We need to get out of Irag; the economics are killing us

The economics are killing us……..

Let’s look at the numbers and try to be realistic.   Let’s not think about the emotions to begin with.  The numbers say that we can never pay for this war.  Oh yes, I know we had to do something after 9/11.  We had to stand up and take a stand and draw a line in the sand.  I am convinced that if President Bush hadn’t attacked Iraq and set up the hunt for Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, we would have figured a way to drum him out of office.  What we now have is a mess, one that is getting worse with every tick of the clock. 

 Many will tell you that one of the reasons for going there is to protect the oil.  Iraq, after all, has the second highest reserve in the world.  (That’s according to the stats I found.  I am sure there may be different numbers.)  The problem is the pipelines are getting attacked on a regular basis.  So, oops, we didn’t stop that.

 The daily cost of keeping us in Iraq is $275 million.  That breaks down to $4,100 per household.  These numbers are staggering.  Who knows how many generations it will take to pay this off.  James Madison is quoted as saying, “Every generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars.”  We’re falling so far behind it’s just plain crazy. 

 It used to be the prevailing feeling that starting a war created growth in the economy.  The idea is if we want more butter on the table, then you give the country a reason to produce more guns.  This is such a prevailing thread of explaining the relationship between the military and capitalism, that there is a Wikipedia page on the subject.  The page is labeled “the guns versus butter model.”  I hunted diligently around the Web trying to come up with some numbers to show that this war has put something back into the economy.  I found no such stats.  I did hear, however, from a fellow Linkedin member that he felt there was an increase in jobs in the Department of Defense area.  He purported, however, that increase would in no way offset the ‘Zillion dollar war,” (the last being his word.)  He also included the Intelligence Community also expanded.  Yes, all we need is a few more secret agents to make our economy better.

 We sent some construction companies to Iraq to help with the rebuilding.  I am sure they have made a good amount.  There are still ads on the Net for jobs in Iraq.  I wonder how much a job should offer you to work in an environment where you may be subject hidden bombs. True, we have to admit these workers sent money home to their families.  The families hopefully did more than pay bills and did a little shopping.  (Shopping is good for the economy.)

 Ok, we were hunting for weapons.  We didn’t find any.  We didn’t find any when we found Saddam.  This should have been the end.

 Others commented to me on Linkedin that we were going there with the idea of doing some training.  I remember hearing about our troops training the local police force as well as helping some their troops fighting the insurgents   There was also talk of training teachers.  I learned not too much happened there.  We supposedly were also to rebuild  K-12 schools.  In other words, we were allegedly trying to rebuild the infrastructure before the war was even over.  My thought on that is: “how is that working…?”

 I am sure if someone could sit down with President Bush and ask him to be honest about the real reason he hasn’t ordered the troops home, it would come down to him hoping that we don’t look bad to the rest of the world for not finishing something we started.  My answer to that, would be, “get over it already.”  There is an economic principle that is called a cost benefit analysis.  It boils down to putting the pros on one side of a page and the cons on the other.  I don’t see anything now that could possible go on the pro side.

 Economically speaking, we have done damage that may never be fixed.    Let’s not sit around so long that we end looking like fools.  I am sure there are still some who remember the Americans in Saigon were forced to get the heck out. 

 We operate this country on an elastic budget.  That means that the citizens are usually willing to hold paper for the U.S. government.  This happens when citizens agree to buy U.S. Treasury bonds.  If this nonsense doesn’t cease, there will be a day that the Fed issues a sell order for T-bills and there are no buyers.  If that was to happen, the only other way for the government to raise funds has never changed: taxation and the seizure of property.  I know we have the Constitution and all of that.  However, if there comes a day where there are no longer funds to run the government just what do you think is going to happen?  The fact that you will probably be dead and buried isn’t relevant.  Is this what you want to leave for your grandchildren to deal with?

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