| Chart of the Day |
| SEPTEMBER 11, 2026 |
GOVERNMENT & POWER • MILITARY |
|
| Twenty-Five Years After 9/11, the War on Terror Has Cost America $8.7 Trillion. |
| That is roughly $66,000 for every household in the country ... and the bill is not done. |
|
|
|
|
| Five largest categories of U.S. post-9/11 spending and obligations, in trillions of dollars. Afghanistan bar includes Pakistan. Veterans’ care is obligated spending through 2050. |
| Source: Costs of War Project, Watson Institute, Brown University, 2026 |
|
| Twenty-five years ago this morning, four planes changed the country. What most people forget is how big the bill got, and how much of it is still coming due. |
| The Costs of War Project at Brown University has been keeping the running total. Afghanistan and Pakistan, $2.3 trillion. Iraq and Syria, $1.8 trillion in direct spending. Homeland Security, another $1.1 trillion. Interest on the money we borrowed to pay for all of it, roughly a trillion more. |
| But here is what most people get wrong. They picture that spending as a memory. Old wars, dusty file cabinets. Look again at the chart. The single biggest bucket, the amber bar, is not any of the fighting. It is $2.5 trillion in obligated veterans’ care that runs out to the year 2050. That money has not been paid yet. It will be paid, month after month, by taxpayers who were in grade school when the towers fell. |
| And here is the part that really gets me. The meter is still running. The war with Iran that started on February 28 of this year has cost the Pentagon roughly $37 billion through September, by its own estimate. Independent analysts put the real figure north of $100 billion. On top of that, taxpayers have spent $21.7 billion arming Israel and another $10 to $12 billion on operations in Yemen and the wider region since October 2023. Every dollar gets added to a debt that already carries a trillion in interest and counting. |
|
Make every rookie mistake for free
Nobody's first skydive is a solo jump.
Nobody's first surgery is on a live patient.
But for some reason, most beginners think their first options trade has to be with real money — which is exactly why they never place it.
Here's what they don't know:
Every major broker has a full practice mode. Real screens, real prices, fake money.
Inside Your First Trade Playbook, I walk you through a 10-minute "dress rehearsal" — one complete trade, entered and exited, with zero real dollars at risk.
You'll fumble the buttons. You'll feel your heart rate jump at the confirm screen. And you'll get all of it out of your system while mistakes are still free.
The playbook is normally $29.97. Free today.
One evening, and the scary part is behind you.
P.S. The nerves don't go away by reading about trading. They go away by pressing the buttons. There's a way to do that for free — it's in the playbook.
| THE TAKEAWAY |
| “Twenty-five years after 9/11, the War on Terror has cost roughly $66,000 per American household. And the single biggest piece of the bill, veterans’ care, has not been paid yet.” |
|
| Today is a day to remember the 2,977 people who died on 9/11 and the first responders who ran toward the smoke. It is also worth remembering what came after, because the math on that has real consequences for anyone holding long-dated Treasuries or thinking about how much room Washington has to fight the next one. Pull up your bond ladder this weekend and ask yourself what a bigger, longer-running defense number does to your interest rate assumptions. Not next month. This weekend. |
| More tomorrow. Stay sharp. |
| — Ray Calloway |
|
