Cost of Post-9/11 Security: $92 Billion

And the winner of the War on Terror is ... the military industrial complex!

A think-tank has put the cost of the security build-up in Canada that came in response to the 9/11 terror attacks at a staggering $92 billion. The Rideau Institute concludes that compared to pre-9/11 spending, successive governments have forked over an extra $69 billion ($92 billion when adjusted for inflation) for security measures, such as buying new equipment for the Canadian Forces and making it a serious pain in the ass to travel by airplane. The institute says the government has effectively doubled national security expenditures ($34 billion this year) compared to what would have been spent had the attacks never happened (an estimated $17 billion). The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, saw its budget triple over the decade. The report conveniently shows what that $92 billion could have been spent on, such as renewing the transit systems in the country's 10 largest cities or to cover the costs of all prescription drugs. Instead, we spent it on F-35s and airport scanners. Take that, al-Qaeda.