In 2003, Bush launched the Iraq War with a $79 billion "emergency" spending bill. Congress didn't raise taxes to pay for it. They didn't sell war bonds like FDR did in WWII. Instead, they just borrowed the money — knowing full well the Fed would monetize most of that debt by printing new dollars. And that's exactly what happened. The Fed's balance sheet exploded from $700 billion in 2002 to over $2 trillion by 2008. Meanwhile, ordinary Americans watched gas prices double and food costs soar. The war's real cost wasn't just the $2.4 trillion price tag — it was the hidden tax of inflation hitting every grocery store and gas pump across the country. Modern monetary theory in action, decades before politicians started calling it that.