One Country Mars Is A Myth
The US can afford Mars alone and it won't be long before India and China Can too at their current growth rates of technical and economic power. The cost is less than the Iraq war over a longer period of time. It could be done in ten years easily if NASA's budget were increased and it wouldn't even have to be doubled to < 50 % of the relative size of the federal budget that Apollo had. It's doable in 20 with little to no increases in NASAs budget depending on what else NASA is doing. Where does this silly urban legend come from?
Regards,
Mark