Peter,
It's so much easier to lob some half truths at world and missles & bombs at Iraq than it would be to attend to the economy. And the only "cure" he has ever really proposed is more tax cuts for wealthy people. Thereby, he says, "they" can invest their money in new capacity and new jobs. New capacity? We're mothballing plants now because we have way too much capacity, as any investor in this sector knows only too well. We don't need more capacity and we don't for people who already have too much money to know what to do with so they just build bigger and more expensives mansions with more toys in them to have still more money to drive the cost of mansions and second and third homes even more. We need to have stronger middle classes. Not just in this country, but worldwide. That is what would drive demand. If demand increased, plenty of money will be found to build more factories, if that is what is needed.
That $100b tab is only a down payment. Are we going to bomb them and then leave? It will cost billions and billions more to rebuild. And this won't be another relatively simple job like Germany/Japan/Korea. Way too many enemies nearby, way too may factions that hate each other. The country was stupidly made in the '20s, as were many of the creations of imperialism. There was no thought given the inhabitants of the land that was stuck together. Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Jordan (not to mention the smaller principates in the area) could all face destabilizing forces.
But the guy is determined. Recall he said tax cut to every circumstance in his first year. It didn't matter what ailed the economy, his tax cut was the solution. Bombing Iraq is the same.
Sam |
