Once upon a time the republican running for president came up with the term "voodoo economics".It was a vague term that was not fully understood until his son became president and the economy collapsed.
The Bush II belief was that holy wars started by the High Priest In Chief were cost free.
They were not made part of budget numbers so that the Bush II regime could play deceit games with the public, telling them all is well with the economy.
If fact, their presidential candidate running to replace Bush II, McCain, infamously said "the economy is fundamentally sound" up until the time it crashed around him, along with his presidential aspirations.
Where is the U.S. economy that was once here when the Bush II regime took over, yes, where has it gone, where did the Bush II regime ship it off to?
The answer is that it has been shipped to Afghanistan, Iraq, and a couple hundred other countries where we dump trillions on military bases designed during a past epoch that has faded into historical insignificance.
The wars are not free, in fact they are the most costly imaginable voodoo economical and political disaster:
The article added about Karzai: “ ‘He has developed a complete theory of American power,’ said an Afghan who attended the lunch and who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. ‘He believes that America is trying to dominate the region, and that he is the only one who can stand up to them.’ ”(NY Times). The wars have taken out jobs, homes, health care coverage, and sent many Americans to the bankruptcy courts.
That is what we’re getting for risking thousands of U.S. soldiers and having spent $200 billion already. This news is a flashing red light, warning that the Obama team is violating at least three cardinal rules of Middle East diplomacy.
These wars are not done with us yet, because now about half of our commercial real estate mortgages are going down this year:
By the end of 2010, about half of all commercial real estate mortgages will be underwater, said Elizabeth Warren, chairperson of the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel, in a wide-ranging interview on Monday.(CNBC). The wars won't be done with us until we are done with them.
Bring the economy back home, then watch the soldiers, the plunder barons, and the contractors hurriedly follow.
Lots of saber rattling regarding Iran currently. I get the feeling that the neo-cons within MOMCOM won't be happy til we've expanded the conflict there too. Russia and China must be eyeing all of this concern, as we'd be seriously encroaching on both their real estate and their oil supplies by moving on Iran.
ReplyDeleteNot hard to imagine a scenario where Iran becomes the flashpoint for a global conflict regarding US imperial overreach and access to oil supplies, and all of our nukes would be of little help. Before Obama took office I imagined that there was still a possibility we could pull back from all this military fantasia. Now we all know better.
Imagine this scenario: MOMCOM makes Obama "an offer he can't refuse," by offering election support (the carrot) and possibly some additional unspecified negative consequences (the stick), contingent on Obama expanding the conflict into Iran. I'm not sure he hasn't already been approached in such a manner. The lure of becoming a great "War President" could well be too much to resist.
disaffected,
ReplyDelete"Lots of saber rattling regarding Iran currently."
When Karzai and Gates publicly made policy statements contra what Obama had said, the Obama administration declined to allow Karzai a state visit.
So Karzai invited the president of Iran over to say bad things, and Karzai said bad things too.
An Afghani - Iranian alliance would be the insanity icing on the insanity cake for this debacle.
No matter how it turns out, it has been an insane misadventure for much too long.
I notice that Friedman, being the Israel First
ReplyDeletedeceiving unit-purveyor he is, doesn't call for a non-interventionist foreign policy nor exit from Afghan nohow no way.
Ken Hoop,
ReplyDeleteThat would make him terribly wrong in my opinion.