With Iraq opened up, companies from the U.S. could benefit from an expanding market, with natural resources and qualified, cheap labor. The result is, however, that the current security environment is unstable, which means that the U.S. companies are only benefiting in a limited manner from the potential advantages of the market.

As a conclusion and result of the cost-benefit analysis, it seems that the war in Iraq had, in fact, limited or no benefits for the U.S. economy and that the effects of the war on the American economy were mostly negative. These included a negative impact on the federal budget, because of the accelerated spending with the war effort, a potential contribution to the financial crisis and to the increase in oil prices. On the other hand, the opportunity costs, associated to the war in Iraq, were also significant, including reducing funds for Afghanistan and for national projects....
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