Stiglitz: Even if Bush could be forgiven for taking America & the world to war on false pretenses...

[kpete]

The True Cost of 9/11
Trillions and trillions wasted on wars, a fiscal catastrophe, a weaker America.

By Joseph E. Stiglitz
Posted Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011, at 4:51 PM ET

.............

Even if Bush could be forgiven for taking America, and much of the rest of the world, to war on false pretenses, and for misrepresenting the cost of the venture, there is no excuse for how he chose to finance it. His was the first war in history paid for entirely on credit. As America went into battle, with deficits already soaring from his 2001 tax cut, Bush decided to plunge ahead with yet another round of tax "relief" for the wealthy.

Today, America is focused on unemployment and the deficit. Both threats to America's future can, in no small measure, be traced to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Increased defense spending, together with the Bush tax cuts, is a key reason why America went from a fiscal surplus of 2 percent of GDP when Bush was elected to its parlous deficit and debt position today. Direct government spending on those wars so far amounts to roughly $2 trillion—$17,000 for every U.S. household—with bills yet to be received increasing this amount by more than 50 percent.

Moreover, as Bilmes and I argued in our book The Three Trillion Dollar War, the wars contributed to America's macroeconomic weaknesses, which exacerbated its deficits and debt burden. Then, as now, disruption in the Middle East led to higher oil prices, forcing Americans to spend money on oil imports that they otherwise could have spent buying goods produced in the U.S. The Federal Reserve hid these weaknesses by engineering a housing bubble that led to a consumption boom. It will take years to overcome the excessive indebtedness and real-estate overhang that resulted.

Ironically, the wars have undermined America's (and the world's) security, again in ways that Osama Bin Laden could not have imagined. An unpopular war would have made military recruitment difficult in any circumstances. But, as Bush tried to deceive America about the wars' costs, he underfunded the troops, refusing even basic expenditures—say, for armored and mine-resistant vehicles needed to protect American lives or for adequate health care for returning veterans.

......

MORE:
http://www.slate.com/id/2302949/

[Dragonfli]

1. With even more wars and the expectation of making Afghanistan a TWO decade war now, Bush's legacy

has been passed on to an unlikely politician, a Democrat.

I had hoped that this warmongering wouldn't continue in light of the harm such policies have caused this country.

MUST the 3 trillion dollar war on oil producing countries continue until it is 5 or 6 trillion or will we, someday, somehow, find leadership that takes us in a different direction than Bush?

Why are both parties so married to the continuation and expansion of the Bush wars? Why!?

[tblue37]

4. Simple answer: the MIC. Because the MIC funds politicians from both

parties, neither party is willing to cut the wars that feed MIC.

[Dragonfli]

5. They really should rename the country from U.S.A. to "The great American Empire" and be done with it

[newspeak]

15. the wars are not for us--

it's for the interest of global corporations. They are using our money to fund their interest, including blatant war profiteering. They will drain us like a leech to get the resources. And when I see the total disruption, I think of the PNAC grand plan-of course, it's not for democracy, it's for allowing corporations to grab the resources and making sure they are not nationalized.

[jwirr]

23. The real question that we should ask is "When military spending is

doing so much damage to our nation by overstretch why do the very people (MIC) not care about our national security when that is what they are supposed to be doing? Why are they not ending these harmful wars to save their own country from economic collapse?".

[Enthusiast]

8. They have future wars planned

of a size and scope we can't even imagine. I firmly believe this. But they know they must first end "entitlements".

[malaise]

2. MUST READ

Rec

[pnorman]

3. TRUE COST!

N/T

[MH1]

6. Stiglitz is one of the best economists on the current scene.

People should pay attention to him.

He's dead on here of course.

[Enthusiast]

7. Stiglitz is my hero.

Too bad the American people can't or won't read this.

[Fumesucker]

9. In other words...

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!11one1!!

[malaise]

11. Every time I see that photo

I wonder who was stupid enough to think that costume was a good idea.
And the fugging war criminal grinning from ear to ear speaks volumes.
:puke:

[sce56]

20. Ignorant Americans think it is great to see the CMD AWOL in a uniform!

Just like he used to go to the Ranch and cut wood just a ACT to look like a real man!

[WCGreen]

10. It was really a war on the middle and lower classes..

they want all the money for themselves, they want it all and they are bound and determined to get it...

that song by Steve Earle, Rich Man's War really spells it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjT6B6IFUU8

[Larry Ogg]

13. It's not your money that they want, it's your mind. n/t

[Overseas]

12. K&R.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. K&R!

[hifiguy]

16. Stiglitz, Roubini, Krugman, Galbraith, Reich.

Right about everything for the last ten years and utterly ignored by the Current Occupant in favor of the likes of Geithner, Summers and Immelt. That is all you need to know about his priorities.

[librechik]

17. try to tell someone from the Right this and their eyes just glaze over

you can see them thinking: how do I blame this on Clinton? dreamily. Meanwhile, nothing gets fixed.

[xiamiam]

19. and obama has neither ended the wars or decreased military spending

and this little fact is the elephant in the room..why we are broke and who is benefitting..and when will it ever end?

[slay]

18. K&R

great article

[Bandit]

21. in ways that Osama Bin Laden could not have imagined.

Bin Laden said many times, it was his desire to use economic terrorism and drive America into bankrupcy or at least hamstring it to a point it could not do anything of consequence against Al qaeda and the Mid-east.. All his wishes have come true beyond what he could have hoped for..

[jwirr]

24. Absolutely and the ironic thing is we taught him how when we used

him in the last war against the USSR. Wonder if that was also part of the plan?

[blkmusclmachine]

22. You can include Obama in this:

It's Obama's $h!t stain now, too.

No matter how much things seem to "change" on the surface, underneath it all it stays exactly the same.

[savannah43]

25. Don't you have to be sorry before you're forgiven?

And, he certainly didn't underfund the private contractors like Halliburton and Blackwater/Xe, did he?

[dogmoma56]

26. i'd say send him to the Hague for crimes against humanity, but they don't have the death penalty so

send him to Texas..with an all black jury, they know what to do with murderers..