The true cost of the Iraq War is $3 trillion—and counting—rather than the $50 billion projected by the White House. Apart from its tragic human toll, the Iraq War will be staggeringly expensive in financial terms. This sobering study by Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda J. Bilmes casts a spotlight on expense items that have been hidden from the U.S. taxpayer, including not only big-ticket items like replacing military equipment (being used up at six times the peacetime rate) but also the cost of caring for thousands of wounded veterans—for the rest of their lives. Shifting to a global focus, the authors investigate the cost in lives and economic damage within Iraq and the region. Finally, with the chilling precision of an actuary, the authors measure what the U.S. taxpayer's money would have produced if instead it had been invested in the further growth of the U.S. economy. Written in language as simple as the details are disturbing, this book will forever change the way we think about the war.

The federal government wastes your tax dollars worse than a drunken sailor on shore leave. The 1984 Grace Commission uncovered that the Department of Defense spent $640 for a toilet seat and $436 for a hammer. Twenty years later things weren't much better. In 2004, Congress spent a record-breaking $22.9 billion dollars of your money on 10,656 of their pork-barrel projects. The war on terror has a lot to do with the record $413 billion in deficit spending, but it's also the result of pork over the last 18 years the likes of: - $50 million for an indoor rain forest in Iowa - $102 million to study screwworms which were long ago eradicated from American soil - $273,000 to combat goth culture in Missouri - $2.2 million to renovate the North Pole (Lucky for Santa!) - $50,000 for a tattoo removal program in California - $1 million for ornamental fish research Funny in some instances and jaw-droppingly stupid and wasteful in others, The Pig Book proves one thing about Capitol Hill: pork is king!

ENTIRELY REVISED AND UPDATED! Over 40,000 first edition copies sold. How much does it really cost to renovate your investment property? Learn detailed tips, tricks, and tactics to accurately budget nearly any house flipping project and investment property renovation from expert real estate investor and fix-and-flipper J Scott. Discover the tried-and-tested steps of his professional framework and methodology for precisely evaluating renovation costs in hundreds of his own successful rehab projects. Determine how to accurately estimate all the costs you are likely to face during renovation--and get all of your rehab questions answered in a single place! Whether you are preparing to walk through your very first rehab project or you're an experienced home flipper, this handbook will be your guide to identifying renovation projects, creating a scope of work, and staying on budget to ensure a timely profit! Inside, you will learn how to: -Inspect every aspect of a property to create your renovation scope -Decide which upgrade options provide the biggest bang for your buck -Identify the 150+ most common renovations you'll likely encounter -See big problems (like mold and termites!) and quickly fix them -Assign accurate prices to every rehab task to build a detailed budget -Determine which contractors are best for certain repairs or projects -Break down the top 25 basic components of a renovation -And so much more! You don't need to be a contractor to flip houses, but you do need to know the fundamentals of budgeting and pricing your renovation--including everything from cosmetic renovations to complex installations and upgrades. This book gives you the estimation tools needed to produce the income you desire on your first--or next--investment deal!