John,
Re: This war has cost us tens of billions and like Viet Nam before it, the US economy is going to take a dump as a result. Most economists believe that the inflationary slump of the late 1970's was a direct result of the end of the Viet Nam war.
Actually, economically speaking, this Kosovo war is a godsend! Europe was badly whirlpooling into a recession.... That's why the euro kept falling to the greenback. But now, according to the Keynesian Gospel, the rebuilding of the Balkans will just galvanize corporate Europe! The BERD (ie European Bank for Reconstruction and Devlpt.) together with consortia of private/commercial banks will finance the revamping of the region through state/EU-guaranteed loans/bonds. And since corporate Europe excels in civil engineering (Bouygues, Asea Brown Boveri,...), public utilities (Vivendi, Suez-Lyonnaise,...), and telecom facilities (BT, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Nokia,...), the rebuilding of the Balkans is a perfect fit for Europe's economic champions.
So, John, Vietnam is the wrong reference: think of WWII instead! Most of the post-1945 growth --the so-called Golden Sixties-- stemmed directly from the reconstruction of a devastated Europe. And don't worry: the US will have their slice of the pie also... Bechtel and GE will be allowed to join the party! |
