In the three seconds it takes to read this sentence, more than $3,000 dollars will have been spent on the war in Iraq.

In the five minutes it takes to read this article, the number will have jumped to $300,000.

As the price of the war increases, and casualty numbers rise, two men from the East Coast keep track of it all, and also for what $80 billion could been used.

Niko Matsakis, a computer programmer in Boston, Mass., and Elias Vlanton, a writer from Takoma Park, Md., created the Cost of War Web site, www.costofwar.com, in July that tracks how much money is being spent on the war in Iraq by the second.

“If we really want to do something to fight the big problems in the U.S., it is not war in Iraq,” Matsakis said.

The Web site keeps a total of alternative programs the money could have gone to such as college scholarships, public housing, the Head Start program and health insurance for children.

Joel Oswald, graduate assistant in political science, said the comparison would be great if there was a guarantee the money would have gone to those programs had it not been spent on the war.

In creating the Web site, Matsakis and Vlanton used only figures that were available to the public to avoid controversy.

After President Bush asked for $87 billion from Congress, the Web site received as many as 200,000 hits a day.

“That funding request really opened people’s eyes,” Matsakis said.

Dan Otto, professor in economics, looked at the Web site to see if it was accurate.

Otto said the site was no less accurate than the figures being given by the government.

“The numbers are more accurate than some of the people who try to discredit it think,” Oswald said.

Matsakis said he thinks the government is underestimating the cost of the war. He said he doesn’t know if the amount of money spent on the war is justified.

“It’s a very difficult equation for me to balance,” Matsakis said.

Oswald said the dollar amount would have been far different if there would have been better planning.

“Had we gone in with a clear exit plan, I don’t think the cost would be near where it is,” he said.

If the money were put into projects like alleviating poverty and improving infrastructure in Iraq, the United States would not have to be spending so much on the military, Oswald said.

“Money is not what’s going to change the problem,” he said. “If money could change culture, then the problem would be solved. But it can’t.”