Portside

Political leaders don’t consult economists before they start wars. If they did, we’d have world peace. Just one day in, oil futures hovered near $100 a barrel - higher than they’d been since 2014, and it’s predicted they’ll rise to $125 or $150.

In just 20 years, the total cost of the US increasing homeland security and waging wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere since Sept. 11, 2001, have exceeded $8 trillion, according to new estimates by the Costs of War project at Brown University.