Dizzying Dive to Red Ink Poses Stark Choices for Washington

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=68&ncid=716&e=17&u=/nyt/20030913/ts_nyt/dizzyingdivetoredinkposesstarkchoicesforwashington

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 — When President Bush informed the nation last Sunday night that remaining in Iraq next year will cost another $87 billion, many of those who will actually pay that bill were unable to watch. They had already been put to bed by their parents.

Administration officials acknowledged the next day that every dollar of that cost will be borrowed, a loan that economists say will be repaid by the next generation of taxpayers and the generation after that. The $166 billion cost of the work so far in Iraq and Afghanistan (news - web sites), which has stunned many in Washington, will be added to what was already the largest budget deficit the nation has ever known.

With a force that has surprised even critics of the administration, the Iraqi occupation has pushed to the forefront a budget deficit that had previously existed mostly as an abstract red stain on Democratic bar charts. With no extra money available for the foreseeable future, real choices are being illuminated on Capitol Hill — choices between electronic bombs and electrical grids, between low taxes now and lower retirement payments later.

Should Washington reconstruct Iraq's schools and hospitals, lawmakers are asking, or America's? Should it pay for more than 100,000 American troops to stay in Iraq, or for 40 million seniors to be offered prescription drugs through Medicare? And if it tries to do it all, should it keep cutting taxes?

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[karlschneider]

1. I generally trust economists about as much as astrologers, but they do

seem to have been pretty much on target with this debacle. The question is, of course, can we ever really recover from the cesspool this idiotic bunch of Bush-cabal bastards has thrown us into?

I've recently become a lot happier I'm an old phart with no kids...although I can't help feeling for my nieces and nephews.
:grr:

[Porcupine]

2. There can be no "recovery" we can only hope to survive the transition.....

to the post-petroleum age. The energy price shocks and yo-yo economy will only get worse until people develop independant energy networks.

Already we are failing to acknowledge that our money is worth less every day. Americans are getting paid less for more work. Families have to work more hours to keep ahead. When we do get time off we find out that we have no freinds or community networks to support us.

Medical care is increasingly unavailable even to those who work AT THE HOSPITALS!! Don't look at gas or heating fuel prices. That pain is going to start hitting hard this winter.

We are being looted.

[VolcanoJen]

3. Dupe... locking

Please continue discussion by posting in the original, earliest thread on this topic, which can be found here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=112653

Thanks!
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator