SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry

 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (19610)5/1/2004 2:06:50 PM
From: stockman_scottRead Replies (2) of 81568
 
Bush needs to level with Americans on how he plans to pay for a long, costly Iraq occupation without dragging down the economy
______________________________________

A Deafening Silence on War Costs

yahoo.businessweek.com

<<...CONFLICTING AGENDAS. Richard Nixon also attempted to lowball costs. The price of fiscal irresponsibility during Vietnam was high indeed. Budget deficits soared, inflation took off to double-digit levels, and the economy careened from one crisis to another. The intangible cost of citizens losing confidence in government leaders may have been even greater.

President Bush has compounded the problem faced by all White House occupants during a military conflict by simultaneously running for reelection as the War President and the Tax-Cutting President. The latter stance may have to be abandoned to support the former.

One way for Bush to pay for the war is to discard his campaign pledge to make temporary tax cuts permanent. Alternatively, he could propose a temporary income surtax to help foot the war bill. His father came up with an innovative way to maintain sound fiscal policy during war: America's foreign allies essentially foot the bill for the first Persian Gulf War. But the current Administration is too isolated internationally to even consider replicating that technique.

I realize that asking Bush to change his tax-cutting philosophy is naïve, about as credible as calling for the Pentagon to embrace a national draft. But what I want to know -- and think everyone deserves to know -- is how he plans to maintain troops in the field while embracing sound fiscal policy at home? The silence says it all...>>
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext