The Cost of Peace
How much are you willing to pay to mitigate violence in Iraq? Resolve local conflicts in Afghanistan? Support peaceful referendum elections in Sudan? Bring rule of law to Haiti?
How about 18 cents? A year.
A budget of $42 million sounds huge, but let’s break it down:
- USIP's FY11 budget will cost the American public less than $0.18 cents per person for the entire year.
- USIP has cost the American public $2.58 per person over the course of 26 years.
- USIP’s budget is less than one-tenth of one percent of the State Department annual budget.
Compare this to:
- 1 aircraft carrier. The construction costs of one aircraft carrier ($40 billion+) would allow USIP to be run for essentially for the next 1,000 years.
- 3 hours of war in Afghanistan
