most of the debt increase over the 2001-2005 period was accumulated as a result of tax cuts and increased national security spending. according to richard kogan and matt fiedler, "the largest costs — $1.2 trillion over six years — resulted from the tax cuts enacted since the start of 2001. increased spending for defense, international affairs, and homeland security – primarily for prosecuting the wars in iraq and afghanistan – also was quite costly, amounting to almost $800 billion to date. together, tax cuts and the spending increases for these security programs account for 84 percent of the increases in debt racked up by congress and the president over this period." lawrence kudlow, however, noted "the u.s. has spent roughly $750 billion for the five-year war. sure, that’s a lot of money. but the total cost works out to 1 percent of the $63 trillion gdp over that time period. it's miniscule [sic]." he also reported that "during the five years of the iraq war. . .household net worth has increased by $20 trillion."