Joe Shaw, Crooked Timber, and the rest of the political world are noting that the grossly, outrageously expensive Big Dig cost about as much as two months of the Iraq war. Some people will say this is a sign that the Iraq war is the real waste of money here, but let’s look at the efficiency.
The Big Dig, as Wikipedia tells me, began planning in ’82, broke ground in ’91 and ended this week with only one civilian and a couple contractors dead. And it took sixteen years of construction to do that! In contrast, the Iraq war kills that many people before breakfast every day. So if you look at it my way, even though its total cost is now eighteen times more than the Big Dig (and going strong!) our current war has been a real bargain in the manslaughter department.
“Cheaper By The Dozen Goes To Fallujah,” anyone?
Secretly Ironic 