 more people had voted for Saxby Chambliss instead of Democrat Jim Martin or Libertarian Dean Buckley, Chambliss would have won. 

Georgia Moon Corn Whiskey costs $12.95 per 750 ml bottle. It would take 36 million bottles to make a 300-meter cube of whiskey. Buying each of the 6251 Georgians who forced Chambliss into a runoff by voting for Martin or Buckley such a cube of whiskey would cost $2.91 trillion, or $90 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 ElCapitan.  

Buy Everyone A 27" TV To Watch Obama's Inaugural Address

For the price of the Iraq War, we could buy everyone on earth a 27" color TV with which to watch President Obama's inaugural address. 

There are 6.7 billion people on Earth. A Sharp 27" color TV costs $330. Buying each person their own TV would cost $2.21 trillion, or $790 billion less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the total cost of the Iraq War.

Give every American the median wage for the next hundred election days

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.

Image used under a Creative Commons license from deritastudio.

Make each swing state vote worth $10,000

For the price of the Iraq War, we could make every vote for the right candidate in a swing state worth $10,000 according to philosopher Derek Parfit's calculations in Reasons and Persons.  

Chapter 3 of Reasons and Persons, "Five Mistakes in Moral Mathematics", contains the section "Ignoring Very Small Chances". In it, Parfit cites academic research suggesting that the likelihood of an individual vote in a swing state deciding a presidential election is 1 in 100 million. Parfit argues that voting is still rational for those who have concern for others, despite the low likelihood of deciding the election. 

If the difference between the policies of the better and worse presidential candidate is $1 trillion when added up across everyone, the 1 in 100 million chance of deciding the election divides out to a value of $10,000 to everyone.  Despite the tiny chance of deciding the election, the tremendous value of a better president makes voting rational for those who care about others.  Making every vote have a value of $1 trillion comes to $2 trillion less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the total cost of the Iraq War.

Buy everyone in Sean Hannity's audience a Swift Boat

For the price of the Iraq War, we could've bought everyone in Sean Hannity's audience their own Swift Boat.  

While the Vietnam-era Fast Patrol Craft are no longer being produced, Small Unit Riverine Craft are the contemporary equivalents of Swift Boats.  Like the Swift Boats of the Vietnam War, they are equipped with armored hulls, radar, and three machine gun mounts, and carry small numbers of soldiers along rivers. The Marine Corps paid around $27 million for 40 of these boats, giving them a unit cost of $675,000.  Right-wing TV host Sean Hannity has 3.5 million viewers. Buying each Hannity viewer his own Swift Boat would cost $2.36 trillion, which is $640 billion less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the total cost of the Iraq War.

Give every Bengal tiger the wealth of Richard Mellon Scaife

For the price of the Iraq War, we could give every Bengal tiger the wealth of right-wing billionare Richard Mellon Scaife.  

Richard Mellon Scaife is an heir to the Mellon family fortune.  His past activities include donating $990,000 to Nixon before modern campaign finance laws, donating $1.8 million to an effort to unearth damaging information about Bill Clinton, and donating $2 million to a right-wing group called "Accuracy in Media" which produced an October 14 article titled "Was a Communist Obama's Sex Teacher?"  Scaife's wealth totals $1.2 billion.  

Bengal tigers are among the largest subspecies within the tiger family.  Their past activities include eating wild boars, eating water buffalos, and eating rhinoceros.  Giving the estimated 1,411 Bengal tigers each $1.2 billion would cost $1.69 trillion, or $1.31 trillion less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the total cost of the Iraq War.

Buy every woman born since the Malleus Malleficarum a cauldron and a broom

For the price of the Iraq War, we could've bought a cauldron and a broom for every woman born since the writing of the Malleus Maleficarum, or "Hammer of the Witches", a 15th century witch-hunting guide.  

Written in 1486, the Malleus Maleficarum argued that witches existed, claimed that women were more likely to commit witchcraft, and advised authorities on how to detect and convict witches. It spread rapidly throughout Europe, leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of people through witch trials.  Even today, some right-wing activists like Catholic League president Bill Donahue profess a belief in witchcraft.  

Extrapolating from calculations by the Population Reference Bureau suggests that 12 billion women have been born since 1486. A 10 quart cast iron cauldron from a witchcraft supply store costs $150, while a broom costs $5.  Buying these items for every woman born since 1486 would cost $1.86 billion, or $1.14 billion less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the total cost of the Iraq War.